Everlasting Song Contest 1

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The **Everlasting Song Contest 1**, often referred to as **ESC 01** will be the first edition of the Everlasting Song Contest. The contest will take place in the Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden. All three shows will be hosted by Anna Bergendahl. 39 countries will participate in the contest.

## Location

**Sweden** is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north and Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund Strait. At 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the largest country in Northern Europe, the third-largest country in the European Union and the fifth largest country in Europe by area. The capital city is Stockholm. Sweden has a total population of 10.3 million of which 2.5 million have a foreign background. It has a low population density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre and the highest urban concentration is in the central and southern half of the country.

Sweden is part of the geographical area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in general mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. In spite of the high latitude, Sweden often has warm continental summers, being located in between the North Atlantic, the Baltic Sea and the vast Eurasian Russian landmass. The general climate and environment varies significantly from the south and north due to the vast latitudal difference and much of Sweden has reliably cold and snowy winters. Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested and includes a portion of the Scandinavian Mountains.

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy, with Legislative power vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. It is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides universal health care and tertiary education for its citizens. It has the world's eleventh-highest per capita income and ranks very highly in quality of life, health, education, protection of civil liberties, economic competitiveness, equality, gender equality, prosperity and human development. Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995, but declined NATO membership, as well as Eurozone membership following a referendum. It is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

### Host City

**Gothenburg** is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a population of approximately 570,000 in the city proper and about 1 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area.

Gothenburg was founded as a heavily fortified, primarily Dutch, trading colony, by royal charter in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus. In addition to the generous privileges given to his Dutch allies from the then-ongoing Thirty Years' War, the king also attracted significant numbers of his German and Scottish allies to populate his only town on the western coast. At a key strategic location at the mouth of the Göta älv, where Scandinavia's largest drainage basin enters the sea, the Port of Gothenburg is now the largest port in the Nordic countries.

Gothenburg is home to many students, as the city includes the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology. Volvo was founded in Gothenburg in 1927. The original parent Volvo Group and the now separate Volvo Car Corporation are still headquartered on the island of Hisingen in the city. Other key companies are SKF and Astra Zeneca.

The city hosts the Gothia Cup, the world's largest youth football tournament, alongside some of the largest annual events in Scandinavia. The Gothenburg Film Festival, held in January since 1979, is the leading Scandinavian film festival with over 155,000 visitors each year. In summer, a wide variety of music festivals are held in the city, including the popular Way Out West Festival.

### Venue

**Scandinavium** is an indoor arena located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Construction on Scandinavium began in 1969 after decades of setbacks, and was inaugurated on 18 May 1971.

Scandinavium has been selected as a championship arena at least fifty times, hosting events such as World Championships in handball and ice hockey, European championships, Davis Cup finals, and in 1985 the Eurovision Song Contest. Scandinavium is the home arena for Frölunda HC of Swedish Hockey League, and venue for the annual Göteborg Horse Show.

## Format

The contest will consist of 2 semi-finals with 10 qualifiers from each. The 20 qualifiers and the 6 prequalified nations will compete in a Grand Final.

### Presenter

**Anna Henrietta Bergendahl** (born 11 December 1991) is a Swedish singer. She was born in Hägersten, Stockholm, and raised in Nyköping and Katrineholm. Bergendahl is of partial Irish descent as her grandmother was born and lives in Ireland. Her first performance in front of an audience was in a cathedral in York when she was only eight years old. She took part in Swedish TV4 music program Super Troupers in 2004, and in Idol 2008 where she reached the Final 5 before being eliminated.

In 2009, Bergendahl signed for Lionheart Records. Her debut album was released on 14 April 2010. Bergendahl won Melodifestivalen 2010 with the song "This Is My Life" and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Norway, although she was unable to qualify for the final. The song hit No. 1 on the Swedish Singles Chart on 5 March 2010.

## Participating countries

The following 39 countries have expressed their provisional interest in participating in the contest:  Argentina,  Armenia,  Australia,  Austria,  Brazil,  Bulgaria,  Canada,  Denmark,  Finland,  France,  Germany,  Greece,  Haiti,  Iceland,  Indonesia,  Italy,  Kazakhstan,  Luxembourg,  Montenegro,  Mozambique,  Netherlands,  Norway,  Poland,  Romania,  Russia,  Serbia,  Slovakia,  South Korea,  Spain,  Sweden,  Switzerland,  Thailand,  Turkmenistan,  Ukraine,  United Kingdom,  United States,  Uzbekistan,  Vanuatu and  Zimbabwe have all made their debut appearence in this edition.

### Semi-final 1

Seventeen countries are participating in this semi-final. Norway, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are also voting in the semi-final.

### Semi-final 2

Sixteen countries are participating in this semi-final. Australia, South Korea and Sweden are also voting in the semi-final.