European Singing Competition 27

## European Singing Competition

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**European Singing Competition 27**, often referred to as ESC #27, is the twenty-seventh edition of European Singing Competition. The contest took place in Athens, Greece. This is the second time that Greece hosted the contest. The event was hosted by Giorgos Kapountzidis, Maria Bekatorou, Smaragda Karidi & Giorgos Lianos. The event was hosted in the O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall with a capacity of 20.100.The host broadcaster was ERT.

As in the previous editions every nation was obliged to send a staging proposal alongside the song. It was announced that juries and televoters would give two separate scores in the semifinals as well.

Forty-four countries participated in the twenty-sixth edition. The participating countries, except of the host Greece, Morocco, San Marino, Norway, the Faroe Islands and Cyprus, competed in two semi-finals. Hungary, Libya, Liechtenstein, Tunisia and Turkey got promoted after qualifying from the Pre-Qualification Round 4.

The winner was Lithuania with the song "Elegantiskai Sninga" by Alina Orlova which scored 664 points, setting a new record of points and winning by a margin of 109 points in front of the United States. The podium was completed by France, which finished on the third place. The host country Greece ended 6th. Lithuania was the only country that achieved its best result to date.

## Location

The contest took place for the second time in the Greece.

### Bidding phase and host city selection

**Key**:

     Host venue

 Elliniko
 Piraeus
 Thessaloniki

## Returning Artists

Tamar Kaprelian returned for Armenia for the 2nd time. Rita Dakota made her third appearence for Belarus. Adna participated for the second time for Bosnia & Herzegovina after getting last in the semifinal. FRUM returned for the Faroe Islands. The edition also saw the return of Mariza Rizou who won for Greece in the 15th edition alongside Panos Mouzourakis, this made Mariza the first winner to return. Aine Cahil returned for Ireland. The edition also saw the return of Joel Heyard after getting 10th alongside Deborah & Cristophe 25 editions before. Aitana also returned for Spain. Albert Hammond Jr. represented Girbaltar for the second time. Amani Swissi and AYnur Aydin returned for Tunisia and Turkey respectively after getting in the top 5 of the PQR.

## Participating countries

### **Semi-final Allocation Draw**

The thirty-eight semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, based on their geographical place and cultural similarities. Drawing from different pots helps in reducing the chance of so-called neighbour voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined.

The six pots were the following:

* Libya
* Tunisia
* Turkey
* Croatia
* Kosovo
* North Macedonia
* Serbia
* Finland
* Iceland
* Sweden
* United States
* Belarus
* Georgia
* Russia
 Pot 5
 * Bulgaria
* Italy
* Malta
* Portugal
* Spain
* Germany
* Hungary
* Liechtenstein
* Switzerland
* France
* Ireland
* Luxembourg
* United Kingdom
* Gibraltar
* Lithuania
* Poland

### **Semi-final 1**

Ninteen countries participated in the first semi-final. The ten highlighted ones qualified for the final. Every country in this semifinal voted alongside  Cyprus, the  Faroe Islands and  San Marino.

### **Semi-final 2**

Nineteen countries participated in the second semi-final. The ten highlighted ones qualified for the final. Every country in this semifinal voted alongside the host  Greece,  Morocco and  Norway.

### **Grand Final**

26 countries competed in the final. All 44 countries voted in the final.

## Scoreboards

### Semifinal 1

##### 12 Points

Televoting
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the second semi-final:

##### 12 Points

Jury
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's jury in the second semi-final:

 1 | Armenia | Croatia

### Semifinal 2

##### 12 Points

Televoting
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the second semi-final:

##### 12 Points

Jury
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's jury in the second semi-final:

Final

##### 12 Points

Televoting
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the second semi-final:

##### 12 Points

Jury
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's jury in the second semi-final: