GreatVision Song Contest 18

Final date
 Venue
 Broadcaster
 Entries
 Debuting
**Participation map**
* Confirmed participant that have their artist or song     Countries that did not qualify for the final     Past participant that will not participate
 Voting system
 Winning song

**GreatVision Song Contest 18**, often referred to as **GVSC 18**, will be the eighteenth edition of the GreatVision Song Contest. It will be held in  Germany, after Kim Petras won the seventeenth edition with "Icy". NDR chose the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin to serve as the host venue for the edition, while Helene Fischer, Kim Petras and Olivia Jones were selected as the presenters.

**Winner** after a big and exciting show was SICKOTOY and Roxen from  Romania with their the song "You Don't Love Me", they reached 344 Points and the best result since their debut. At the 2nd Place was the  South Korea represent by Everglow their song "Dun Dun", they reached 329 Points, while on 3rd Place was the  Netherlands represent by Eefje de Visser with her song "Lange Vinnen", she reached 320 Points. Furthermore  Hungary,  Albania and  Kosovo completed the top six of the edition.

## Location

*For further information see Germany*
**Germany** is a country in Central and Western Europe. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west.

Germany includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,386 square kilometres (137,988 sq mi), and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 83 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous state of Europe after Russia, the most populous state lying entirely in Europe, as well as the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is a very decentralised country. Its capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while Frankfurt serves as its financial capital and has the country's busiest airport.

Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, the German Confederation was formed in 1815. The German revolutions of 1848–49 resulted in the Frankfurt Parliament establishing major democratic rights. In 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the revolution of 1918–19, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic. The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 led to the establishment of a dictatorship, World War II, and the Holocaust. After the end of World War II in Europe and a period of Allied occupation, two new German states were founded: West Germany and East Germany. Following the Revolutions of 1989 that ended communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe, the country was reunified on 3 October 1990.

### Host City

*For further information see Berlin*
**Berlin** is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,748,148 (2018) inhabitants make it the most populous city proper of the European Union. The city is one of Germany's 16 federal states. It is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, and contiguous with Potsdam, Brandenburg's capital. The two cities are at the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region, which is, with about six million inhabitants and an area of more than 30,000 km², Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions.

Berlin straddles the banks of the River Spree, which flows into the River Havel (a tributary of the River Elbe) in the western borough of Spandau. Among the city's main topographical features are the many lakes in the western and southeastern boroughs formed by the Spree, Havel, and Dahme rivers (the largest of which is Lake Müggelsee). Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. About one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers, canals and lakes. The city lies in the Central German dialect area, the Berlin dialect being a variant of the Lusatian-New Marchian dialects.

First documented in the 13th century and situated at the crossing of two important historic trade routes, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417–1701), the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933), and the Third Reich (1933–1945). Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world. After World War II and its subsequent occupation by the victorious countries, the city was divided; West Berlin became a de facto West German exclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989) and East German territory. East Berlin was declared capital of East Germany, while Bonn became the West German capital. Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all of Germany.

Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media and science. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations and convention venues. Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination. Significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics.

### Venue

*For further information see Mercedes-Benz Arena*
**The Mercedes-Benz Arena** is a multipurpose indoor arena in the Friedrichshain neighborhood of Berlin, Germany, which opened in 2008. With a capacity of 17,000 people, it is home to the Eisbären Berlin ice hockey club and the Alba Berlin basketball team, and is used for other ice hockey, basketball and handball matches as well as concerts. The arena hosted the 2008–09 Euroleague Final Four. The arena was one of the most prominent elements of the Mediaspree urban redevelopment project, quickly gaining emblematic status in the debates surrounding the project's impact.

The venue will host some group phase matches. It will also host the final phase matches at the FIBA EuroBasket 2021 with the country and Cologne alongside Czech Republic in Prague, Georgia in Tbilisi and Italy in Milan.

## Format

The GBU has decided that in the upcoming edition there will be most likely 2 Semi-finals. In each semi-final 10 countries will qualify for the Grand Final to make a line-up of 26 competing countries (20 Semi-Final qualifers + Big 6).

### Voting

The GBU has announced that the voting system would be each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. The new voting system is also used to determine the qualifiers from each semi-final, but as before the qualifiers are announced in a random order

### Semi Final allocation draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place Berlin City Hall in February 2020. The first part of the draw determined in which semi-final the Big Six would have to vote. The second part of the draw decided in which half of the respective semi-finals each country would perform, with the exact running order determined by the producers of the show at a later date. Twenty-one or twenty-two countries will participate in each semi-finals, respectively. From each semi-final, ten countries will join the "Big 6" in the final, where a total of twenty-six countries will participate.

The fourty-three semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, based on their geographical place. Each time a country was be drawn from the pot, it´s half of the semi-final was determined.

The six pots were the following:

* Georgia
* Japan
* Lithuania
* North Korea
* Russia
* South Korea
* Uzbekistan
* Belgium
* Iceland
* Luxembourg
* Norway
* Sweden
* United Kingdom
* Czech Republic
* Hungary
* Poland
* Romania
* Slovakia
 Pot 4
 * Australia
* Brazil
* Canada
* Colombia
* Indonesia
* Malaysia
* United States
* Andorra
* France
* Italy
* Monaco
* Spain
* Switzerland
* Iran
* Israel
* Kosovo
* North Macedonia
* Serbia
* Turkey

### Running order

The Running order of both Semi-finals will be official announced by NDR in February 2020, shortly before the semi-finals start. The Running order for Grand Final will be official announced, one day before the Grand Final will start.

## Participating countries

**Fourty-nine** countries have confirmed their provisional participation in the contest. This includes, Colombia which returned after their twelve-edition abscence, North Macedonia which returned after their six-edition abscence, Luxembourg which returned after their four-edition abscence, Estonia, Hungary which returned after their two-edition abscence, Israel which returned after its one-edition abscence. While Georgia and Iran will make his debut appearance in this edition.

**Twelve** countries, however, announced their withdrawal from the contest, Croatia, Denmark and Tajikistan announced their withdrawal citing their Head of Delegation change as the reason. While the HoD's of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Liechtenstein had no longer interest or time to participate in the contest. While Faroe Islands, Portugal and Slovenia missed out the confirmation deadline. While Austria, Mexico, Thailand, and South Africa

### Returning artists

The Åland Islands will be reperesent by Dotter; she previously represented Sweden in the contest. Dua Lipa return to the contest to represent Albania; she previously represented Kosovo in the contest twice. Also Belgium will be reperesent by Era Istrefi; she previously represented Albania and Kosovo in the contest. Finland will be reperesent by Evelina, having previously achieved a victory in the eighth edition with "Vuoristorataa". Also Indonesia will be reperesent by Agnez Mo for a second time. Elodie return to the contest to represent Italy for a second time. Aimer return to the contest to represent Japan. Furthermore Tiësto & Rita Ora return to the contest to represent Kosovo; Tiësto previously represented Sweden in the contest, while Rita Ora previously represented the country. AS well Lithuania will be reperesent by Moniqué for a second time. Angèle returns to take part for Luxembourg, after representing Belgium in the contest. North Korea ill be reperesent by KARD; they previously represented the country and the United States in the contest. Lina Mayer return to the contest to represent Slovakia again. Finally Ellie Goulding return to the contest to represent the United Kingdom for a third time.

## Results

### Semi-final 1

Twenty-two countries will participate in the first Semi-final. Germany, Greece and New Zealand will also vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries in organge qualified for the final.

### Semi-final 2

Twenty-one countries will participate in the second Semi-final. Bulgaria, Finland and Netherlands will also vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries in organge qualified for the final.

### Final

The following countries either finished in the top 6 of the previous edition and therefore automatically qualify to the final of this edition or qualified from the semi-finals.

## Other countries

*Further information: List of able countries in GreatVision Song Contest*
Countries that are active members of the GreatVision Broadcasting Union (GBU) are also eligible to participate in the GreatVision Song Contest. As in every edition, an invitation to all the members have been sent in order to confirm whether they will participate or not. The following list of countries declined stating their reasons as shown below.

* The following countries failed to confirm their participation within the given deadline and were fined by the GBU:

* Portugal
* Slovenia

* The following countries failed to send their entry within the given deadline and were fined by the GBU:

* Mexico
* Thailand
* South Africa

* Bosnia and Herzegovina: *Shortly after the Semi-final's of the previous edition, the Bosnian Head of Delegation quit his position. However, no reason was announced of the withdrawal. The Bosnian entry was Disqualified.*
* Croatia: *HRT announced that they would withdraw. However, no reason was announced of the countries withdrawal. The Hod quit his position and will change his country to North Macedonia. A return with new HoD is possible.*
* Denmark: *DR announced that they would withdraw. However, no reason was announced of the countries withdrawal. The Hod quit his position and will change his country to Indonesia. A return with new HoD is possible.*
* Liechtenstein: *It was announced that Liechtenstein will take a break from the contest. However, no reason was announced of the countries withdrawal but the non-qualifications in the past editions could be use as a reason for the countries withdrawl. A future return was not ruled out by the broadcaster.*
* Tajikistan: *the broadcaster announced that they would withdraw. However, no reason was announced of the countries withdrawal. The Hod quit his position and will change his country to Iran. A return with new HoD is possible.*