Altervision Song Contest 3

Final date
 Venue
 Interval act
 Entries
 Debuting
**Participation map**
* Countries that have confirmed their participation but have not announced their entry     Countries that have confirmed their participation and their entry, and qualified for the final     Countries that have confirmed their participation and their entry, but did not qualify to the final     Countries that participated in the past, but not in this edition
 System
 Null points

**Altervision Song Contest 3** was the third edition of the Altervision Song Contest. It took place in Gothenburg, Sweden and was organised by host broadcaster Sveriges Television following the country's victory in Tirana in the previous edition Loreen performing "Statements". It was the first time that Sweden hosted the contest and was the first time the contest took place on the Scandinavian peninsula and the Nordic region.

The contest consisted of one show: a grand final which took place on 28th July 2020. The final was hosted by Loreen and Petra Mede.

22 countries took part in the contest, with 9 nations debuting in the contest. Germany returned after an absence of one edition while Albania, Canada, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Portugal withdrew from the third edition. Romania was banned from participating due to failing to vote in the previous edition before the given deadline, twice in a row. Hungary and Serbia were forced because they did not submit their entries before the deadline. Belgium originally intended in withdrawing from the contest, however RTBF decided not to do so later.

The **3rd winner of the Altervision Song Contest** was **Andorra** with the song "Lullaby" performed by Sigala & Paloma Faith. The duo recieved 198 points overall in the final, winning both jury and televotes. Andorra was the first micronation to win the contest, though RTVA declined hosting the upcoming edition due to financial difficulties and due to having no suitable venue for the contest. The top 5 was rounded out by the United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain and France. Several countries have achived one of, if not their best result to date such as the United Kingdom, France, Norway and Australia.

## Location

*More information: Gothenburg*

**Gothenburg** is the second largest city in Sweden and the fifth largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 528,014, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 949,812 inhabitants in the metropolitan area. Gothenburg is classified as a global city by GaWC, with a ranking of Gamma−. The city was ranked as the 12th most inventive city in the world by Forbes (2013).

Gothenburg was founded by royal charter in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus. At the mouth of the Göta älv, the Port of Gothenburg is the largest port in the Nordic countries.

Gothenburg is home to many students, as the city includes both the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology. Volvo was founded in Gothenburg in 1927. The city is a major centre in Sweden for sports and home to the IFK Göteborg, BK Häcken, GAIS and Örgryte IS association football teams as well as the Frölunda HC ice hockey team.

Gothenburg is served by Göteborg Landvetter Airport, located 30 km (18.64 mi) southeast of the city centre, and by Göteborg City Airport, located 15 km (9.32 mi) from the city centre.

The city is known for hosting some of the largest annual events in Scandinavia. The Göteborg International Film Festival, held in January since 1979, is the leading film festival in Scandinavia with over 155,000 visitors annually. During the summer a broad variety of music festivals take place, such as Way Out West and Metaltown. Gothia Cup, held every year in Gothenburg, is in regards to the number of participants the world's largest football tournament: in 2011, a total of 35,200 players from 1567 teams and 72 nations participated.

### Bidding phase

Following Sweden's victory in Tirana, SVT started to seek for the host city and the host venue of the 3rd edition immediately. Four arenas in three cities were announced as possible host venues, these were the Scandinavium in Gothenburg, the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, the Malmö Arena in Malmö, the Himmelstalundshallen in Norrköping and the Guldfågeln Arena in Kalmar. In the end, the broadcaster announced that the Scandinavium in Malmö would serve as the host venue for the third Altervision Song Contest. The Scandinavium has a capacity of approximately 14,000 attendees.

 Stockholm
 Malmö
 Norrköping
 Kalmar

## Participating countries

### Returning artists

Electric Fields, who in this contest represented Australia alongside Norwegian supergroup KEiiNO, previously participated in the first contest for Australia. Dotter also returned for Sweden after the first edition.

### Final

\* : The song contains one line in English repeating throughout the song.

\*\* : The points of the country have been reducted by 25%.

## Conflicts and issues

### Issues with the Spanish entry

The video of the entry that had been officially handed to the ABU from Spain contained 2 songs. ABU and RTVE managed to come to an agreement that the first one out of the two in the video would be the Spanish entry for the edition. Along with that, a new rule had been made regarding the official video if the entry.

## Other countries

* Albania: RTSH stated that the country might withdraw from the third edition, however an official announcement hasn't been made until 11th July, when the broadcaster officially withdrew from the contest without any further reason being provided.
* Canada: Canadian broadcaster CBC announced its withdrawal from the contest due to the poor results of the country. A return is not completely ruled out.
* Croatia: HRT originally intended in participating, however have later decided to withdraw due to financial issues.
* Czech Republic: CT announced that, since their head of delegation position was still vacant, they could not participate.
* Hungary: MTVA failed to confirm participation by the deadline and thus were forced to withdraw.
* Kazakhstan: The Khabar Agency announced the country's withdrawal on 16th July without giving any further explanation.
* Latvia: LTV announced the country's withdrawal on 15th July without gibing any further explanation.
* Portugal: RTP announced the country's withdrawal on 16th July without giving any further explanation.
* Romania: TVR have been banned from participating in the third edition after failing to vote in the previous edition, even after several reminders and warnings from ABU.
* Serbia: RTS failed to confirm participation by the deadline and thus were forced to withdraw.

## References and notes

1. ↑ The lyrics contained one english line repeating throughout the song.
2. ↑ Belgium would have received the 3rd place with 178 points, however, as the HoD failed to cast their votes, the country's final score was reduced by 25%.

 First decade
 Active
 Host cities