Altervision Song Contest 14

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* Template:Infobox edition/14Countries that have confirmed their participation but have not announced their entry     Countries that have confirmed their participation and their entry, and qualified for the final     Countries that have confirmed their participation and their entry, but did not qualify to the final     Countries that participated in the past, but not in this edition
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The **Altervision Song Contest 14** was the fourteenth edition of the Altervision Song Contest. It took place in Suva, Fiji, andwas organised by the Fijian Broadcasting Corporation following the country's victory in Malmö in the previous edition with Self Esteem performing Prioritise Pleasure. It was the 4th contest to take place in the Asia-Pacific region following the fifth edition which took place in Gold Coast, Australia, the seventh edition which took place in Auckland, New Zealand and the eighth edition which took place in Tokyo, Japan. Fiji also became the smallest country so far to give home to the contest for an edition both by population and land mass, taking both records from North Macedonia who hosted the eleventh edition. Suva, with a population nearing one-hundred-thousand, was the smallest city to host the contest, taking the record from Split, Croatia, who hosted the ninth edition of the competition.

27 countries confirmed their participation, which is 8 less than the previous edition. 4 countries made their debut in the contest, while 7 countries returned after missing at least one edition. 19 countries withdrew from the contest, including the United States, who confirmed their non-participation on 6th April due to issues within the broadcaster.

The contest consisted of a semi-final of 19 countries held on 5th May 2022, and a final of 20 countries held on 19th June 2022 and was hosted by Australian TV personalities Darren McMullen and Joel Creasey.

The **14th winner of the Altervision Song Contest** was **Denmark** with the song "Blur" performed by MØ and Foster the People, gathering **221** points overall in the final, passing the runner-up by **7** points. This was the smallest margin ever between the top 2 to date. Denmark's victory marked the fourth time in the history of the contest that a debuting nation won, and the tenth time a European nation won. Their winning score is the lowest winning score since the introduction of the semi-final and the lowest since the 5th edition. The top 5 was rounded out by Iceland, Andorra, Sweden and Norway. The host Fiji ended on 7th position. Besides the debuting nations, Iceland, Italy and Lithuania all achieved their best result to date, coming second, sixth and tenth respectively.

## Location

### Host city

**Suva** is the capital of Fiji, and its largest metropolitan city. It is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Division.

In 1877, it was decided to make Suva the capital of Fiji. At that time, the colony was being administered from what had been the main European settlement: Levuka, on the Fijian island of Ovalau, in Lomaiviti Province. But the geography of Luvuka and its environs had proven too restrictive. The administration of the colony was transferred from Levuka to Suva in 1882.

As of the 2017 census, the city of Suva had a population of 93,970, and Suva's metropolitan area, which includes the independent suburbs, had a population of 185,913. The combined urban population of Suva and the towns of Lami, Nasinu, and Nausori that border it was around 330,000: over a third of the nation's population. (This urban complex, excluding Lami, is also known as the Suva-Nausori corridor.)

Suva is the political, economic, and cultural centre of Fiji. It is also the economic and cultural capital of the South Pacific, hosting the majority of the regional headquarters of major international corporations, international agencies, and diplomatic missions. The city also has a thriving arts and performance scene, and a growing reputation as the region's fashion capital.

### Bidding phase

The Altervision Broadcasting Union confirmed on 13th March that the contest would take place in Fiji, however, did not reveal the host city or the host venue of the contest. Two venues were rumoured to be in competition to get the hosting rights for the contest, with these being the Prince Charles Park in Nadi and the Vodafone Arena in Suva.

On 8th April, the Altervision Broadcasting Union revealed that Suva will host the contest, with the Vodafone Arena serving as the venue of the competition.

 Suva

## Participants

### Semi-Final

The smei-final took place on 5th May with 19 countries competing in it. The 8 automatic qualifiers, who were Andorra, Australia, China, Croatia, Fiji, Germany, Hungary and Sweden, also voted in the semi-final.

## Other countries

* Czech Republic: Česka Televize announced on 19th March that, due to financial difficulties and budget cuts, the country would not be present at the fourteenth edition. A return to the contest has not been ruled out.
* Russia: Although C1R did not confirm their participation, the Altervision Broadcasting Union announced on 12th March that the country would not be allowed to compete so long as an independent broadcaster attempts to join the union and thus the contest. The ABU ruled out every state-owned broadcaster in Russia to join the union following the country's invasion of Ukraine. Russia last took part in the previous edition.
* United States: Despite initially confirming their participation, NBC later announced their withdrawal from the competition, citing budget cuts and prioritising the American Song Contest as the reason for doing so. A return in the future has not been ruled out however, in fact NBC hinted at a return to the contest in the future.

## Incidents and controversies

### Disappearance of the Portuguese head of delegation

The Portuguese HoD left without any further notice before the semi-final and thus Portugal's votes were missing. Due to this, the Altervision Broadcasting Union replaced their votes with an aggregated set of votes for both jury and televoting.

### Ukrainian televotes in the final

Due to the currently ongoing war with Russia, the Ukrainian broadcaster failed to present a valid set of public votes. In their reasoning, they stated the invasion as well as many other factors, and were eventually exempt from televoting. The Ukrainian public votes have not been replaced, thus they are missing.

## References

TBA

 First decade
 Active
 Host cities