OVSC1

## 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

 United States"White Flag" by Joseph

The very first edition of the OrbisVision Song Contest was held in Birmingham, United Kingdom, following the nation's appointment as the first host country.

26 countries confirmed their participation, with all of them making their debut.

The contest consisted of only one show, the Grand Final which took place on 7th November.

The winner was the United States with the song "White Flag" by Joseph.

This was the USA's first time winning the contest, making them the first North American country to win the contest and the first ever winner of OVSC.

## Location

### Host city

**Birmingham**, second largest city of the United Kingdom and a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands metropolitan county. It lies near the geographic centre of England, at the crossing points of the national railway and motorway systems.

Birmingham is the largest city of the West Midlands conurbation, one of England’s principal industrial and commercial areas, for which it acts as an administrative, recreational, and cultural centre.

The city lies approximately 110 miles (177 km) northwest of London. It currently has a population of 1,141,816 people.

The historic core of Birmingham, along with Edgbaston and northern neighbourhoods such as Sutton Coldfield, Erdington, and Sheldon, lies in the historic county of Warwickshire.

Northwestern neighbourhoods, such as Handsworth and Kingstanding, and Harborne in the southwest lie in the historic county of Staffordshire.

Southern and eastern neighbourhoods, such as Bartley Green, Northfield, Moseley, and Yardley, belong to the historic county of Worcestershire.

Birmingham’s first market charter was granted in 1166, but it was not until the 14th century that it emerged as a settlement of any significance.

Its lack of river transport, by cutting it off from maritime contacts important in the medieval period, impeded its development from a small manufacturing town to a large city until the late 18th century, when it became the leading nucleus of the Industrial Revolution in Britain.

Birmingham’s population grew from 15,000 in the late 17th century to 70,000 a century later; its metal and gun-making trades expanded, fine jewelry was made alongside cheaper lines, and its brass buttons and trinkets served a world market.

The engineers James Watt (inventor of the steam engine), Matthew Boulton, and William Murdock (pioneers in steam engine development), the chemist Joseph Priestley, and the printer John Baskerville all lived in the city at that time and greatly contributed to the technological progress of Birmingham and the country.

Boulton’s Soho Manufactory, which developed the steam engine for industrial use, became famous throughout Europe.

It was not until after the Reform Act of 1832 that Birmingham elected its own members to Parliament, and the city was not incorporated until 1838. In that same year, rail links to Liverpool and London were completed.

In 1873 the rich local industrialist Joseph Chamberlain became the city’s mayor, and during his three-year tenure he initiated important reforms, among them sweeping slum and city-centre redevelopment schemes.

Birmingham became a British pioneer in town-planning schemes (1911), one-way-traffic experiments (1933), and municipal airports (1939). Wartime industrial activity and heavy bombing left the city exhausted in 1945, but it eventually began razing slums and bombed-out areas in the central districts and replacing them with tall blocks of apartments and office buildings.

A new inner ring road system, a rebuilt central train station, and new shopping and commercial complexes were part of the city’s postwar transformation. There is also a network of canals in the northwestern and southern parts of the city.

The modern-day Birmingham is also a prestigious host city of major events such as the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest, the 2003 and 2018 World Athletics Indoor Championships and the 2022 Commonwealth Games. They will also host the 2026 European Athletics Championships, however since Birmingham City Council became bankrupt in 2023, it's uncertain that they will host the event.

### Venue

The Utilita Arena Birmingham (formerly known as the National Indoor Arena, Barclaycard Arena and Arena Birmingham) is an indoor arena and sporting venue in central Birmingham. It was first opened on 4th October 1991 and at the time, it was the largest arena in the UK before the openings of the AO Arena in Manchester and London's O2 Arena.

It's currently the third-largest indoor arena in the UK by capacity. The main arena has a capacity of 15,800 using both permanent seating and temporary seating configurations.

It currently hosts a variety of events such as concerts, sporting events, live shows and conferences. It underwent a significant renovation with plans approved in 2012 by the Birmingham City Council. The plans included creating a showpiece entrance from the canal-side, three "sky needle" light sculptures, a new glazed facade fronting the canal and new pre-show hospitality elements. The design was by the architecture firm Broadway Malyan and the building contract was awarded to Royal BAM Group in 2013 with an projected finishing date of Winter 2014.

The £26 million redevelopment began in June 2013 and the arena was officially reopened with a performance by Canadian singer Michael Bublé on 2nd December 2014.

## Spokespersons

The spokespersons announce their 8, 10 and 12-point scores from their respective country's national jury as follows:

NOTE: Spain's spokesperson or votes didn't appear due to their HoD not voting.

1. Turkey - Hadise (from Ankara)
2. Israel - Eden Alene (from Tel Aviv)
3. Germany - Jendrik (from Hamburg)
4. Moldova - Cristina Scarlat (from Chișinău)
5. Colombia - Shakira (from Barranquilla)
6. Mexico - Belinda (from Monterrey)
7. United Kingdom - Frank Skinner (from London)
8. Dominican Republic - Cardi B (from Santo Domingo)
9. Canada - Eli Rose (from Montreal)
10. Honduras - Satcha Pretto (from Tegucigalpa)
11. Romania - Inna (from Bucharest)
12. Australia - Lee Lin Chin (from Uluru / Ayers Rock, Northern Territory)
13. Honduras - Satcha Pretto (from Tegucigalpa)
14. Yemen - Hind El-Aryani (from Stockholm, Sweden)
15. United States - Trisha Paytas (from Wheeling, West Virginia)
16. Oman - Tate McRae (from Nizwa)
17. Russia - Sergey Lazarev (from Moscow)
18. Cambodia - Ton-Chan Seyma (from Phnom Penh)
19. Philippines - Toni Gonzaga (from the Quezon Memorial Circle park, Quezon City)
20. Cuba - William Levy and Camila Cabello (from Havana)
21. Guernsey - Empara Mi (from Saint Peter Port)
22. Hungary - Tamaska Gabi (from Budapest)
23. South Korea - Aespa (from Seoul)
24. Poland - Agnieszka Biedrzycka (from Wrocław)
25. Brazil - Giulia Be (from Belo Horizonte)