GreatVision Song Contest Rules

The official **rules of the GreatVision Song Contest** are long, technical, and ever-changing. The rulebook of the contest include rules for the entries, the broadcasting of the contest, or the voting.

## Participation

There are several rules regarding the participation of a country in the contest and they are listed below.

1. The country must be a member of the GreatVision Broadcasting Union with an active broadcaster. If the country is not a member, then an application must be made to the organization with the appropriate information.
2. In order to take part in one edition, the country must confirm within the given deadline for confirmation. If the country does not confirm their participation before the deadline, then they are not allowed to participate. Exceptions can be made in very rare cases after the organization reviews the country's request.
3. In case of a Head of Delgation change, the country is forced to withdraw from the edition unless the country has already withdrew from the edition earlier.
4. It is required that all shows of the edition are broadcast in the country. Also, the whole show must be broadcast, with no interruptions. However, the pre-qualification round is not mandatory to broadcast.

## Entries

Before selecting an entry, each broadcaster must take into consideration the following rules.

1. Songs that have taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest or its Junior version are not allowed to take part in the contest.
2. Songs that have been released before 2015 are not allowed to take part in the contest.
3. Songs that cover or sample another song are not allowed to take part in the contest.
4. Songs that have been revamped or remixed are not allowed to take part in the contest. However, if the original singer is featured on the song, the song is allowed to take part.
5. There are no restrictions regarding the language; the song can be in any language, no matter the country it represents.
6. An artist cannot enter the same edition twice.
7. There are no rules regarding the amount of views(YT) of an entry.

## Selection process

An entry can be either selected via an internal or a national selection. However, there are some rules applying to both and they are listed below.

### National selection

In case of a national selection, the broadcaster must follow some rules when organizing a national selection.

1. All the artists must be native from the country the selection takes place in.
2. Artists that have roots from the country are allowed to compete as well, as long as their connection with the country is strong enough..
3. There are no rules regarding the amount of songs, the length or the voting system of the selection.
4. The national selection can start only after the confirmations of the edition have opened.
5. The results of the selection have to be presented before the given songs deadline. However, the broadcaster is allowed to submit a request for a later result presentation.
6. Songs that have been used in the national selection cannot be used again in a further national or internal selection. If a national selection was cancelled and its songs were already announced then the songs cannot be used again.

### Internal selection

In case of an internal selection, the broadcaster must follow some rules when selecting an entry.

1. The artist must be native to the country.
2. The song must be submitted to the GBU before the given songs deadline.
3. The song must be presented within the given songs deadline.

## Performers

There are some rules regarding the performers representing a country in the contest and they are listed below.

1. In case of an internal selection, the singer must be native to the country.
2. In case of a national selection, the singer may be native to the country or have strong connections to it.
3. The singer must be over the age of 16 on the day the song was released.
4. Singers that have died cannot compete in the contest.

## Voting

There are some rules regarding the voting procedure in each of the editions of the contest. The broadcasters have to send one set of votes in each show they're participating in.

The voting result must be submitted within the given voting deadline. Unless the Head of Delegation gives a valid reason for their inability to vote, he will receive a strike.

Valid reasons are:

* A sudden disease
* The death of a close person

Valid reasons are **not**:

* Forgetting to vote
* Not having enough time because of school, university or work

## Borrowing

Some countries that have smaller music industries are allowed to borrow from neighbouring or countries they have connections with. These countries are the following:

Europe:

* Åland Islands from Finland and Sweden
* Andorra from Spain
* Cyprus from Greece
* Faroe Islands from Denmark
* Gibraltar from United Kingdom
* Liechtenstein from Austria, Germany  and Switzerland
* Luxembourg from Belgium and Netherlands
* Monaco from France
* San Marino from Italy
* Vatican City from Italy

Asia:

* Hong Kong from China
* Kiribati from Australia
* Macau from China
* North Korea from South Korea

Note that these countries cannot borrow singers that are not fully native to the borrowing country.

## Punishment

In case of any country breaking the above rules, the country is punished by either receiving a strike or getting banned from the contest, depending on the rule that was broken. If a broadcaster gets three strikes, the Head of Delegation is suspended for one edition and the country is available for other HoDs.

A broadcaster can get a strike for:

* Failing to submit their song/votes before the given voting deadline.
* Sending an entry without getting approval from the GBU.
* Failing to present their entry before the given songs deadline
* Cheating in a national selection.
* Failing to confirm/withdraw for an edition.

A HoD can be temporarily banned for:

* Getting three strikes.
* Cheating once on voting.
* Molesting other HoDs.

A broadcaster can be banned forever for:

* Cheating repeatedly in the voting process of the contest.
* Getting five strikes.

## Community

* The main language in the community and the contest is **English**.
* Do not offend other participants in the contest, if caught so you will get a strike. If you get three strikes from the GBU you will be banned from the contest.
* If you are caught cheating in the contest, you will be banned from the contest permanently. There are **NO** second chances.
* Don't edit the GreatVision Song Contest pages **without my permission**! Only your personal country page you can add with your stuff

## See also

* GreatVision Song Contest
* GreatVision Broadcasting Union