Zone Song Contest 13

Final
 Venue
 Entries
 Returning
**Participation map**
* Participating countries     Did not qualify from the semi final or the PSR     Countries that participated in the past but not this edition
 System
 Winner

**Zone Song Contest 13**, often referred as **ZSC 13**, was the thirteenth edition of the Zone Song Contest. This edition was located in Portugal as host country. RTP was the TV station chosen by the Portuguese delegation to televise and organize such important event of this dimensions for all Europe and the world after their first victory at the twelfth edition with the singer *Mara* and the song *"Coração De Pedra"* with *406 points* on a exciting final where the jury put Andorra first with 223 points and Portugal in seventh, but the televoting turned the results around in an exciting final voting sequence in which Portugal swept the televote with 276 points and rose to victory.

On July 29, the ZBU called a press conference to announce the presenters and the slogan of the edition, in addition to some dates such as the decision of the venue among others. The first to be announced were the presenters, who were the television and radio presenter Inês Lopes Gonçalves and the presenter Cláudio Ramos, famous for presenting reality shows with ease and charisma promising a spectacular, funny and entertaining festival. On the other hand, presenting the famous "blue carpet" already typical of the festival, the well-known Filomena Cautela was announced. After this, the slogan of the edition was announced, which would be officially titled "*Paixão Lusitana*" reflecting the character and pride of having won the festival and organizing it in the country, in addition to its tastes and traditions. It was added that the slogan was also inspired by the famous song "Lusitana Paixão" by the Portuguese singer Dulce Pontes. The search of the host city began on that day by RTP and the ZBU.

The two weeks to confirm that the ZBU imposed for all countries ended with no withdrawals and two returns, Italy after its disqualification in the previous edition and Montenegro that returns financed by a famous sponsor making a total of **44** participants. Some countries showed their interest in participating, such as Monaco.

## Location

**Portugal** is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira. It features the westernmost point in continental Europe, and its Iberian portion is bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain, the sole country to have a land border with Portugal. Its two archipelagos form two autonomous regions with their own regional governments. Lisbon is the capital and largest city. Portugal is the oldest continuously existing nation state on the Iberian Peninsula and one of the oldest in Europe.

**Porto** is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. It is recognized as a global city with a Gamma + rating from the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.
Located along the Douro River estuary in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centres, and its core was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, as "Historic Centre of Porto, Luiz I Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar". The historic area is also a National Monument of Portugal. In 2014 and 2017, Porto was elected The Best European Destination by the Best European Destinations Agency.

### Bidding phase

As of July 29, 2022, the Portuguese *Head of Delegation* Mário Camilo officially presented the requirements that Portuguese cities should meet in order to hold the contest. The basics to select a host city were set out in a document presented by the ZBU along with RTP:

* A suitable venue that can accommodate around at least 8,000 spectators.
* An international press centre for 1,500 journalists with adequate facilities for all the delegates.
* A good distribution of hotel rooms, at different price categories, able to accommodate at least 2,000 delegates, accredited journalists and spectators.
* An efficient transport infrastructure, including a nearby international airport with readily available connections with the city, venue, and hotels.

On August 1 three cities were announced with possibilities to host the contest, they were:

**Key**
  †  Host venue   ‡  Shortlisted venues

 Porto | Estádio Do Dragão † | 52,000

## Format

### Alocation Draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on August 28 2022 at 16:00 CET, at the Palacio de Cristal located in Braga, Portugal. The organizing committee of the festival decided to do the third allocation draw there given the multiculturalism that reflects this city to be welcoming. The thirty-eight semi-finalists had been allocated into six pots, based on their geographical place and cultural similarities. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called "bloc voting" and increase suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined which semi-final would be broadcast and voted by each of the six automatic finalist countries: France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and United Kingdom. It was also decided in which Semi-Final each member of the Big 6 should vote.

* Austria
* Belgium
* Luxembourg
* Netherlands
* Switzerland
* Finland
* Iceland
* Ireland
* Norway
* Sweden
* Estonia
* Hungary
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Poland
 Pot 4
 * Armenia
* Azerbaijan
* Belarus
* Georgia
* Türkiye
* Ukraine
* Greece
* Israel
* Malta
* Moldova
* Romania
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Montenegro
* North Macedonia
* Serbia
* Slovenia

## Participants

1.**^** Contains some phrases in Spanish.
2.**^** Contains some phrases in English.
## Results

### Semi-Final 1

Germany, Italy and Spain will also vote in this semi-final.

### Semi-Final 2

France, Portugal and United Kingdom will also vote in this semi-final.

## Incidents

### Russian National Final

A few weeks after the end of the twelfth edition the Russian delegation, which had been temporarily withdrawn from its membership in the ZBU, announced that it would return to the contest with a renewed National Final. The alarms among the different delegations went off demanding immediate responses from the organizing body of the festival, after a few days that panic spread and several delegations threatened to withdraw from the competition, the ZBU clarified that the return of Russia to the festival had never been commented on since they were disqualified until the war for the invasion of Ukraine ended. Making it impossible in such a way that a national final was held since they could not participate. Suggesting that it could be a Russian provocation to the rest of the participating countries.

### Complaints about the Ukrainian lyrics

On October 11, 2022, when the Ukrainian song "*Vanka Vstanka*" by Masha Kondratenko was released, it did not take long for "some countries" to echo the lyrics, insinuating that it had a certain political overtone due to the Russian invasion that millions of people are experiencing bad times and Russia was temporarily kicked out of the contest. For "some countries" that formally sent these complaints to the ZBU, the song has phrases like:

*"One, two, three, four and five,*
*There's nowhere for you to go!*
*One, two, three, four and five,*
*Our Cossack is coming!*
*Vanka, get up, what's the matter?*
*Prepare yourself a bag!*
*Vanka, get up, run, please!"*

The ZBU did not see a political message in this lyrics since it could be given thousands of allusions, so it did not go further, although some of the affected countries assured that by this lyrics about the war Ukraine would have somehow an advantage at least in the public vote. Even so, the names of the countries that complained were not given exactly so as not to generate tensions.

## External Links

* Google Drive (#12-)
* Google Drive (#04-#11)
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