Edition 68

The sixty-eighth edition of the **Global Music Festival** took place in Innsbruck, Austria, following Möwe's victory (with featured artists Conor Maynard and RANI) at the sixty-seventh edition in Monte-Carlo, Monaco with the song "Talk To Me" (Editted by Dutch DJ - Sam Feldt). It was the first win for Austria and the first time that the country hosted the competition - sixty-six editions after the country's debut in the first edition of the contest. Organised by the head of delegation and host broadcaster, the contest was held at the Olympiahalle Innsbruck, and conisted of two semi-finals which were both launched on the 01 June 2020 and a grand final which took place from the 08 June 2020. The three shows were hosted by Andi Knoll - the Austrian commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Sixty countries participated in this edition of the contest. In this edition, we saw the exciting debut of the small Asian nation of Timor Leste. Also, Estonia and Kazakhstan both returned after a two edition break from the competition and Kosovo after a one edition break. Though, most significantly, China triumphantly returned to the competition after a seven edition break. Unfortunately, the contest did see the withdrawal from Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta and Portugal for reasons including changes for the head of delegations and/or not confirming participation soon enough.

The power six for this edition were Austria, Wales, Azerbaijan, Iceland, South Africa and Switzerland - these were the delegations that placed in the top six from the previous edition. Their placement in the power six means that they received an automatic place to perform in the final of this edition, while also being allowed to vote in one of the semi-finals in this edition.

The winner was Monaco with the song "À des vies de toi" performed by Nilusi. This was Monaco's second victory in the contest, following their win only two editions ago - edition 66. Monaco was the overall winner after winning the vote of the international juries and coming second in the televote (just behind the Czech Republic). The Czech Republic, Scotland, Albania, Finland and Mexico rounded out the top six - whom will become the power six for edition 69 alongside Monaco as the host nation. Further down the table, Kenya and Svalbard achieved their best result to date, finishing ninth and thirteenth, respectively. This was Kenya's first time in the final and first top ten finish since joining the competition in the thirteenth edition.

 Slogan
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Participants
 Winner

## Other Participants

* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Malta
* Portugal

## Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on the 27 May 2020. The fifty-four semi-finalists were allocated to five pots, based on the previous results of each participating country, calculated by the averages of the past results. Drawing from each pot helps to create an equal split of successful and not-so successful countries in each semi-final to give countries an equal chance of qualification. Finland and Ireland were not included in the pots because the head of delegation for these countries are on the admin team and are in charge of the second and first semi-final respectively; as a result, Finland were automatically assigned to semi-final one and Ireland was automatically assigned to semi-final two.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations, Austria, Wales, Azerbaijan, Iceland, South Africa and Switzerland, were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals. Azerbaijan, Iceland and Switzerland were assigned to vote in the first semi-final and Austria, Wales and South Africa were assigned to vote in the second semi-final.

## Semi Final One

 Azerbaijan,  Iceland and  Switzerland from the power six were randomly allocated to vote in this semi-final, as well as, the countries who participated in this semi-final - as always countries not in this semi-final had the choice whether they wanted to vote in this semi-final or not.  Finland were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Finland is on the admin team and is the organiser for the second semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result.

## Semi Final Two

 Austria,  Wales and  South Africa from the power six were randomly allocated to vote in this semi-final, as well as, the countries who participated in this semi-final - as always countries not in this semi-final had the choice whether they wanted to vote in this semi-final or not.  Ireland were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Ireland is on the admin team and is the organiser for the second semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result.

## Grand Final

Thirty countries participated in the final of this edition of the **Global Music Festival** - the power six and the twenty-four qualifiers from the two semi-finals. All participating countries were eligible to vote in the final; however, only the thirty finalists were obligated to vote! The votes of the non-qualifiers and non-participants were all combined in to the televote. However, only thirty non-qualifiers and non-participants could vote.