Alternative Eurovision Song Contest 29

## Participation map

The **Alternative Eurovision Song Contest 29** was the 29th edition of the Alternative Eurovision Song Contest. The contest was held in Rotterdam and Tegucigalpa,  The Netherlands and  Honduras after **Empress Of** won the last edition with her song **"Save Me"**, with a total of 455 points, becoming the first ever guest country to win the competition. The competition took place in **Rotterdam**, the Netherlands (because of the runner-up in Edition 28). The main competition performances were held in the Ahoy arena and the show was hosted by **Nikkie de Jager** and **Bianca del Rio**. However, the arena in **Tegucigalpa** was not quiet. **Alejandra Rubio** hosted a special online show that was combined with the show from Rotterdam. It was from there, online, that you could see tons of Latin America inspired interval acts.

## Location - Rotterdam, The Netherlands & Tegucigalpa, Honduras

**Rotterdam** is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, at the mouth of the Nieuwe Maas channel leading into the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta at the North Sea. Its history goes back to 1270, when a dam was constructed in the Rotte. In 1340, Rotterdam was granted city rights by William IV, Count of Holland. The Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, with a population of approximately 2.7 million, is the 10th-largest in the European Union and the most populous in the country.

**Tegucigalpa**, formally **Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District** and colloquially referred to as ***Tegus*** or ***Teguz***, is the capital and largest city of Honduras along with its twin sister, Comayagüela. Claimed on 29 September 1578 by the Spaniards, Tegucigalpa became the country's capital on October 30, 1880, under President Marco Aurelio Soto, when he moved the capital from Comayagua. The Constitution of Honduras, enacted in 1982, names the sister cities of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela as a Central District to serve as the permanent national capital, under articles 8 and 295.

## Venue - Rotterdam Ahoy & Nacional de Ingenieros Coliseum

**Rotterdam Ahoy** (formerly known as **Ahoy Rotterdam** or simply as **Ahoy**) is a convention centre and multi-purpose indoor arena located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Opened originally in 1950, the current complex consists of three main venues: a fairs and event hall, a congress and conference centre, and the Ahoy Arena. The latter (informally known as the *Sportpaleis*, lit. 'Sport Palace') opened on 15 January 1971 and is the largest venue, with a capacity of 16,426 as of April 2019.

**Nacional de Ingenieros Coliseum** is a sports center dedicated to the practice of basketball, as well as other sports, in turn it is a center used for the presentation of different events and exhibitions. The National Engineers basketball team was founded in 1978 by the engineer Ivis López and his wife Lily de López. Subsequently, steps were taken to build the coliseum, which was inaugurated on January 10, 1997. The Nacional de Ingenieros Coliseum has a central indoor court with bleachers and seats with capacity for 7,500 people, it also has 13 outdoor basketball courts available to the general public, and has halogen lighting for use at night.

## Format

### Design

The main logo is inspired by the Mayan calendar, one of the most recognized elements of the culture. The Mayan calendar is made up by cycels that together create the respective date of each day, and each date has a special meaning. Thus, instead of the symbols that represent the dates, we included all the countries that take part kn the contest on the calendar, to symbolize the unique and speciality of each country. Following the example of the Maya, who were made up of groups united under shared belief, this time it is our turn for **"Creating Civilization"**.

### Presenters

**Nikkie de Jager**, better known by her YouTube channel name **NikkieTutorials**, is a Dutch makeup artist and beauty vlogger. She gained online popularity in 2015 after her YouTube video "The Power of Makeup" became popular and inspired many other videos of people showing their faces with and without makeup. As of January 2022, her YouTube channel has 13.9 million subscribers and over 1.5 billion video views.

**Roy Haylock**, better known by the stage name **Bianca Del Rio**, is an American-Hondurian drag queen, comedian, actor, and costume designer. She is known for winning the sixth season of *RuPaul's Drag Race*. Since her time on *Drag Race*, Del Rio has written and toured several stand-up shows, including *It's Jester Joke* (2019), which also made her the first drag queen to headline at Wembley Arena. She has also performed as a host for various international tours, most notably Werq the World. In 2018, she published her first book, *Blame It On Bianca Del Rio: The Expert On Nothing With An Opinion On Everything*.

**Alejandra Rubio** is a Honduran-born Spanish actress and TV presenter.

## Other Countries

* Albania - Due to unsatisfactory results and very small interest in the competition in the country, the broadcaster has decided to withdraw from the contest. The country's return to the competition is not certain

* Belarus - Due to budget cuts, the broadcaster decided to withdraw from the competition. A return in the next edition is likely