Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Updated on Dec 21, 2024

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Director Ola Melzig

Semi-final 1 9 May 2017 (2017-05-09) Semi-final 2 11 May 2017 (2017-05-11) Final 13 May 2017 (2017-05-13) Venue International Exhibition Centre, Kiev, Ukraine Presenter(s) Oleksandr SkichkoVolodymyr OstapchukTimur Miroshnychenko

The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will be the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It will take place in the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, following Ukraine's victory at the 2016 contest in Stockholm with the song "1944", written and performed by Jamala. This will be the second time the contest takes place in Kiev, after 2005, and the fourth Eurovision event after hosting the Junior Eurovision Song Contests in 2009 and 2013. The contest is expected to consist of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and the final on 13 May 2017.

Forty-three countries will participate in the 2017 contest. Portugal and Romania are to return to the contest, both having been absent from the 2016 edition. After returning in 2016, Bosnia and Herzegovina has again withdrawn due to financial difficulties.

Venue

The contest will take place in the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, following Ukraine's victory at the 2016 contest with the song "1944", performed by Jamala. The International Exhibition Centre, which was announced as the host venue on 9 September 2016, has a capacity of approximately 11,000 attendees and is the largest exhibition centre in Kiev. Located in the western portion of Livoberezhna microdistrict, the centre was opened in October 2002, and the head of the centre since its construction was Anatoly Tkachenko.

Bidding phase

The Deputy Chief of the host broadcaster, the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) and the Head of Delegation for Ukraine, Viktoria Romanova, stated on 18 May 2016 that the first organisational meeting for the contest would take place before 8 June, during which the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and NTU would go through the technical requirements for the contest, as well as any training required for the contest to take place in Ukraine. Romanova also announced that the venue for the contest would be announced over the summer.

NTU and the Ukrainian Government formally launched the bidding process for interested cities to apply to host the contest on 23 June. The selection of the host city was scheduled to be conducted in four stages:

24 June – 8 July: Interested cities were formally invited to submit their bids.

8–15 July: A working group within NTU and a government-appointed Local Organisational Committee (LOC) headed by Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman reviewed submitted bids prior to their formal presentation.

18–22 July: Candidate cities formally presented their bids to the LOC. The bids of three cities were shortlisted and handed over to the EBU.

22 July – 1 August: The three shortlisted cities were inspected by representatives from the EBU and LOC to explore their infrastructure and implementation of their bids. A press conference was initially planned to be held during this period to announce the selection results and the host city.

The following criteria were outlined for the selection of the host city:

The venue must be covered with a capacity of at least 7,000 but ideally up to 10,000 attendees.

An international press centre must be able to accommodate no less than 1,550 journalists.

Venues must also be provided for the opening and closing ceremonies of at least 3,000 attendees.

The host city must have fairly priced hotel rooms to European standards, that are located in close proximity to the venue and the city centre. At least 2,000 hotel rooms must be provided: 1,000 for participating delegations and 1,000 for accredited media and fans.

The host city must be able to guarantee the safety and security of participants, members of delegations and guests.

The host city must have modern transport infrastructure: an international airport and readily available transport between the airport, the city and hotels, in addition to convenient traffic in the city and the opportunity to provide additional transport routes.

The host city must provide a social program alongside their bid, showcasing the hospitality, originality, cultural values and identity of both the city and Ukraine.

Six cities submitted applications by the deadline of 8 July: Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kiev, Lviv and Odessa. Prior to the opening of the bidding process, the cities of Cherkasy, Irpin, Uzhhorod and Vinnytsia had declared their interest in hosting the contest, but did not submit a formal bid. Ukrainian Culture Minister Yevhen Nyshchuk stated on 30 June that an appropriate venue for the contest does not exist in Ukraine, suggesting that the construction of a new venue in Kiev or Lviv should be considered.

The six candidate cities were officially presented to the LOC on 20 July in a two-hour live discussion show titled City Battle, broadcast from the UA:Pershyi studios in Kiev and moderated by Timur Miroshnychenko, with radio commentary from Olena Zelinchenko. The show was broadcast on UA:Pershyi, Radio Ukraine and the UA:Pershyi YouTube channel with commentary in English and Ukrainian. During the show, a representative from each candidate city presented its bid in front of a live studio audience:

Members of the LOC, media representatives, Ukrainian musical experts and fans also participated in the discussion.

Host selection

NTU announced on 22 July that the bids from Dnipro, Kiev and Odessa had been shortlisted for further consideration.

The EBU announced on 30 July that the host city would be announced "in due course", rather than on the previously stated date of 1 August, with Executive Supervisor of the contest Jon Ola Sand stating that the EBU "really want to take the time it takes to come up with the right decision". The Deputy General Director of NTU, Oleksandr Kharebin, stated on 10 August that the host city would be announced on Ukrainian Independence Day, 24 August. The announcement was later scheduled to take place on 25 August; however, it was postponed at 14:00 EEST, one hour before it was due to take place, with NTU citing the need to further consider some fine details regarding the decision.

After several delays in announcing the host city, NTU announced on 8 September that they would be meeting with the Ukrainian Government and the LOC on 9 September and that a press conference to announce the host city was scheduled to take place at 13:00 EEST on the same day from the Government Press Centre in Kiev. Kiev was announced as the host city for the contest with the International Exhibition Centre selected as the venue.

Key † Host venue ‡ Shortlisted

Preliminary dates

The preliminary dates for the contest were announced on 14 March 2016 at a meeting of Heads of Delegation in Stockholm, with the semi-finals expected to take place on 16 and 18 May and the final on 20 May 2017. These preliminary dates were chosen by the EBU to avoid the contest coinciding with any major television and sporting events scheduled to take place around that time.

However, the EBU announced on 24 June that the preliminary dates for the contest had been brought forward a week, with the semi-finals scheduled for 9 and 11 May and the final on 13 May. This was reportedly due to a request from NTU, as the initial preliminary dates conincided with the Remembrance Day for the victims of the Deportation of the Crimean Tatars on 18 May. However, the current preliminary dates coincide with the second leg of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League semi-finals.

Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place at Column Hall on 31 January 2017, hosted by Timur Miroshnychenko and Nika Konstantinova. The 37 Semi-Finalists have been allocated into six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in the Semi-Finals.

Visual design

On 30 January 2017, it was unveiled that the theme for the 2017 contest would be Celebrate Diversity; executive Jon Ola Sand explained that "The notion of celebrating diversity is at the heart of Eurovision values: it is all-inclusive and all about countries around Europe, and beyond, joining together to celebrate both our common ground and our unique differences, as well as some great music." The logo and visual design of the contest incorporates imagery of stylized beads, with the main logo using the beads to form a traditional neck amulet.

Presenters

On 27 February 2017, it was announced that the presenters for the contest would be Oleksandr Skichko and Volodymyr Ostapchuk, Timur Miroshnychenko being the "Green Room" host. It will be the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest will be presented by a male trio, and the second time, after the 1956 edition with a solo male presenter, that the contest won't feature a female presenter. Miroshnychenko has previous experience in hosting Eurovision contests, having presented the Junior Eurovision Song Contests in 2009 and 2013.

Participating countries

On 31 October 2016, EBU announced that forty-three countries will participate in the 2017 contest, equalling the record number from 2008 and 2011. Portugal and Romania will return after being absent from 2016 contest, while Bosnia and Herzegovina withdrew due to financial difficulties.

Returning artists

O'G3NE (Lisa, Amy and Shelley) will return to a Eurovision event after having previously represented the Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Adem in, Adem Uit".

Tako Gachechiladze, who will represent Georgia, was a member of the quartet Stephane & 3G, who were going to represent Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "We Don't Wanna Put In", until the group's entry was disqualified for its oblique reference to the then Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin.

Imri Ziv will return to represent Israel after being a backing vocalist for Nadav Guedj in 2015 and Hovi Star in 2016.

Omar Naber will return to represent Slovenia after previously representing the country in 2005 with the song "Stop", which failed to qualify for the final.

The SunStroke Project will return to represent Moldova after previously representing their country in 2010 alongside Olia Tira with the song "Run Away", which placed 22nd in the final.

Tijana Bogićević will return to represent Serbia after being a backing vocalist for Nina in 2011.

Koit Toome and Laura Põldvere, who will perform as a duo representing Estonia, have both represented their country in different years: Toome performed as a solo artist in 1998 with the song "Mere lapsed", and Põldvere performed in 2005 as a member of the group Suntribe with the song "Let's Get Loud".

Semi-final 1

Eighteen countries will participate in the first semi-final. Italy, Spain and United Kingdom will vote in this semi-final.

Semi-final 2

Nineteen countries will participate in the second semi-final. France, Germany and Ukraine will vote in this semi-final.

Other countries

Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership that will be able to broadcast the contest via the Eurovision network. The EBU had issued an invitation of participation to all fifty-six active members and one associate member (Australia). Several countries have provisionally confirmed their participation in the contest, while the following countries have made announcements regarding their participation:

Active EBU members

Andorra – Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA) announced on 19 May 2016 that they would not participate for unspecified reasons.

Bosnia and Herzegovina – The Bosnian national broadcaster Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT) announced on 28 September 2016 that they would not be taking part in the 2017 contest due to their inability to secure stable funding and sponsorship for participation. The broadcaster was also suffering from financial difficulties due to a lack of legislation that would ensure the continued operation of BHRT. Earlier in May 2016, the EBU had threatened to withdraw BHRT from all member services due to non-payment of debts totalling 6 million Swiss francs (€5.4 million). Recent news sources have revealed that the EBU have now begun to impose sanctions on the Bosnian broadcaster as a result of their outstanding debt.

Luxembourg – While RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg (RTL) announced on 25 May 2016 that they would not participate, the Petitions Committee of the Luxembourgish Government announced on 21 June that they had received a petition calling on RTL to return to the contest. The Luxembourgish Government have decided to debate the proposals set out in the petition, and the possibility of Luxembourg returning to the contest in future. RTL reiterated its intention not to participate on 22 August.

Monaco – Télé Monte Carlo (TMC) announced on 19 August 2016 that Monaco would not participate in the contest.

Slovakia – Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) explained on 12 April 2016 that Slovakia's absence from the contest since 2012 was due to the "cost involved in participation". RTVS' PR manager, Juraj Kadáš, stated that while participating in the contest is an attractive project, RTVS has a programming strategy that gives priority to financing domestic television production. RTVS announced on 6 September that they have yet to make a decision regarding participation. On 24 October, RTVS confirmed that Slovakia would not participate in the contest.

Turkey – Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) issued a written statement to the EBU on 12 May 2016, stating that they will participate, but there have been multiple reports in recent years that Turkey will return to the contest, none of which have come to be true. Turkey withdrew after last participating in 2012, due to their discontent at the introduction of a mixed voting system to the contest and the automatic qualification of the Big Five for the final. On 28 September, it was reported that Turkish media outlets announced that Turkey would decide on their participation in early October. Various news sources had reported there were several non-governmental organizations that were cooperating to persuade the Turkish to return to the contest in 2017. However, it was announced on 23 October that the NTU General Director stated that TRT refused to participate. This information was confirmed the following day.

Associate EBU members

Kazakhstan – Khabar Agency became an associate member of the EBU on 1 January 2016, opening up the possibility of a future participation. However, the EBU announced on 28 September that while Khabar Agency were unable to debut in the 2016 contest because they did not have active membership, they are reviewing the rules for the 2017 contest, which may include opening up the possibility of Khabar Agency making its début in the contest. However, Kazakhstan wasn't on the official participation list released by the EBU on 31 October 2016.

EBU non-members

Kosovo – Albanian news portal Koha reported on 6 April 2016 that the Director General of Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), Mentor Shala, had announced at a press conference that Kosovo, had been invited to participate, with a decision on whether or not to pursue the invitation to be made later in 2016. However, this was confirmed to be untrue, after Shala stated on 7 April that his comments were misinterpreted by Koha, and what he actually meant was that "RTK was invited to [the] Eurovision Committee and Kosovo’s acceptance or not in the Eurovision depends on them". This was backed-up by a statement from the EBU. Kosovo is not recognised by 15 states in Europe and does not have a national broadcaster with active EBU membership.

Liechtenstein – While 1 Fürstentum Liechtenstein Television (1FLTV) announced on 21 September 2016 that they would not be making their début at the contest, 1FLTV have stated their intention to debut in a future contest, on receipt of financial support from the Liechtenstein Government towards active EBU membership and the costs associated with a potential participation.

United States – After the interval performance of Justin Timberlake during the final of the 2016 contest, it has been speculated that the United States may participate in a future contest, similar to the interval performance of Jessica Mauboy during the second semi-final of the 2014 contest and Australia's subsequent debut the following year. While Logo TV broadcast the final of the 2016 contest, the channel does not have associate EBU membership.

Commentators

Australia – TBA (SBS)

Croatia – TBA (HRT 1, all shows), TBA (HR 2, all shows)

Denmark – Ole Tøpholm (DR1, all shows)

France – Marianne James, Stéphane Bern and Amir Haddad (France 2, final)

Greece – Giorgos Kapoutzidis and Maria Kozakou (ERT1, ERT HD, ERT World, ERA 1, Voice of Greece, all shows)

Hungary – Krisztina Rátonyi and Freddie (Duna, all shows)

Israel – TBA (IPBC)

Italy – Andrea Delogu and Ema Stokholma (Rai 4, semi-finals); Flavio Insinna and Federico Russo (Rai 1, final)

Poland – Artur Orzech (TVP 1, all shows)

Serbia – TBA (RTS1, all shows)

Spain – TBA (La 2, semi-finals; La 1, final)

United Kingdom – Mel Giedroyc and Scott Mills (BBC Four, semi-finals), Graham Norton (BBC One, final), TBA (BBC Radio 2, final)

Non-participating countries

China – TBA (Hunan TV)

French Song Submission

France 2, the national broadcaster of France, had announced Alma as their representative with the song "Requiem" on 9 February 2017. It was discovered during the week of 17 February 2017 that the artist's song had been recorded and performed prior to the EBU's submission deadline, 1 September 2016, which therefore potentially violated the EBU's song submission policy. Further research shows that Alma's song was performed at the end of January 2015. While the French broadcaster had claimed they were not in breach of the EBU's submission rules, there had been no ultimate decision regarding the disqualification of France 2 from the contest up until then. It was reported on 21 February 2017 that Alma and her crew were in the production of a bilingual version of her song—the two languages being French and English—which implies that the act has ultimately not been disqualified from the contest.

Other awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, the OGAE voting poll and the Barbara Dex Awards are awards that were contested by the entries competing at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, in addition to the main winner's trophy.

Marcel Bezençon Awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia, honouring the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman (Sweden's representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 and the current Head of Delegation for Sweden) and Richard Herrey (a member of the Herreys and the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 winner from Sweden), the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. The awards were divided into three categories: Press Award, Artistic Award, and Composer Award.

OGAE

Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision (more commonly known as OGAE) is an international organisation that was founded in 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jari-Pekka Koikkalainen. The organisation consists of a network of over 40 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, and is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profit company. In what has become an annual tradition for the OGAE fan clubs, a voting poll runs prior to the main Eurovision Song Contest allowing members from over 40 clubs to vote for their favourite songs of the 2017 contest.

Barbara Dex Award

The Barbara Dex Award is a fan award originally awarded by House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016, and since 2017 by songfestival.be. This is a humorous award given to the worst dressed artist each year in the contest, and was named after the Belgian artist, Barbara Dex, who came last in the 1993 contest, in which she wore her own self designed dress. This was the first year that songfestival.be awarded the Barbara Dex Award.

References

Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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