GreatVision Song Contest 13

Final date
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 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
 Nul points

**GreatVision Song Contest 13**, often referred to as **GVSC 13**, will be the 13th edition of the GreatVision Song Contest. It will be held in  South Korea, after BLACKPINK won the twelfth edition with "Ddu-du Ddu-du". KBS chose the Jangchung Arena in Seoul to serve as the host venue for the edition, while CL and Jay Park were selected as the presenters.

**Winner** after a big and exciting show was Polina Gagarina from  Russia with her the song "Обезоружена", she reached 397 Points. At the 2nd Place was  South Korea represent by MAMAMOO their song "Egotistic, they reached 378 Points and on 3rd Place was the  United States represent by Bebe Rexha with her song "I'm A Mess", she reached 319 Points, while  Greece,  Kazakhstan and  Ukraine completed the top six of the edition.

## Location

*For further information see South Korea*
**South Korea**, officially the **Republic of Korea**, is a sovereign state in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. Officially, its territory consists of the whole Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands, which are largely mountainous. South Koreans lead a distinctive urban lifestyle, as half of them live in high-rises concentrated in the Seoul Capital Area with 25 million residents. The capital Seoul is the world's sixth leading global city with the fifth largest economy and is the seventh most sustainable city in the world.

South Korea is one of the Four Asian Tigers. The South Korean economy soared at an annual average of 10% for over 30 years in a period of rapid transformation called the Miracle on the Han River. A long legacy of openness and focus on innovation made it successful. Today, it is the world's seventh largest advanced economy and fifth largest exporter with the G20's largest budget surplus and highest credit rating of any country in East Asia. It has free trade agreements with 75% of the world economy and is the only G20 nation trading freely with China, the US and the EU simultaneously. Since 1988, its constitution guarantees a liberal democracy with high government transparency and many fundamental rights such as universal healthcare. High personal freedoms led to the rise of a globally influential pop culture such as K-pop and K-drama, a phenomenon called the Korean Wave, known for its distinctive fashionable and trendy style. Home of the UN Green Climate Fund and GGGI, South Korea is a leader in low carbon green growth, committed to helping developing countries as a major DAC and Paris Club contributor. It is the world's third least ignorant country in the Index of Ignorance, ranking eighth highest for peaceful tolerance and inclusion of minorities on the Fragile States Index.

South Korea is a technologically advanced developed country driven by a highly educated and skilled workforce, having the world's eighth highest median household income, the highest in Asia. Globally, it ranks highly in personal safety, job security, ease of doing business and healthcare quality, with the world's third highest health adjusted life expectancy and fourth most efficient healthcare system. It is the world's largest spender on R&D per GDP, leading the OECD in graduates in science and engineering and ranking third in the Youth Wellbeing Index. Home of Samsung, LG and Hyundai-Kia, South Korea was named the world's most innovative country for 4 consecutive years since 2014 in the Bloomberg Innovation Index, ranking first in business R&D intensity, manufacturing value-added, patents filed per GDP, second in higher education efficiency and fourth in high-tech density and researcher concentration. In 2005, it became the world's first country to fully transition to high-speed Internet and today it has the world's fastest Internet speed and highest smartphone ownership, ranking first in ICT Development, e-Government and 4G LTE coverage. South Korea currently provides the world's second largest number of Christian missionaries, surpassed by the United States.

### Host City

*For further information see Seoul*
**Seoul**, officially the Seoul Special Metropolitan City – is the de facto capital and largest metropolis of the Republic of Korea (commonly known as South Korea). Seoul is the world's 16th largest city,[10] and forms the heart of the Seoul Capital Area, which includes the surrounding Incheon metropolis and Gyeonggi province. The Seoul Capital Area houses about half of the country's population of 51.44 million people with 678,102 international residents.

Situated on the Han River, Seoul's history stretches back more than two thousand years when it was founded in 18 BC by Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It continued as the capital of Korea under the Joseon Dynasty. The Seoul Capital Area contains five UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeok Palace, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine, Namhansanseong and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. Seoul is surrounded by mountains, the tallest being Mt. Bukhan, the world's most visited national park per square foot. Modern landmarks include the iconic N Seoul Tower, the gold-clad 63 Building, the neofuturistic Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Lotte World, the world's largest indoor theme park, Moonlight Rainbow Fountain, the world's longest bridge fountain and the Sevit Floating Islands. The birthplace of K-pop and the Korean Wave, Seoul received over 10 million international visitors in 2014, making it the world's 9th most visited city and 4th largest earner in tourism.

Seoul is the world's most wired city and ranked first in technology readiness by PwC's Cities of Opportunity report- It is served by the KTX high-speed rail and the Seoul Subway, providing 4G LTE, WiFi and DMB inside subway cars as well as wifi at every station. Seoul is connected via AREX to Incheon International Airport, rated the world's best airport nine years in a row (2005–2013) by Airports Council International. Lotte World Tower, a 556-metre (1,824-foot) supertall skyscraper with 123 floors, has been built in Seoul and become the OECD's tallest in 2016, with the world's tallest art gallery. Its Lotte Cinema houses the world's largest cinema screen. Seoul's COEX Mall is the world's largest underground shopping mall.

Seoul hosted the 1986 Asian Games, 1988 Summer Olympics, 2002 FIFA World Cup, the Miss Universe 1980 pageant, and the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit. A UNESCO City of Design, Seoul was named the 2010 World Design Capital.

### Venue

*For further information see Jangchung Arena*
**The Jangchung Arena** is an indoor sporting arena located in Jung District, Seoul, South Korea. Volleyball teams GS Caltex Seoul KIXX and Seoul Woori Card Wibee are the tenants.

At first, the arena was an army gymnasium, built on 23 June 1955. It was later fully reconstructed and opened on 1 February 1963. In 1966, the venue hosted a boxing match between Kim Ki-soo and Nino Benvenuti, where Kim became the first South Korean to win boxing world championship. During the 1970s, the venue hosted the presidential elections and inaugurations of Park Chung-hee and Choi Kyu-hah. The venue hosted judo and taekwondo events at the 1988 Summer Olympics. After the 2012–2014 renovation, the capacity of the arena is 4,507.

## 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), furthermore there will be Pre-Qualification Round, where eight countries battle for the last four places for the semi-finals.

### 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 at Seoul City Hall in late July 2018. 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 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-five 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:

* Canada
* Denmark
* Faroe Islands
* Iceland
* Mexico
* Norway
* United States
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Greece
* Israel
* Kosovo
* Serbia
* Japan
* North Korea
* Palau
* Singapore
* Thailand
* Vanuatu
 Pot 4
 * Andorra
* Gibraltar
* Monaco
* Morocco
* San Marino
* Portugal
* Spain
* Vatican City
* India
* Kazakhstan
* Poland
* Russia
* Turkey
* Ukraine
* Estonia
* Germany
* Ireland
* Luxembourg
* Netherlands
* Switzerland

### Running order

The Running order of both Semi-finals will be official announced by KBS in August 2018, 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

**Fifty-two** countries have confirmed their participation in the 13th edition. This includes Vanuatu which returned after being absent since the sixth edition, Thailand which returned after being absent since the seventh edition, the Faroe Islands which returned after being absent since the ninth edition, as well Croatia, Ireland, Kosovo and Vietnam returned to the contest after their two-edition absence. Furthermore Estonia returned to the contest after his one-edition absence. Furthermore India will make his debut appearance in this edition.

**Ten** countries, however, announced their withdrawal from the contest. Belarus, Belgium, Hong Kong, Latvia and Romania all announced their withdrawal citing their Head of Delegation change as the reason. The HoD's of Finland, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovenia was all forced to withdraw as they failed to present their votes within the deadline. Furthermore The Hod of Slovakia had no longer interest or time to participate in the contest.

The confirmation period for the 13th edition opened in July 2018. The contest will start most likely in Late July 2018. The following countries have expressed their provisional interest in participating in the contest:

### Returning artists

Miriam Bryant will represent the Åland Islands; she previously represented Finland in the fifth edition. Andorra will be represent by Lorena Gómez; she previously represented Spain in the third edition which she won. As well Josephine was internally selected to represent Greece for the second time. Furthermore Kristian Kostov was internally selected to represent Kazakhstan; he previously represented Bulgaria in the second- and seventh edition. Kiribati will be represent by PNAU; they previously represented Australia in the contest. Laura Pausini will represent the Italy; she previously represented the country in the eighth edition and San Marino in the sixth edition. Kosovo will represented by Dua Lipa for the second time,while R3HAB will represented Morocco for the second time. As well, KARD which previously  represented the United States, will return for North Korea again. Sigrid will represent Norway; she previously represented the country in the seventh edition, while ONE OK ROCK will represent Palau again. Poland will be represent by Gromee for a second time. Diogo Piçarra will represent Portugal for the third time. Furthermore Russia will be represented by Polina Gagarina for a second time. Also Serbia will be represent by Maya Berović for the third time. Vietnam will represented by Min for the fourth time. Finally Benji & Fede will represent Vatican City; they previously represented San Marino.

## Results

### Semi-final 1

Twenty-three countries will participate in the first semi-final.  Italy,  South Korea and  Sweden will also vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries in organge qualified for the final.

### Semi-final 2

Twenty-three countries will participate in the second semi-final.  France,  Kiribati and  United Kingdom will also vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries in organge qualified for the final and the highlighted country in blue got a Wildcard.

### 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.

* Belarus: The broadcaster announced that the country will be taking a break due to the previous Head of Delegation resignation.
* Belgium: The broadcaster announced that the country will be taking a break due to the previous Head of Delegation resignation.
* Finland: YLE was forced to announced its withdrawal, after the HoD failed to present their votes within the giving deadline.
* Hong Kong: The broadcaster announced that the country will be taking a break due to the previous Head of Delegation resignation.
* Hungary: MTVA was forced to announced its withdrawal, after the HoD failed to present their votes within the giving deadline.
* Latvia: The broadcaster announced that the country will be taking a break due to the previous Head of Delegation resignation.
* Lithuania: LRT did not reveal any statements about a participation so far. After the non-voting in the Pre-Qualification Round of last edition, it seems likely that Lithuania would not participate again.
* Romania: The broadcaster announced that the country will be taking a break due to the previous Head of Delegation resignation.
* Slovakia: RTVS announced that Slovakia will make a decision about participating after the semi-final results of the twelfth edition. A participation seems very unlikely after their non-qualification in the previous edition. On 23 July 2018 the brodcaster announced their withdrawal from the contest.
* Slovenia: After initially confirming participation, on 22 July 2018, RTVSLO was forced to announced its withdrawal, after the HoD failed to present their votes within the giving deadline.

## Notes

1. **^** *San Marino was deducted half of the scored points as punishment of the non-voting of the HoD in the Semi-Final.*
2. **^** *Kosovo scored nul points as punishment of the non-voting of the HoD, Kosovo was disqualified, Their votes was replaced by a Back-up Jury in the Final.*