Horizon Song Contest Wiki

**WELCOME** **TO THE HORIZON SONG CONTEST WIKI!**
This is a wiki with information about the Horizon Song Contest as well as its spin-offs. Here, you can find everything about the editions, the countries and the edtions of the contest.
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## **Information**

The **Horizon Song Contest**, often shortened **HZSC**, or **HSC**, is a song contest on Youtube held among the members of the Horizon Broadcasting Union since June 2018 and is inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest. The current and official HZSC executive supervisor is Ado Skbo. Each country's head of delegation gets to select an entry for each edition either by internal or national selection. Then the countries get to vote for each show (pre-qualifying round, semi-final or final) to determine the qualifiers and the winner of the edition.

## **History**

On 18 June 2018, Ado Skbo decided to open an international music contest, in that every full member of the HBU can take part by sending artists representing their countries with songs. It was called *Horizon Song Contest* . The name was inspired by the idea of connecting the skyline with the sea, a horizon.

The first ever Horizon Song Contest started on 18 June 2018. It was held in the capital city of  Croatia which also was the first ever country to host the Horizon Song Contest and also the first ever direct qualifier for the final. Fifty-three nations took part in the first edition each submitting one entry to the contest. Each country awarded 12 points to their favorite, 10 points to their second favourite and then 8 points to 1 point for the rest. Each country is free to either hold a Televote only, a Jury Voting only or both at the same time which combined make up the voting they will submit. The voting procedure has not changed since then.

Currently, the HBU Council has the control over the contest, and its members work in different terms of the contest, like recaps, staging, results videos and websites.

## **Participation**

Any full member of the HBU is allowed to send a song for the Horizon Song Contest. Countries that are not full members can apply for becoming one. The Horizon Broadcasting Union has already accepted some countries that were not full members of the HBU at the beginnings of the HZSC. However, the HBU has also already declined a lot of nations and states that wanted to become a full member - and to participate in the Horizon Song Contest.

Each full member has got a certain broadcaster that is responsible for the choice of the artists and songs the country is sending for each edition. So far, Fifthy-eight countries have participated at least once in the contest.

## **Format**

The contest's format was the same during the first editions; two semi-finals and a final were held. The top ten scored countries from each semi-final advanced to the final. In the first edition, there was a big 5 that were the sponsors for the start of the contest and were automatic qualifiers.

Since the very first edition the winning country of each edition is automatically chosen to be the host of the next edition. As the host broadcaster, the heads of delegation can decide how and when they want to host the competition, present the logo, make a theme song and other things. However if a broadcaster cannot afford to host the competition, the runner-up or the HBU council will help out. The show would still be hosted in the winning country.

## **The ''Big 6''**

In the first edition, it was already decided that certain countries would be members of the "group" called "Big 6". The Criatuab broadcaster, the organizers of the first edition, announced that Croatia, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Germany and Spain would be the members of the first Big 6 saying that the first four countries contributed in the organization of the contest.

## **Rules**

There are several rules of the contest in order to enter. Main rule of the contest is that the country has to officially join the HBU with a certain broadcaster before applying to enter the contest. Regarding the broadcaster, any broadcaster can be accepted by the HBU if it consists the qualifications of it. The head of delegation of the certain country must be at the position for at least three editions. If the head of delegation is not satisfied with the country, one can swap the countries with other users. There are also rules regarding the entries, such as that Eurovision Song Contest songs and cover songs are not allowed to compete in the contest or that the singer must be over the age of 14.

## **Voting**

The first voting system was in use between the first and third editions. Countries award a set of points from 1 to 8, then 10 and finally 12 to other songs in the competition — with the favourite song being awarded 12 points.

Backup-juries were also introduced in the first edition to fill the gaps of the non-voting nations.

## **Presentation Of Votes**

Since the first edition, all the participating countries have been voting in the final, including the countries that failed to qualify from the semi-finals. The order of the voting nations are often randomly. After the interval act is over, when all the points have been calculated, the presenter(s) of the show call upon each voting country in turn to invite them to announce the results of their vote. Often the opportunity is taken by each country to show their spokesperson standing in front of a backdrop which includes a famous place in that country. Firstly, the points 1–10 are shown together and the spokesperson continues with the 12 points. The song which receives the 12 from the country is usually played along with a bar below showing the top 3 at that moment. After all the jury votes have been presented, the host(s) start to present the televote from the lowest (26th) place down to the highest (1st) place.

## **Ties**

In case of a tie in the Semi-Final on the places 20-12 the amount of twelve points tells who scored higher, however if the 10th and 11th place are tied, they will both advance to the Grand Final. The ties in the Grand Final are solved by first looking at the amount of 12 points given to each nation, if it is the same, it goes on until all the points have been verified. If there is still a tie, then the country that received the votes from the most people is the winner, and if that still doesn't decide it, the country that was earlier in the draw will win.

## **Editions**

The first edition of the HZSC was held in **Zagreb,Croatia**, which is the birth country of excecutive producer Ado Skbo. Fifty-three countries entered the contest and were split into two Semi-Finals with twenty acts, and one big final with 26 acts.

The second edition of the HZSC was held in **Helsinki,Finland**, which was the winning country of the first edition. Forty-eight countries entered the contest and were split into two Semi-Finals with twenty acts, and one big final with 26 acts.

The third edition of the HZSC was held in **Moscow,Russia**, which was the winning country of the second edition. Fifty-six countries entered the contest and were split into two Semi-Finals with twenty acts, and one big final with 26 acts.

The fourth edition of the HZSC was held in **Sofia,Bulgaria**, which was the winning country of the third edition. Fifty countries entered the contest and were split into two Semi-Finals with twenty acts, and one big final with 26 acts.

The fifth edition of the HZSC was held in **Tehran,Iran**, which was the winning country of the fourth edition. Forty-six countries entered the contest and were split into two Semi-Finals with twenty acts, and one big final with 26 acts.

The sixth edition of the HZSC was held in **Istanbul,Turkey** , which was the winning country of the fifth edition. Fifty-six countries entered the contest and were split into two Semi-Finals with twenty acts, and one big final with 26 acts.

    The seventh edition of the HZSC was held in **Saint Petersburg,Russia** , which was the winning country of the sixth edition. Fithy-eight countries entered the contest and were split into two Semi-Finals with twenty acts, and one big final with 28 acts.

The eight edition of the HZSC was held in **Chisinau,Moldova** , which was the winning country of the seventh edition. Forty-six countries entered the contest and were split into two Semi-Finals with twenty acts, and one big final with 29 acts.

The ninth edition of the HZSC was held in **Aarhus,Denmark** , which was the winning country of the eight edition. Forty-six countries entered the contest and were split into two Semi-Finals with twenty acts, and one big final with 28 acts.

The ninth edition of the HZSC was held in **Belgrade,Serbia** , which was the winning country of the eight edition. Forty-six countries entered the contest and were split into two Semi-Finals with twenty acts, and one big final with 26 acts.

## Theme Ars

The theme arts of the Horizon Song Contest are made by the excecutive producer, Ado Skbo, and the slogans usually take insipiration from the previous winning songs.