OVSC14

## OrbisVision Song Contest #14  *Live your dream!*

 *Aussie Classics*: A selection of Australian old-skool hits from back then, including Aussie Jingle Bells.
 **Grand Final:**
 *Sydney goes POP!*: A
 selection of current and popular Aussie artists such as Kylie Minogue, The Veronicas and Jessica Mauboy.

## Participants

### Debuting

 Bonaire
  Christmas Island
  Cocos Islands
  Pakistan
  Réunion

### Returning

 Åland Islands
  Bangladesh
  Cuba
  Guernsey
  Israel
  Jersey
  Latvia
  New Zealand
  Puerto Rico
  Serbia
  Ukraine

### Withdrawing

 American Samoa
  Aruba
  Bulgaria
  Cyprus
  Czechia
  Egypt
  Finland
  Hungary
  Iceland
  Mongolia
  Netherlands
  San Marino
  Sierra Leone
  Türkiye
  Vietnam

## Voting

### System

Each country awards a set of 1 - 7 points, followed by 8, 10 and 12 points for their top 3 favourite songs

### Winner

 Norway
 "Cure For Me" by AURORA

After their win in Milan, the magnificent city of Sydney, Australia hosted the 14th OrbisVision Song Contest!

This was Australia's first time hosting as well as the second time the contest has been to Oceania. It was also the third time a country in the Southern Hemisphere has hosted. Oddly, this is also the first contest in where no African countries have confirmed participation.

The show consisted of 3 shows, 2 semi-finals and a Grand Final.

43 countries confirmed their participation. Originally, the Netherlands were to participate, making the total number of countries 44, but they later withdrew.

The contest was won for the first time by Norway with the song, "Cure For Me" by AURORA. This was the fifth time a European country has won the contest and the third time a country in Scandinavia has claimed victory.

## Location

### Host city

Sydney (named *Gadi* by the Dharug people, the Indigenous owners of the land now known as modern-day Sydney) is the Harbour City, and is the largest (although the second-largest in its contiguous urban area), oldest and most cosmopolitan city in Australia with an enviable reputation as one of the world's most beautiful and liveable cities.

Brimming with history, nature, culture, art, fashion, cuisine and design, it is set next to miles of ocean coastline and sandy surf beaches.

The city is also home to the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, two of the most iconic structures on the planet.

The gateway to Australia, it lies on the deepest natural harbour in the world and stretches for 140 kilometres.

Sydney is a major global city and an important finance centre in the Asia-Pacific region.

The city is surrounded by nature and national parks, which extend through the suburbs and right to the shores of the harbour.

While originally settled 60,000 years ago, Sydney is the oldest European settlement in Australia, having been established as a British penal colony on 26 January 1788 by Arthur Phillip.

This day is now celebrated as Australia Day to mark the establishment of a new nation, although also regarded by many as Invasion Day that marked the beginning of the British appropriation of Aboriginal land.

    The settlement was named "Sydney" after Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, who was the British Home Secretary at that time.

Sydney is one of the most cosmopolitan cities on the planet, with a bit less than one third of its population born overseas.

European settlement rapidly displaced the Aboriginal people of the Sydney area with colonists largely coming from England, Ireland and Scotland.

The Australian gold rush attracted more immigrants, including a significant number of Chinese, with about one in six Australians with convict descent also having some Chinese ancestry.

In the early 20th century, Sydney continued to attract immigrants, mostly from the UK and Ireland, with the White Australia Policy preventing non-European peoples (and even Southern Europeans) from settling.

Australia's immigration patterns, and consequently, that of Sydney, changed significantly after World War II, when migrants began to arrive from countries as diverse as Italy, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, China, New Zealand, India, the Philippines, Poland, Lebanon, Iraq, Vietnam, Thailand, South Africa and the Pacific Islands.

Sydney's culture, food and general outlook well reflect these contributions to the majority Anglo-Celtic institutions and social establishment.

Sydney is recognised worldwide for its vibrant LGBT community. Every year, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is celebrated on the first weekend in March, drawing people from all over Australia and the world for the celebrations.

    Sydney was the centre of the world's attention in September 2000 when the city hosted the 27th Summer Olympics, announced by the former IOC Chairman, the late Juan Antonio Samaranch Sr. at the closing ceremony to be "the best games ever".

They were chosen in 1993 to host the first Olympics of the 3rd Millennium after beating bids from Beijing in China (who would later host the 2008 Summer and 2022 Winter Games), Manchester in the UK (who would later host the 2002 Commonwealth Games), Berlin in Germany and Istanbul in Turkey.

The Olympics saw a major building and renovation program take hold of Sydney, positioning it as one of the great world cities of the 21st century.

Unfortunately however, the rising housing prices and living costs in Sydney have had a negative effect on the culture and many consumer services, with many Australians outside of Sydney often describing it as having a "rip-off" culture.

### Venue

Opened in 1999 for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, this 21,000 capacity arena hosted the basketball final and artistic/trampoline gymnastics during the Games. It also hosted wheelchair basketball during the Paralympics.

After the Olympics, it became a multi-use indoor arena for sports events, concerts and entertainment and is ranked as one of the top 10 arenas worldwide.

Every year it hosts the Hillsong Collective since 2012, has been the home venue for the Sydney Kings since 2016 and also has hosted the NSW Schools Spectacular since 2016.

Aside from sports events such as NFL, netball, tennis and the 2022 Women's Basketball World Cup, the arena has had plenty of music stars and comedy stars perform here from around the world.

These include Jay Chou, Dua Lipa, BTS, Blackpink, Katy Perry, Gorillaz, Kiss, Billie Eilish, Michael Bublé, The Killers, Andrea Bocelli, My Chemical Romance, Florence + The Machine, John Mulaney, Russell Peters and Kings of Leon. It also hosted the Hallyu Pop Fest in August 2022.

### Bidding process

After SBS' appointment as host broadcaster for OVSC14, they decided to commence a bidding process with 5 Australian cities submitting their bids to host the contest.

These included Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart. Sydney won the race by a landslide and was chosen to host the contest with the 21,032-capacity Qudos Bank Arena chosen as the venue.

 Melbourne
 Perth
 Adelaide
 Hobart

## Participating countries

### Semi-final 1

The United Kingdom, Lithuania and Japan will vote in this semi-final. Qualifiers are marked in blue.

### Semi-final 2

Slovakia, Australia and Norway will vote in this semi-final. Qualifiers are marked in blue.