Eurovision Song Contest 2023

host venue of the 2023 contest host venue for the allocation draw and the opening ceremony of the 2023 contest [{ "type":"Feature", "geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.9917,53.3974]}, "properties":{"title":"M&S Bank Arena Liverpool","marker-symbol":"stadium","marker-color":"#f00","marker-size":"large"} },{ "type":"ExternalData", "service":"geoshape","ids":"Q5306379", "properties":{"title":"M&S Bank Arena Liverpool","fill":"#f00","stroke":"#f00"} },{ "type":"Feature", "geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.9995,53.4082]}, "properties":{"title":"Eurovision Village","marker-symbol":"village","marker-color":"#00f"} },{ "type":"Feature", "geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.9805,53.3945]}, "properties":{"title":"EuroClub","marker-symbol":"bar","marker-color":"#00f"} },{ "type":"Feature", "geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.9796,53.41]}, "properties":{"title":"Turquoise Carpet","marker-symbol":"fence","marker-color":"#00f"} },{ "type":"Feature", "geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[-2.9801,53.4086]}, "properties":{"title":"Opening Ceremony","marker-symbol":"town-hall","marker-color":"#00f"} }] The 2023 contest was held in Liverpool, United Kingdom. It was the ninth time that the United Kingdom had hosted the contest, having previously done so in , , , , , , , and . The selected venue was the 11,000-seat M&S Bank Arena Liverpool a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the ACC Liverpool complex. The "Turquoise Carpet" event, where the contestants and their delegations were presented before accredited press and fans, took place outside the Walker Art Gallery on 7 May 2023, followed by the Opening Ceremony at St George's Hall. In conjunction with the contest, Liverpool held a cultural festival called "EuroFest", which featured collaborations between British and Ukrainian artists. The Pier Head was the location of the Eurovision Village, where a stage hosted performances by Ukrainian artists, local artists, current and previous Eurovision entrants, and other groups. It also held screenings of the three live shows. Entry to the Village was free of charge except during the final. The EuroClub, which took place at Camp and Furnace, hosted the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Host country selection The was won by with the song "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, which, according to Eurovision tradition, made Ukraine the presumptive host of the 2023 contest. The country had hosted the contest twice before, in and , both times in Kyiv. Between May and June 2022, the Ukrainian government and UA:PBC, the nation's public broadcaster, discussed hosting the contest with the EBU. The chairman of UA:PBC, , Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and other Ukrainian politicians expressed their willingness to host the event, and an organising committee was formed. Despite this, the EBU announced on 17 June 2022 that the Russian invasion of Ukraine meant that UA:PBC could not give the security and operations guarantees required to host the contest, and that the event could therefore not be held in Ukraine. The EBU then entered discussions with the BBC, the 2022 runner-up, and on 25 July announced that the 2023 contest would be hosted in the United Kingdom. It was the first time since that the contest was not hosted by the previous edition's winning country. The decision not to host in Ukraine was not taken lightly and was initially met with disappointment. UA:PBC published a statement in which Chernotytskyi requested further talks with the EBU, and Oleh Psiuk of Kalush Orchestra published an open letter criticising the decision, co-signed by Ukraine's previous Eurovision winners, Ruslana and Jamala, as well as Ukraine's minister of culture Oleksandr Tkachenko. This stance was supported by Boris Johnson, who was the British prime minister at the time, Nadine Dorries, who was the British culture secretary at the time, the Polish broadcaster , and Poland's deputy prime minister and minister of culture Piotr Gliński. The announcement on 25 July that the BBC would host the contest was supported by UA:PBC. During the first stage of the process, the BBC received expressions of interest from 20 UK cities and towns, seven of which were longlisted on 12 August 2022: Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, and Sheffield. These cities had until 8 September to develop their bids in detail for evaluation by the BBC, which also conducted visits to the cities throughout the month. On 27 September, Glasgow and Liverpool were announced to have made the shortlist, and on 7 October, the EBU and the BBC announced Liverpool as the host city. Key: Host city Shortlisted Longlisted Submitted a bid == Participants ==

Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members. Associate member did not need an invitation for the 2023 contest, as it had previously been granted permission to participate until at least this year. On 20 October 2022, the EBU announced that 37 countries would participate in the 2023 contestthe lowest number of participating countries in a single edition since with , and , which had participated in the , opting not to participate in 2023 for financial reasons. This was also the first contest where the participated under its shortened English name of Czechia. The contest featured four representatives who also previously performed as lead vocalists for the same country. Two of them had competed in : Loreen won that year's contest representing , while Pasha Parfeni represented that year and later provided backing vocals for . Also returning as lead artists were Marco Mengoni, who had represented , and Monika Linkytė, who had represented alongside Vaidas Baumila. In addition, Gustaph had previously provided backing vocals for and , and Iru had won Junior Eurovision for as a member of Candy. Other countries Several EBU member broadcasters made statements confirming non-participation prior to the publication of the official 2023 participants list. The management board of Bulgarian broadcaster BNT, at a meeting on 7 September 2022, decided not to participate in the 2023 contest, citing an expected increase in participation fees; this was later publicly confirmed in several Bulgarian news outlets on 19 October. The Montenegrin broadcaster RTCG and the Macedonian broadcaster MRT also publicly confirmed on 13 and 14 October 2022 respectively that they would not participate in the contest, citing financial contraints. Both RTCG and MRT however confirmed their intentions to broadcast the 2023 contest. Active EBU member broadcasters in , , and also confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. A potential return for to the contest in 2023in what would have been its first participation since was first discussed in November 2021, when it was reported that part of the Monégasque state budget had been reserved for participation in the 2023 contest. However, these plans were curtailed due to the delay in the launch of a new Monégasque public television channel, TVMonaco, which commenced broadcasts in September 2023 instead of the initially outlined period of late 2022. Monaco Media Diffusion, the current EBU member broadcaster for Monaco, subsequently confirmed on 5 September 2022 that the country would not participate in the 2023 event. Discussions were also reported between the EBU and Kazakh broadcaster Khabar Agency, an associate member of the EBU, which would have led to Kazakhstan being invited to participate in the contest for the first time. Kazakhstan has in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest since , with television producer Zhan Mukanov stating that "there is every chance [for Kazakhstan] to enter the adult Eurovision next year" and that the country's participation in the would have a "significant impact" on its chances of debuting in the adult event. The country, however, did not appear on the final list of participants. == Production ==

The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was produced by the British national broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The Ukrainian public broadcaster UA:PBC worked with the BBC to develop and implement Ukrainian elements for the live shows, including theme artwork, background music, selection of presenters, and opening and interval acts. The three shows were produced by BBC Studios Entertainment Productions and BBC Studios Music Productions, part of the BBC's commercial subsidiary BBC Studios. Additional production personnel included multi-camera directors Nikki Parsons, Richard Valentine and Ollie Bartlett, lead creative director Dan Shipton, music director Kojo Samuel, stage designer Julio Himede, head of sound Robert Edwards, and lighting designer Tim Routledge. The Ukrainian consultation team was led by Oksana Skybinska, Tetiana Semenova, and . Background music for the shows was composed by Mykhailo Nekrasov. The budget was contributed to by Liverpool City Council and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority ( each), the British government (), and the BBC ( to ). The overall budget was not made public, but was estimated to be at around (), including expenditures by the host city. Visual design On 7 October 2022, along with the host city announcement, the EBU revealed the generic logo for the 2023 contest. The Eurovision heart, which typically has the flag of the host country placed in its centre, contained the Ukrainian flag for this year to reflect the country's win the previous year. The 'Song Contest' text was accompanied below by 'United Kingdom' and further down by 'Liverpool 2023'. Designed by London-based brand consultancy Superunion and Ukrainian production company Starlight Media, the artwork was built around a string of two-dimensional hearts resembling an electrocardiogram, representing response to rhythm and sound, while the colours were inspired by those of the Ukrainian and British flags. The typeface, Penny Lane, was inspired by 20th-century Liverpool street signs and the city's musical heritage. Stage design The stage design for the 2023 contest was revealed on 2 February 2023. Designed by New York-based set designer Julio Himede, the design was based on "the principles of togetherness, celebration and community", taking inspiration from a wide hug and the "cultural aspects and similarities between Ukraine, the UK and specifically Liverpool". The stage was , with of independently rotating LED screens, over 700 LED floor tiles and more than of LED lights. King Charles III and Queen Camilla (whose coronations were held the week before the contest) inaugurated the stage on 26 April, during an official visit to Liverpool. Postcards The "postcards" were 40-second video introductions shown on television whilst the stage is being prepared for the next entry. Filmed between February and April 2023 and directed by Tom Cook, with Carlo Massarella and Jane McGoldrick serving as executive producers, the postcards were based on the "United by Music" theme of the contest. Making use of 360° drone technology, each postcard began in a selected location in Ukraine, then one in the United Kingdom, before moving to the artist's country of origin, where the artist took part in an activity of their choice. The three locations appearing in each postcard were connected by a singular theme. Each postcard was bookended with the "little planet effect", which symbolised the interconnections between people. The postcards were produced by London-based production company Windfall Films and Ukrainian production company 23/32, with background music composed by Dmytro Shurov. The following locations were used for each participating country: Vocal rules For the third year in a row, delegations had the option to use pre-recorded backing vocals, though each delegation could still use live backing singers—whether on or off stage—or a combination of live and recorded backing vocals. However, all lead vocals and lead dubs performing the melody of the song must still be live. The contest's executive supervisor Martin Österdahl later stated that the use of pre-recorded backing vocals would continue to be permitted for the foreseeable future. Presenters , Julia Sanina, Hannah Waddingham and Graham Norton British singer Alesha Dixon, British actress Hannah Waddingham, and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina were announced as the presenters for the 2023 contest on 22 February 2023, and they hosted all three shows of the event; Irish television presenter Graham Norton joined them for the final. Norton has served as the BBC's commentator for the contest since , and had previously co-hosted both editions of the Eurovision Dance Contest in and , as well as ''Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' in 2015. The "Turquoise Carpet" and Opening Ceremony events were hosted by Timur Miroshnychenko (who had co-hosted the ) and Sam Quek, with Richie Anderson providing off-screen commentary. Miroshnychenko also moderated the contest's press conferences, along with Jermaine Foster and Mariia Vynogradova. == Format ==

Voting system and contest structure and Hannah Waddingham announcing the semi-final qualifiers. The contest's executive supervisor, Martin Österdahl, is seen in the background. On 22 November 2022, the EBU announced changes to the voting system for the 2023 contest. The results of the semi-finals would be determined solely by televoting, as was the case between and , while the results of the final would be determined by a combination of national juries and televoting, as has been the case since the final. In the event that a country cannot deliver a televoting result in a semi-final, a backup jury result would be used instead. In the final, in the event that a country cannot deliver a televoting result, an aggregated result calculated on the basis of countries with similar voting patterns would be used. If a country's jury is disqualified, the televoting points from that country would be doubled and used as a substitute for that country's jury points in the final. The procedure of using calculated points would remain as a last resort in the event that a country cannot deliver a valid jury or televoting result. Viewers from non-participating countries would also be able to vote in all shows, with their votes being aggregated and presented as one individual set of points under "Rest of the World". Those viewers would be able to cast votes via an online platform, which requires ownership of a credit or debit card for verification. On 8 May 2023, a change to the semi-final qualifiers announcement format was revealed, where the acts would be on stage to anticipate the announcement of the finalists instead of sitting in the green room, similar to The X Factor. This format was trialled during a dress rehearsal for the first semi-final, before being dropped on the same day due to negative responses. Semi-final allocation draw The draw to determine the participating countries' semi-finals took place on 31 January 2023 at 19:00 GMT (20:00 CET), at St George's Hall. The thirty-one semi-finalists were divided over five pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. The purpose of drawing from different pots was to reduce the chance of "bloc voting" and to increase suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined which semi-final each of the six automatic qualifiersthe previous year's winning country and "Big Five" countries , , , and the would broadcast and vote in. The ceremony was hosted by AJ Odudu and Rylan, and included the passing of the host city insignia from Stefano Lo Russo, the mayor of previous host city Turin, to Joanne Anderson, the then-mayor of Liverpool. London-based production company ModestTV was commissioned to produce the broadcast of the ceremony. == Contest overview ==

Semi-final 1 performed as an interval act in the first semi-final. The first semi-final took place on 9 May 2023 at 20:00 BST (21:00 CEST). Fifteen countries participated in this semi-final, with the running order published on 22 March 2023. Finland won the most points, followed by Sweden, Israel, Czechia, Moldova, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, Portugal, and Serbia. The countries that failed to reach the final were Latvia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, and Malta. All the countries competing in this semi-final were eligible to vote, plus , and , as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" vote. This semi-final was opened by a dance sketch set to "Together in Electric Dreams", preceded by a pre-recorded segment featuring Paul Hollywood, King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Sister Sister, Ricky Tomlinson, Nikita Kuzmin and Paul O'Grady in a posthumous appearance. This was followed by co-presenter Julia Sanina performing "" with her husband and fellow The Hardkiss member Valeriy Bebko. The interval acts included Alyosha () and Rebecca Ferguson performing "Ordinary World"; and Rita Ora performing a medley of "Ritual", "Anywhere", "I Will Never Let You Down", and "Praising You". The French, German, and Italian artists were then interviewed, and clips of their competing songs were played. Semi-final 2 and Zlata Dziunka performed as part of an interval act in the second semi-final. The second semi-final took place on 11 May 2023 at 20:00 BST (21:00 CEST). while the interval acts included "Music Unites Generations", a medley of Ukrainian musical works performed by Mariya Yaremchuk (), , and Zlata Dziunka (represented ); and a dance sketch choreographed by Jason Gilkison and performed by drag acts Miss Demeanour, Miss Mercedes Bends, and Tomara Thomas, along with the Podilya dance ensemble. Titled "Be Who You Wanna Be", the second interval act was set to a medley of "Free Yourself", "Free Your Mind", "Free" and the "We Got Love". The British, Spanish and Ukrainian artists were then interviewed, and clips of their competing songs were played. Final performed together with the guest artists and the presenters as part of an interval act in the final. Ruslana can be seen on the LED background, in a pre-recorded appearance from the Golden Gate in Kyiv. The final took place on 13 May 2023 at 20:00 BST (21:00 CEST). Sweden won the contest with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen and written by her along with Jimmy Jansson, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Moa "Cazzi Opeia" Carlebecker, Peter Boström, and Thomas G:son. Sweden won with 583 points, also winning the jury vote. Finland came second with 526 points and won the televote, with Israel, Italy, Norway, Ukraine, Belgium, Estonia, Australia and Czechia completing the top ten. Albania, Portugal, Serbia, the United Kingdom, and Germany occupied the bottom five positions. This was followed by the flag parade, introducing all twenty-six finalists, accompanied by four former Ukrainian participants performing new spins on their competing entries mixed with British classics: Go_A with "" (), Jamala with "1944" (winner in ), Tina Karol with "Show Me Your Love" (), and Verka Serduchka with "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" (). The interval acts included Sam Ryder () performing his new single "Mountain" with Roger Taylor of Queen, and "The Liverpool Songbook", a homage to Liverpool's music heritage featuring six former entrants performing their own version of songs from the host city: Mahmood ( and ) with "Imagine", Netta (winner for ) with "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", Daði Freyr () with "Whole Again", Cornelia Jakobs () with "I Turn to You", Sonia with her entry for the , "Better the Devil You Know", and Duncan Laurence (winner for the ), together with the aforementioned artists, the presenters, and Ruslana (winner for ) in a pre-recorded appearance from the Golden Gate in Kyiv, with "You'll Never Walk Alone". Björn Ulvaeus, who won for as part of ABBA, also appeared in a short video skit on the recent commercial successes to come out of the contest. Spokespersons The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order. Unlike in the editions from to , in which the previous host country announced its points first, Ukraine was the first country to announce its jury points, followed by the previous host country, Italy. The incumbent host country, the United Kingdom, announced its points last as usual. • Zlata Ognevich • Kaze • Jānis Pētersons • S10 • Ryan Hili • Doina Stimpovschi • Niamh Kavanagh • John Kennedy O'Connor • Narmin Salmanova • Philipp Hansa • Anggun • Bess • • Elton • Maro • Maja Ciglenečki • Ragnar Klavan • Maléna • Ida Nowakowska • Eda Marcus • Einar Stefánsson • Dragana Kosjerina • Loukas Hamatsos • Ben Adams • Chiara Dubey • Catherine Martin • Tina Müller • Ruth Lorenzo • Ilanit • Farah Abadi • Archil Sulakvelidze • • Melani Mekicar • • Andri Xhahu • Monika Liu • Catherine Tate == Detailed voting results ==

Semi-final 1 The ten qualifiers from the first semi-final were determined solely by televoting. All sixteen countries competing in the second semi-final voted, alongside Spain, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, and the aggregated Rest of the World vote. The ten qualifying countries were announced in no particular order, and the full results of how each country voted was published after the final had been held. 12 points Below is a summary of all 12 points received in the second semi-final. Australia and Slovenia both received the maximum score of 12 points from three of the voting countries, with Albania, Armenia, Lithuania and Poland receiving two sets of 12 points each, and Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece and Iceland each receiving one maximum score. Final The results of the final were determined by televoting and jury voting in all thirty-seven participating countries, plus the Rest of the World aggregate public vote. The announcement of the jury points was conducted by each country individually, with the country's spokesperson announcing their jury's favourite entry that received 12 points, with the remaining points shown on screen. Following the completion of the jury points announcement, the public points were announced as an aggregate by the contest hosts in ascending order starting from the country which received the fewest points from the jury. 12 points Below is a summary of all 12 points received in the final. In the jury vote, Sweden received the maximum score of 12 points from fifteen countries, with Italy and Israel receiving five sets of 12 points. Belgium received the maximum score from three countries, Australia and Finland were awarded two sets of 12 points each, and Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Slovenia and Ukraine were each being awarded one set of 12 points. In the public vote, Finland received the maximum score of 12 points from eighteen countries, followed by Israel and Ukraine which received four sets of 12 points each. Armenia, Italy and Moldova received two sets of maximum scores each, and Albania, Croatia, Cyprus, Norway, Poland and Slovenia were each awarded one set of 12 points. The winning country Sweden failed to receive any maximum scores from the public vote. == Broadcasts ==

All participating broadcasters may choose to have on-site or remote commentators providing insight and voting information to their local audience. While they must broadcast at least the semi-final they are voting in and the final, most broadcasters air all three shows with different programming plans. In addition, some non-participating broadcasters air the contest. The European Broadcasting Union also provided international live streams with no commentary of both semi-finals and the final through their official YouTube and TikTok channels. The table below details the broadcasting plans and commentators for the countries that aired the contest. According to the EBU, in total 162 million people watched at least a minute of the television broadcasts, and 15.6 million people watched the online broadcasts. Votes were received from 144 countries, including the 37 competing countries. Technical issues occurred during the start of the first semi-final, causing most of the on-site commentators to lose connection to their broadcasters for around 15 minutes.