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Eurovision Song Contest 2020

The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was the 65th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Prague, Czech Republic, following the country's victory at the 2019 contest with the song "Friend of a Friend" by Lake Malawi. It was the first time Czech Republic had hosted the contest - 13 years after the country made it's debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Ceska Televize, the contest was held at O2 Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 13 and 15 May, and the grand final on 17 May 2020. The three live shows were hosted by Mikolas Josef, Tereza Kerndlova and Gabriela Guncikova. 4 months before the show, EBU reported to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. However, this was the first Eurovision contest during the pandemic era, never cancelling the contest, respectively.

Forty-one countries took part in the contest. Bulgaria would have returned after their absences from the 2019 contest. Though Belarus had participated the previous year, they were absent for 2020. Ukraine also absent for 2020 due to financial situation.

The EBU reported the contest had an audience of 199 million viewers in 41 European markets, later the worldwide become a audience of 829 million viewers in 176 worldwide markets, it was a breaking world record who watched the Eurovision contest.

Location

The 2020 contest was to be held in O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic, following the country's victory at the 2019 edition with the song "Friend of a Friend", by Lake Malawi. It was the first time Czech Republic had hosted the contest, after 13 years made it's debut.

- Preparations -

Preparations for the 2020 contest began on 19 May 2019, immediately after it's won the last year's contest in Tel Aviv. For the first time, Martin Österdahl would become the executive supervisor for the Eurovision Song Contest for the 2020 edition. It was broadcasted by Ceska Televize. Also a stack of documents and a USB drive with tools to begin the work needed to host the next contest.

- Bidding Phase -

The chief executive of Ceska Televize, Petr Dvorak, stated to the Czech media that various venues in Prague, Pilsen, Brno and Ostrava were being considered for hosting the 2020 contest.

The following candidate cities had provisionally reserved venues and hotel rooms, as part of their bids to host the 2020 contest. On 10 July 2019, O2 Arena was confirmed as the host venue for the contest.

- Other Sites -

The Eurovision Village was the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors' area during the events week. There it was possible to watch performances by local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue, it's located at Old Town Square, Prague, it was scheduled to open from 30 April to 18 May 2020. But due to the revenge of COVID-19 pandemic, EBU announced that was rescheduled to 10 to 18 May, every citizens as social distancing, health and safety concerns using the vaccines.

The EuroClub was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Not just same thing as the Eurovision Village, access to the EuroClub was restricted to accredited fans, delegates, and press, it was located at the Prague Contress Centre.

The "White Carpet" event, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place at Old Town Square in Prague along with the Eurovision Village on 9 May, followed by the Opening Ceremony at the Vystaviste Praha.

Format

- Visual, Stage Design and Branding -

The contest's slogan, "Stick Together", was unveiled on 11 July 2019, the general director of Ceska Televize, Petr Dvorak about this year's theme, "This continent was pretty happiness, every world was too much happiness, anything they knew, keeping their hands together, making diversity in this world. Emotions, skins, bodies, voices and colors, they're together not the same, sometimes never changes, and this Eurovision, make good things happen together, better changes, better future times."

The official logo and branding were revealed on 1 September 2019, designed by Czech animation studio, Krutart. It consists of Rubik-like color light cubes, represents the people make their changing emotions and minds, curious heart and holding hands, stick together to Prague, with the future of Europe and the worldwide - living a life to be remembered. The colours of the theme meant to bright colours of the new decade, many cultures, nationalities, races to we are all each different, to united as one together.

The official typography used in Chalet Nineteen-Eighty, was made by House Industries, as they developed the on-screen presentation for the contest, which represents the their emotions shares to the new decade.

The official stage design revealed in December 2019, that was made by Czech stage design, Josef Svoboda.

The official music theme was released on January 17, 2020, with the composed by the DJ oomiee, and vocals by Czech pop singers by Adam Misik and Celeste Buckingham, with the titled "Together", and the English version featuring Nicholas Furlong and Au/Ra.

- Mascot -

On the same day of branding, the official mascot was revealed, designed by Krutart, was based on the logo, named Cubey. It was first used in 1990. Cubey was an cube-shaped figure, within the lights, to changing the colors which changing the emotion and act. It is was made a thousands clones of Cubey, and their several Cubeys has a rounded material and moustache. Their Cubeys disappearing and appearing their body and face and creating the voxelated objects and other shapes.

- Postcards -

The concept of the 2020 postcards theme named "Cubey's Adventure in Europe", involved featuring the mascot, Cubey, travelling to a location all around the countries of Europe as a participant of 2020 contest. Many of Cubeys interacting with the countries of Europe's various landscapes, illustrated many cultures of Europe, connected with locals by participating in a European activity, tradition and hobby. This concept was dismissed as unfeasible by Ceska Televize, which the postcards concept would be features the artists only.

The second concept named "What is Your Work?" represents to stick together as a work eachother. The postcard starts with every map of the participant countries lights up in the colours of the performing country, the camera closes to the buildings/lands. We see Cubeys doing activity for fun at the cities of Europe as a participant countries, before each artists starts working as a professions/jobs. To reaching the goal, however, it goes the worst attempt, artists transforming to a big expectation of job, then after Cubey skit, the act posed for the camera. After the postcard, the screen transforms into a little cubes and changing into a pre-recorded video of a little crowd from in a city of the country of Europe about to supporting as a fan and cheering their fan. And finally, the little cubes forming from the screen into a realistic waving flag supported. The following jobs were used for each participating country:

Albania - Waiter Armenia - Lecturer Teacher Australia - Make-Up Artist Austria - Flight Attendant Azerbaijan - Librarian Belgium - Maid Bulgaria - Architect Croatia - Soaper Cyprus - Taekwondo Czech Republic - Surgeon Denmark - Potter Estonia - Lineworker Finland - Policeman France - Florist Georgia - Talkshow Host Germany - Bot Building Greece - Mechanic Hungary - Firefighter Iceland - Tailor Ireland - Astronaut Israel - Postman Italy - Garbage Man Latvia - Veterinarian Lithuania - Rock Climbing Malta - Scuba Diving Moldova - Gas Station Attendant Montenegro - Painter Netherlands - Skateboarder North Macedonia - Chef Norway - Soldier Poland - Farmer Portugal - Photographer Romania - Scientist Russia - Window Washer San Marino - Fisherman Serbia - Goldsmith Slovenia - Factory Worker Spain - Dentist Sweden - Zookeeper Switzerland - Secretary United Kingdom - Jeweller

It was filmed between January and February 2020 before the lockdown in Europe, it was directed who directing Friend of a Friend's music video, Jordan Haj, and the animation was done by Krutart.

- Presenter -

On 20 October 2019, Ceska Televize announced that three presenters would host the three shows: Mikolas Josef, Tereza Kerndlova and Gabriela Guncikova. Josef, Kerndlova and Guncikova are known as the Czech representative in 2008, 2016, and 2018.

- Semi-final allocation draw -

The draw to determine the participating countries' semi-finals took place on 29 December 2019 at 13:00 CST, at National Museum of Prague. The participating countries excluding the automatic finalists (Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Spain & the United Kingdom) were split into six pots, ased upon how those countries had been voting. From these pots, half competed in the first Semi Final on 13 May 2020. The other half in that particular pot will compete in the second Semi Final on 15 May 2020. This draw also doubled up as an approximate running order, in order for the delegations from the countries to know when their rehearsals commenced. The draw also determined in which Semi Final the automatic finalists voted in.

Pot 1: Albania, Croatia, Cyprus, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia Pot 2: Armenia, Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Switzerland Pot 3: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Malta, Russia Pot 4: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden Pot 5: Australia, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Portugal, Ukraine* Pot 6: Austria, Hungary, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, San Marino


 * Ukraine withdrew on 23 December 2019 before the semi-final allocation draw.

- Voting -

On 12 March 2020, the EBU announced the voting system reverted back to scoring 8, 10 and 12 points since used in 2006. The jury results' presentation remained the same with a live spokesperson in each participating country revealing the top song from their national jury that earned 8, 10 and 12 points. The new televoting system titled "People Voting", was determined by the combination of votes from a every public person panel vote. The panel consisted of every public person were able to vote via the official Eurovision Song Contest app from 10 April to 12 May 2020. Many of users were able to vote and votes from worldwide users had a weighting equal to the votes of one jury member. The other voting system is televoting, since was used in 2016. The televoting points from all participating countries would be combined, providing one score for each song. Like European votes, the new televoting system; by the combination of votes from the worldwide, to increasing the more biggest points. The winner was Russia has more than 800 points from the worldwide televoting, to beat Portugal in 2017 has more than 700 points.

- Opening and interval acts -

On 1 May 2020, the EBU released information about the opening and interval acts.

The first semi-final was opened by Lake Malawi, perfoming "Stuck in the 80's" and "Friend of a Friend" and the interval act involved the previous winners' artists, Mans Zelmerlow performing "On My Way", Alexander Rybak performing "I'm Still Here", Jamala perfoming "Zhalyi", Dima Bilan performing "Chemistry", and Sertab Erener performing "Bu Dunya" respectively - four of the songs as a remixed version with Czech DJ Mike Trafik.

The second semi-final was opened by the Czech blues band, Matej Ptaszek, along with the others especially the 2013's Latvian entry, PeR, features the host Mikolas Josef and Tereza Kerndlova, performing the 2008's Czech entry, "Have Some Fun" as a dance-blues version. The interval act included the biggest Czech folklore dancers with aerial silks and fire jugglers, featuring the band Harlej and Lake Malawi, performing "Trava".

The opening of the final show, accompanied by the traditional flag parade introducing the 26 finalists, accompanied by a biggest and colorful break dancers including the winner of 2019 Red Bull Dance Your Style, Shinshan, with a electronic dance music songs, also features Ilanit, Edyta Gorniak, Alma, Anja, Charlotte Perelli with "I Stand", Tereza Kerndlova and Anastasiya Prikhodko with "Have Some Fun" and Eric Saade with "Lie to Me". The interval acts included Mikolas Josef, Albert Cerny, Sean Foreman, Joey Dosik, Michael Fitzpatrick and Nicholas Furlong performed "Best Song Ever", which originally by One Direction, with dance flashmob from around the world. Later, Lake Malawi performed a new song, "Lucy".

Mendik Mixed Choir also performed with the song "Heal the World" for paid to COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. The guest star, the actress Karolina Kurkova also appeared on stage. The six-minute video skit "Where is Lys Alssia?" represents the life of Lys Alssia and the true history of Eurovision contest. Later, all of the Eurovision entries performing the Little Mix's "Power".

Participating countries

The EBU initially announced on 3 October 2019 that forty-two countries would participate in the contest, with Belarus opting not to participate for financial reasons, on 23 December 2019, Ukraine withdrawal from the contest due also to financial reasons, not as same as the last year, however, reducing the number of participating countries to forty-one.

- Semi-final 1 -

The first semi-final took place on 13 May 2020 at 20:00 SEC (19:00 CEST). Eighteen countries participated in the first semi-final. Those countries plus Germany, Italy, United Kingdom voted in this semi-final.

1. Montenegro - Nina Petkovic 2. Armenia - Depi 3. Azerbaijan - Dihaj 4. Serbia - Ivan Kurtic 5. San Marino - Nek and Paola Turci 6. Iceland - Hera Bjork 7. Romania - Johnny Badulescu 8. Ireland - Hogan 9. Hungary - yesyes 10. Australia - Courtney Act 11. Greece - Barrice 12. Finland - Norma John 13. Austria - Lia 14. Cyprus - Kostas Archondous 15. Poland - Future Folk 16. Sweden - Anna Bergendahl 17. Denmark - Karui 18. The Netherlands - Douwe Bob

- Semi-final 2 -

The second semi-final took place on 15 May 2020 at 20:00 SEC (19:00 CEST). Seventeen countries participated in the second semi-final. Those countries plus Czech Republic, France and Spain voted in this semi-final.

1. Israel - Harel 2. Lithuania - Saules Kliosas 3. North Macedonia - Jovan Jovanov 4. Croatia - Elis Lovric 5. Moldova - LEMONIQUE 6. Bulgaria - Kristian Kostov 7. Malta - Franklin Calleja 8. Latvia - Kristiana 9. Russia - Sergey Lazarev 10. Estonia - Stefan 11. Portugal - Lara Laquiz 12. Georgia - Anastasia Pirveli 13. Switzerland - Vanessa Iraci 14. Slovenia - Fed Horses 15. Norway - Hank Von Hell 16. Belgium - Laura Tesoro 17. Albania - Marko Strazimiri

- Final -

The final took place on 17 May 2020 at 20:00 SEC (19:00 CEST). Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all forty-one participating countries eligible to vote.

1. Malta - Franklin Calleja 2. Belgium - Laura Tesoro 3. Slovenia - Fed Horses 4. Croatia - Elis Lovric 5. Bulgaria - Kristian Kostov 6. Germany - Gregor Hagele 7. Moldova - LEMONIQUE 8. Latvia - Kristiana 9. Azerbaijan - Dihaj 10. Sweden - Anna Bergendahl 11. United Kingdom - Anisa 12. Netherlands - Douwe Bob 13. Portugal - Lara Laquiz 14. Romania - Johnny Badulescu 15. France - Philipelise 16. Czech Republic - Barbora Mochowa 17. Serbia - Ivan Kurtic 18. Spain - Natalia 19. Australia - Courtney Act 20. Poland - Future Folk 21. Italy - Il Volo 22. Hungary - yesyes 23. Iceland - Hera Bjork 24. Greece - Barrice 25. Russia - Sergey Lazarev 26. Norway - Hank Von Hell

Broadcasting, commentators and spokespersons

- Worldwide broadcast -

On 9 October 2019, EBU announced that 11 countries (Luxembourg, Monaco, Canada, United States, Mexico, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan and Kazakhstan) televised to utilized to maximized the show's ratings and viewers. Five days later, EBU also announced that more 165 countries will be broadcasted to gaining the show's ratings, beating the ratings of last editions of contest. It will breaking a world record for the most watched live television show.

- Spokespersons -

Other years the voting order was decided by an algorithm to try to make the voting as exciting as possible, based on the results from last night's Jury Final. The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order:

1. Israel - Netta 2. Azerbaijan - Husniye Maharramova 3. Serbia - Milan Stankovic 4. Malta - Destiny Chukunyere 5. Moldova - Doina Stimpovschi 6. San Marino - James Corden 7. Iceland - Regina Osk 8. Netherlands - Jan Smit 9. Montenegro - D Mol 10. Poland - Dominika Siepka 11. Finland - Krista Siegfrids 12. Germany - Stefan Raab 13. Belgium - Maureen Louys 14. Greece - Demy 15. Norway - Didrik Solli-Tangen 16. Albania - Andri Xhahu 17. France - Carla 18. Bulgaria - Darina Yotova 19. Russia - Dima Bilan 20. Romania - Ilinca 21. Hungary - Bence Vavre 22. Cyprus - Evridiki 23. Australia - Joel Creasey 24. Denmark - Bryan Rice 25. Spain - Julia Varela 26. Estonia - Tanja 27. Latvia - Agnese Rakovska 28. Sweden - Rikard Wolff 29. Armenia - Avet Barseghyan 30. Portugal - Sílvia Alberto 31. Croatia - Jacques Houdek 32. North Macedonia - Vasil 33. Austria - Philipp Hansa 34. Lithuania - Donny Montell 35. United Kingdom - Olivia Newton-John 36. Italy - Federico Russo 37. Slovenia - Zala Kralj 38. Georgia - Nina Kalandadze 39. Switzerland - Sebalter 40. Ireland - Brendan Murray 41. Czech Republic - Marta Jandova