OVSC Christmas Special 2022

## 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

 Ireland
 "Underneath the Tree by Kelly Clarkson

For the very first time, OrbisVision had a special Christmas edition, hosted in the Icelandic capital Reykjavík!

Although this was a special edition, this was Iceland's first time hosting an OrbisVision event, as well as the fifth time a Scandinavian country had hosted an OVSC event and the tenth time an OVSC event had taken place in Europe.

The special edition consisted of only one final with 26 countries competing.

The winner was Ireland with the song, "Underneath the Tree" by Kelly Clarkson. This was Ireland's first ever victory in an OrbisVision event, though they've yet to win the regular contest. They're also the ninth European country overall to win an OrbisVision event.

## Location

### Host city

Reykjavík is the capital of and largest city in Iceland and with an urban area population of around 233,000 (2019), it is the home to two-thirds of Iceland's population. It is the centre of culture and life of the Icelandic people, and is one of the focal points of tourism in Iceland.

The city is spread out, and has sprawling suburbs. The city centre, however, is a very small area characterised by eclectic and colourful houses, with good shopping, dining and drinking.

Reykjavik has the distinction of being the northernmost capital city in the world, though its winters are surprisingly mild for a city of its latitude.

When it started to develop as a town in the 18th century, Reykjavík had already been inhabited for almost a thousand years.

Legend has it that the first permanent settler in Iceland was a Norwegian named Ingólfur Arnarson. He is said to have thrown his seat pillars into the sea en route to Iceland, and decided to settle wherever the pillars were found.

The pillars washed up in Reykjavík, and so that was where he set up his farm.

Although the story of Ingólfur Arnarson is not widely believed to be true by modern historians, it's clear that Reykjavík was one of the very first settlements in Iceland.

Archaeological remains confirm that people were living there around the year 871, and for the first few centuries of Icelandic settlement, Reykjavík was a large manor farm. Its fortunes steadily waned as other centres of power increased in importance. By the 18th century, the farm of Reykjavík was owned by the king of Denmark (under whose domain Iceland fell at the time).

In 1752, the estate was donated to a firm, Innréttingarnar, led by Icelandic politician Skúli Magnússon. Innréttingarnar were meant to become an important industrial exporter and a source of development in Iceland, and their main base was in what is now the heart of Reykjavík.

Although the company didn't achieve all its high ideals, it did lay the foundations of Reykjavík as it is today. In 1786, Reykjavík got a trading charter and it soon started to grow in importance.

In 1801, Reykjavík went from being the largest town in the country to its capital. That year a new supreme court, Landsyfirréttur, was set up in the city after the abolition of Alþingi (which no longer had any legislative functions).

The same year the office of the Bishop of Iceland was founded in Reykjavík, merging the bishoprics of Hólar and Skálholt.

In 1845, Alþingi was re-founded as an advisory council to the king on the affairs of Iceland, located in Reykjavík and in 1874 it regained legislative powers.

As the sovereignty of the country grew, so too did Reykjavík, which by the beginning of the 20th century had been transformed from a small trading and fishing village to a fully fledged capital.

The Second World War was a boom era in Reykjavík. The city wasn't directly affected by the many horrors of the war, but the occupation of Iceland by first the UK and later the US provided increased employment opportunities and inflows of cash that enabled the rapid expansion and modernisation of the Icelandic fishing fleet.

Reykjavík was a leader in this development and it grew very rapidly in the years following the war.

New suburbs were built and the city started to reach across municipal limits, subsuming various surrounding communities. The city continued expanding until the financial collapse of 2008.

Because it is young, and in particular it expanded rapidly in the late 20th century, Reykjavík is very different from the other Nordic capitals.

It lacks their grand buildings and the picturesque old quarters. Instead it has come to resemble American cities with their sprawling suburbs and big motorways, as was recommended by the urban planners of the post-World War II era.

Nevertheless Reykjavík has a charm of its own, quite unique, shaped by the dualistic nature of this place which still doesn't seem to have made up its mind on whether it's a small town or a big city.

### Venue

The Egilshöll, also known as Egilshöllin, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment facility located in the Grafarvogur district of Iceland's capital Reykjavík.

It has a capacity of 18,000 for concerts and was officially opened on 25th April 2002 and was expanded in 2007, 2010 and 2015. It broke ground for construction on 16th March 2001.

It features three football pitches, an ice rink, school sports hall, gym, shooting range, tennis courts and a cinema.

Acts such as Plácido Domingo, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Duran Duran, the Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age and Roger Waters have performed here.