Edition 78

The seventy-eighth edition of the **Global Music Festival** took place in Newport, Wales, following Adam Hender's victory at the seventy-seventh edition in Serravalle, San Marino with the song "Sick" - scoring an impressive 344 points. It was the first win for Wales and the first time that the city hosted the competition. Organised by the head of delegation and host broadcaster, the contest was held at the International Convention Centre Wales, and consisted of two semi-finals which were both launched on the 22 March 2021 and a grand final which took place from the 29 March 2021. The three shows were hosted by television presenter Gethin Jones, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, and musician and previous Global Music Festival contestant - Duffy.

Fifty-nine countries participated in this edition of the contest. Unfortunately, we saw the withdrawal of Argentina, Guyana, Monaco and Portugal - hopefully their absences will not be for too long. Brazil and Russia both returned to this edition after a seven and one edition break respectively. Also, we saw the debut of a new country in the Global Music Festival - Guam debuted in this edition.

The power six for this edition were Wales, Austria, South Africa, England, The Netherlands and Denmark - these were the delegations that placed in the top six from the previous edition. Their placement in the power six means that they received an automatic place to perform in the final of this edition, while also being allowed to vote in one of the semi-finals in this edition.

 Slogan
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Participants
 Winner

## Other Participants

* Guyana
* Monaco
* Portugal

## Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on the 20 March 2021. The fifty-one semi-finalists were allocated to five pots, based on the previous results of each participating country, calculated by the averages of the past results. Drawing from each pot helps to create an equal split of successful and not-so successful countries in each semi-final to give countries an equal chance of qualification. Finland and Ireland were not included in the pots because the head of delegation for these countries are on the admin team and are in charge of the second and first semi-final respectively; as a result, Finland were automatically assigned to semi-final one and Ireland was automatically assigned to semi-final two.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations Wales, Austria, South Africa, England, The Netherlands and Denmark were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals. Wales, The Netherlands and Denmark were assigned to vote in the first semi-final and Austria, South Africa and England were assigned to vote in the second semi-final.

## Semi Final One

 Wales,  The Netherlands and  Denmark from the power six were randomly allocated to vote in this semi-final, as well as, the countries who participated in this semi-final - as always countries not in this semi-final had the choice whether they wanted to vote in this semi-final or not.  Finland were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Finland is on the admin team and is the organiser for the second semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result.

## Semi Final Two

 Austria,  South Africa and  England from the power six were randomly allocated to vote in this semi-final, as well as, the countries who participated in this semi-final - as always countries not in this semi-final had the choice whether they wanted to vote in this semi-final or not.  Ireland were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Ireland is on the admin team and is the organiser for the second semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result.

## Grand Final

Thirty countries participated in the final of this edition of the **Global Music Festival** - the power six and the twenty-four qualifiers from the two semi-finals. All participating countries were eligible to vote in the final; however, only the thirty finalists were obligated to vote! The votes of the non-qualifiers and non-participants were all combined in to the televote. However, only thirty non-qualifiers and non-participants could vote.