Edition 1

The Beginning

## Vote

### Voting system

Each country awarded one set in the semi-finals, or two sets in the final of 12, 10, 8–1 points to ten songs.

## Topsical Song Contest

The first Topsical Song Contest took place in Thun, Switzerland. Organised by TopsRadio and host broadcaster the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), the contest was held at the Stockhorn Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 28 March and 5 April 2023, and the final on 15 May 2023. The shows were presented by Swiss singer Chiara Castelli and Swiss presenter Michelle Hunziker.

33 countries participated in the contest, with   Sweden withdrawing at the last minute.

The first winner was   Azerbaijan with the song "Qaradan Qara", performed by AISEL.   San Marino,   Germany,   United Kingdom,   Luxembourg and   Poland rounded out the top six.

## Overview

*To learn more about the host country, visit Switzerland.*

### About Thun

Thun (French: *Thoune*) is a town and a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located where the Aare flows out of Lake Thun (Thunersee), 30 kilometres (19 miles) southeast of Bern. As of December 2018 the municipality has almost about 45,000 inhabitants and around 80,000 live in the agglomeration.

Besides tourism, machine and precision instrument engineering, the largest garrison in the country, the food industry, armaments and publishing are of economic importance to Thun.

The official language of Thun is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

### About Stockhorn Arena

Stockhorn Arena (formerly known as Arena Thun) is a football stadium in Thun, Switzerland. It has a capacity of 10,000 spectators and opened in 2011. It is the home of FC Thun of the Swiss Super League.

The stadium is located near the A6 motorway, close to the exit Thun Süd, approximately 2 km west from downtown Thun and the railway station. The Stockhorn Arena, with a capacity of 10,000, is equipped with artificial turf (KR FIFA-2-Star-certified). The pitch is 105 m (115 yd) long by 68 m (74 yd) wide. In February 2014, the Arena Thun AG (operator of the stadium) sold the naming rights to a new main sponsor/partner: Stockhornbahn AG (which runs an aerial cableway to the Stockhorn). The stadium was renamed Stockhorn Arena at that time, with an official ceremony held on 12 April 2014, on the occasion of the match between FC Aarau and FC Thun.

From time to time matches of the Switzerland national under-21 football team are also held at the Stockhorn Arena.

### About the hosts

     Chiara Castelli and Michelle Hunziker are the presenters of the third edition of Topsical Song Contest.

**Chiara Castelli** is a singer born in Switzerland on 23 April 1999. She participated on the German version of The Voice Kids, and who became popular on social media.

**Michelle Yvonne Hunziker** is a Swiss-Italian television presenter and former model, born on 24 January 1977.

.

.

### About the visual design: **The Beginning**

On 3 March 2023, TopsRadio unveiled the logo, branding, and slogan of the 3rd edition. The slogan is confirmed to be **The Beginning**, symbolizing the beginning of a new music competition reuniting countries.

The theme art will be used during the edition.