UVSC 21

## 21st UnitedVision Song Contest

**UnitedVision Song Contest 21**, often referred as **UnitedVision Song Contest January 2023**, was the twenty-first edition of the UnitedVision Song Contest and the first edition to be in 2023.

The UBU announced right after the 20th edition's Grand Final on December 13, that the 21st edition will be the first edition to have a bidding process. The bid was for any state that has host any previous events like California, Texas, or Minnesota to name a few. The Winner of the host bid was Minnesota. This was Minnesota's 3rd time hosting, last time doing so back in September 2021.

The event was held at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 28, 2023. The show was hosted by Advisko.

7 States took part in the contest. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas, and Florida. Kentucky debuted for the first time. Georgia, Tennessee, and California all withdrew from the contest, and no states returned to the contest.

The contest will be organized by the UBU. The contest was partnered with American Red Cross.

## **Location**

### **Host Bid**

This was the first edition to have a "Host Bid". Any state could partake in the bidding process as long as they have hosted an event before like California, Texas, or Minnesota to name a few. The state that won the Host Bid was Minnesota! They haven't hosted since September 2021, over a year and 4 months ago.

### **Host City**

**Minneapolis** is a major city in Minnesota that forms "Twin Cities" with the neighboring state capital of St. Paul. Bisected by the Mississippi River, it's known for its parks and lakes. Minneapolis is also home to many cultural landmarks like the Walker Art Center, a contemporary art museum, and the adjacent Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, famed for Claes Oldenburg's "Spoonbridge and Cherry" sculpture.

## Format

### Visual design

The contest's slogan was "Flow Freely". The official logo and branding was revealed on January 19, 2023; designed by Advisko. The generic logo was revamped for 2023 and spelled "UnitedVision Song Contest" with the host state and edition number in the middle at the bottom. The official logo was a Pink Jellyfish. The background had dark and light mixture of blues, representing water and the ocean for the Jellyfish logo. The UBU said "The logo represents something that is free-flowing and is able to move without anything stopping it!"

### **Voting**

Each state had to present their points; 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 points. Each point had to be given to each state. The televote had people give out 3 amount of points; which included 1, 3, 5 Points. Each point had to be given to different states and couldn't be all given to 1 state.

### Opening and interval acts

Both of the Interval Acts will be the Winner and Runner-Up from the last edition. Sabrina Carpenter from Georgia & YENA from California.

### Stage design

The stage was decorated with the colors from the logo, there were decorations at the auditorium, the event did have a screen for the points and televote. Each state that participated this month, came up to the stage and sung there songs with the background visuals/props behind them on the stage. Everyone that went to the contest in person had to have a negative Covid-19 test in the past 48 hours. The show was still had limited seating due to ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic.

## Participants

### Participating states

The UBU announced on January 7 that the applications would open on January 9 and close on January 15, but then was later extended 2 more days till January 17. On January 20, the UBU announced that 7 States would take part in the contest and the states were, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas, and Florida. Kentucky debuted for the first time. Tennessee & California informed the UBU and said that they weren't going to be in the contest this month.

This was the first edition in over a year to just contain only English spoken songs.