BalkanVision Song Contest 19

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* Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in #19
* **BalkanVision Song Contest**
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The **BalkanVision Song Contest 19** was the nineteenth edition of the BalkanVision Song Contest. The contest took place in Serravalle, San Marino, following San Marino's victory at the BalkanVision Song Contest 18 in Ruse, Bulgaria, with the song "Azul Marino", performed by Delaporte. This was the first time that San Marino hosted the contest. The contest was held at the Palestra Multieventi Sport Domus. The contest consisted of a final. The show was hosted by Valentina Monetta. The event was organized by the Balkan Broadcasting Union and hosted by SMRTV. 18 countries competed. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malta, Montenegro and Switzerland returned to the competition, while Austria, Greece, Transnistria and Turkey withdrew.

The winner was Switzerland with the song "Apollo", performed by Timebelle. This was Switzerland's first win. Serbia placed 2nd and host country San Marino placed 3rd.

## Location

**Serravalle**

The contest was hosted in Serravalle, San Marino.

### Venue

**Palestra Multieventi Sport Domus** is the largest sport and concert hall in the Republic of San Marino. The multipurpose hall, which is 10.000 m² big, is located near the San Marino Stadium in the city of Serravalle near the Italian border.

### About the host city

**Serravalle** is a *castello* located in the European republic of San Marino. With a population of 10,878 inhabitants (of that 2,000 are of foreign origin) and a surface of 10.53 km², it is not only the most densely populated municipality in San Marino, but it also contains its largest settlement (Dogana). Serravalle is located on the edge of the Apennine Mountains.

First mentioned in a 962 document, in medieval times this town was called **Castrum Olnani** (later **Olnano**), the village of the elm trees. Serravalle attached to San Marino in 1463, during the last territorial expansion of the Republic.

## Format

### Visual design

The theme for the edition "*Skyward*", was unveiled on the contest's discord server on the 27 July 2019.

### Presenter(s)

Valentina Monetta was selected to host on the 14 July 2019.

### Running order

The running order was made by randomly splitting the participating countries into 2 halves.

## Other countries

### Active BBU-members

* Austria - Austria was originally going to compete with the song "Mörder". However, without citing any reasons, the entry got replaced with "2x" by Mathea. On the 26th April 2019, ORF suddenly decided to withdraw, without citing any reasons. There was a rumour that the reason was due to an argument between Mathea and ORF.

* Greece - Despite initially confirming participation, ERT decided to withdraw due to the resignation of their head of delegation.

* Moldova - Despite initially confirming participation, TRM decided not to return without citing any reasons.

* Slovenia - Despite initially confirming participation, RTV SLO decided to withdraw because of scheduling issues.

* Transnistria - After discussions within the BBU, a vote was held deciding that Moldova would only be able to participate as a whole starting from the 19th edition, thus putting Transnistria's future participation in doubt. The Transnistrian broadcaster TV PMR appealed the decision and announced that they would push to retain their BBU membership status. The BBU later decided to keep TV PMR as a member, however, it was too late for the country to be able to participate in the 19th edition of the contest.

* Turkey - After initially confirming participation and sending a song, TRT was forced to withdraw for failing to send an accurate vote in the previous edition. The BBU later fined them with a disclosed amount of money.