Eurovision Song Contest 2023
International song competition / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, as Ukraine—the winner of the 2022 contest with the song "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra—was unable to host the event due to the Russian invasion of the country. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) acting as host broadcaster on behalf of the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC). The contest was held at Liverpool Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and a final on 13 May 2023. The three live shows were presented by British singer Alesha Dixon, British actress Hannah Waddingham, and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina, with Irish television presenter Graham Norton joining for the final.
Eurovision Song Contest 2023 | |
---|---|
United by Music | |
Dates | |
Semi-final 1 | 9 May 2023 |
Semi-final 2 | 11 May 2023 |
Final | 13 May 2023 |
Host | |
Venue | Liverpool Arena Liverpool, United Kingdom |
Presenter(s) | |
Directed by |
|
Executive supervisor | Martin Österdahl |
Executive producer | Andrew Cartmell |
Host broadcaster | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) |
Website | eurovision |
Participants | |
Number of entries | 37 |
Number of finalists | 26 |
Debuting countries | None |
Returning countries | None |
Non-returning countries | |
| |
Vote | |
Voting system | Each country awards one set in the semi-finals, or two sets in the final of 12, 10, 8–1 points to ten songs. In all three shows, online votes from viewers in non-participating countries are aggregated and awarded as one set of points. |
Winning song | Sweden "Tattoo" |
2022 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 2024 |
Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest, with Bulgaria, Montenegro, and North Macedonia ceasing their participation, mainly due to the economic impact of the global energy crisis.[1][2]
The winner was Sweden with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen and written by her along with Jimmy Thörnfeldt, Jimmy Jansson, Moa Carlebecker, Peter Boström, and Thomas G:son. Finland, Israel, Italy, and Norway rounded out the top five. Sweden won the combined vote and jury vote, and came second to Finland in the televote. Loreen became the second performer to win the contest twice, after Irish singer Johnny Logan; it was also the seventh win for Sweden, tying Ireland's record for the most Eurovision victories.
The EBU reported that the contest had a television audience of 162 million viewers in 38 European markets, an increase of a million viewers from the previous edition. A total of 15.6 million viewers watched the contest online on YouTube and TikTok.[3][4]
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 for winning the previous year in 1968, 1977, 1982, and 1998, and in place of the previous year's winning country in 1960, 1963, 1972, and 1974.[5][6] The selected venue was the 11,000-seat Liverpool Arena, a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the ACC Liverpool complex.[7] 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.[8][9]
In conjunction with the contest, Liverpool held a cultural festival called "EuroFest", which featured collaborations between British and Ukrainian artists.[10][11][12] 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.[13] It also held screenings of the three live shows.[14][15][16] Entry to the Village was free of charge except during the final.[17][18][19] The EuroClub, which took place at Camp and Furnace, hosted the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants.[20][21]
Host country selection
The 2022 contest was won by Ukraine with the song "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, which, according to Eurovision tradition, made Ukraine the presumptive host of the 2023 contest.[22][23] The country had hosted the contest twice before, in 2005 and 2017, 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.[24] The chairman of UA:PBC, Mykola Chernotytskyi [uk], Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and other Ukrainian politicians expressed their willingness to host the event, and an organising committee was formed.[25][26][27][28][29]
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.[30] 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.[31] It was the first time since 1980 that the contest was not hosted by the previous year's winning country.[32]
The decision not to host in Ukraine 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.[33][34][35] 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 Telewizja Polska, and Poland's deputy prime minister and minister of culture Piotr Gliński.[36][37][38][39] The announcement on 25 July that the BBC would host the contest was supported by UA:PBC.[31]
Host city bidding phase
The host city bidding process ran from 25 July to 7 October 2022, with candidates judged against a set of criteria to demonstrate that they could host an event on the scale of the Eurovision Song Contest.[40][41] 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.[42] 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.[43][44] On 27 September, Glasgow and Liverpool were announced to have made the shortlist,[45] and on 7 October, the EBU and the BBC announced Liverpool as the host city.[7][46]
Key:
† Host city
‡ Shortlisted
* Longlisted
^ Submitted a bid
City/town | Venue | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
Aberdeen ^ | The Event Complex Aberdeen | — | [47] |
Belfast ^ | Odyssey Arena | — | [48][49] |
Birmingham * | Birmingham International Arena | Supported by Birmingham City Council | [50] |
Brighton | — | Withdrew its proposal on 11 August 2022, citing lack of required infrastructure and venue | [51][52][53][54] |
Bristol ^ | Bristol Arena | — | [55] |
Cardiff | Millennium Stadium | Withdrew its proposal on 3 August 2022, citing unavailability of the proposed venue | [56][57] |
Darlington ^ | The Darlington Arena | Proposal was dependent on the construction of a roof to cover the arena; supported by Darlington Borough Council and Tees Valley Combined Authority | [58][59] |
Derry | — | Withdrew its proposal on 8 August 2022, citing lack of a suitable venue and supporting accommodation infrastructure | [60][61] |
Edinburgh ^ | — | Supported by Edinburgh City Council | [62] |
Glasgow ‡ | The Hydro | Supported by Glasgow City Council | [63] |
Leeds * | Leeds Arena | Supported by Leeds City Council | [64][63] |
Liverpool † | Liverpool Arena | Supported by Liverpool City Council | [65][66][67][63][68] |
London ^ | — | London met the criteria but was not shortlisted, as the BBC and the British government aimed to "move events and opportunities outside the capital". | [51][69][63] |
Manchester * | Manchester Arena | Supported by Manchester City Council | [70][63] |
Newcastle * | Newcastle Arena | Supported by Newcastle City Council | [71][72][63] |
Nottingham | Nottingham Arena | Withdrew its proposal on 9 August 2022, citing the proposed venue's incapability to meet EBU requirements | [73][74] |
Sheffield * | Sheffield Arena | Supported by Sheffield City Council and South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority | [75][76] |
Sunderland | Stadium of Light | Withdrew its proposal on 10 August 2022, citing unavailability of the proposed venue | [77][78][79] |
Wolverhampton | — | — | [48] |