Eurovision Song Festival 16

Semi-finals dates
 Semi-final 2 date
 Final date
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Conductor
 Director
 Executive supervisor
 Host broadcaster
 Number of entries
 Debuting countries
 Voting system
 Null points
 Winning song

The Eurovision Song Festival 16 was the sixteenth edition of the Eurovision Song Festival. The contest was held in the Chornomorets Stadium in Odesa, Ukraine following the victory of NK with the song "Devochki rulyat" in the Eurovision Song Festival 15. It was the third time that Ukraine hosted the Eurovision Song Festival, following the wins of Ivan NAVI and Mariya Yaremchuk in the Eurovision Song Festival 7, LOBODA in the Eurovision Song Festival 9 and NK in the last edition. The contest was organised by the European Broadcasting Organisation (EBO) in cooperation with host broadcaster Suspilne (UA:PBC) and the contest consisted of two semi-finals on 27 and 29 June, and the final on 1 July. The live shows were hosted by Nastya Kamenski, Mariya Yaremchuk and Tina Karol.

A total of 46 countries participated in the contest. The lineup for the contest remained almost the same compared with the last edition. This edition saw the debut of Morocco. Belarus was initially forced to withdraw this edition, following the violation of certain agreements set between the broadcaster and the EBO. However, eventually it was decided that the country could join through a special settlement between a private broadcaster in the country and the EBO. This contract was only set up after Austria withdrew. Furthermore, Portugal withdrew for the second time, following two disappointing results. While Russia initially was hesitant to enter the contest, UA:PBC promised that a Russian candidate would be very welcome in the country to celebrate the sixteenth edition of the contest.

The contest also saw the absence of Anya Kovalenko, the director of the previous two contests held in Ukraine. She explained that the job was too tiring for her in her current life stage and that she wanted to give the "beautiful project" to another talented director in Ukraine. This led to the installment of Olena Bobenko as the director of this edition. Besides the installment of Olena Bobenko as director, the show was presented by three famous female artists from Ukraine, making it the first edition held in Ukraine to be a full women-ruled show. The broadcaster UA:PBC later explained that this was done on purpose, following NK's victory with "Devochki rulyat" which translates roughly as "Women rule", besides showcasing the high talents of women from Ukraine.

After the 2022 Russian invasion in Ukraine, the Russian broadcaster was immediately banned from the EBO. Russia's participation was arranged and funded by a collective of European broadcasters, including LRT of Lithuania and LTV of Latvia. The Russian candidate was selected from a pool of anti-war Russian artists. The contest was scheduled to take place in Odesa, but due to the bombing of Ukrainian cities by Russian troops, this was no longer a possibility. Following consultations between the EBO and UA:PBC, an agreement was formed that the contest would be held in a different country which had never organised the show before but was very willing to do so. Eventually, Bern was chosen as the host city of this edition of the Eurovision Song Festival. The interval acts, hosts, postcards and artwork remained the same. Furthermore, the show would still be shown as taking place in Odesa and the virtual location would remain Ukraine.

## Location

The Eurovision Song Festival 16 was held in the Chornomorets Stadium, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the 15th edition of the contest with the song "Devochki rulyat", performed by NK. It was the third time Ukraine hosted the Eurovision Song Festival, as the country also won the Eurovision Song Festival 7 and the Eurovision Song Festival 9. The first time Ukraine hosted the contest, the contest was held in Lviv, while the second time the contest moved to Kyiv.

### Selection of the host city

A week after NK won the 15th edition of the contest, UA:PBC launched a bidding competition for cities to apply if they wished to host the Eurovision Song Festival. Eventually, four cities submitted a successful bid to host the contest. On the 5th of January, it was announced that Odesa would host the contest.
  †   Host venue
  ‡   Shortlisted

 Kyiv
 Palace of Sports

### 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

The contest was scheduled to take place in Odesa, but due to the bombing of Ukrainian cities by Russian troops, this was no longer a possibility. Following consultations between the EBO and UA:PBC, an agreement was formed that the contest would be held in a different country which had never organised the show before but was very willing to do so. The interval acts, hosts, postcards and artwork remained the same. Furthermore, the show would still be shown as taking place in Odesa and the virtual location would remain Ukraine, while the show would take place in a different location in real life. A few countries listed themselves as potential hosts, namingly:
  †   Host venue
  ‡   Shortlisted

  Riga

## Format

### Semi-final allocation draw

For the second time in the history of the Eurovision Song Festival, a semi-final allocation draw was used to divide the participating countries in multiple pots, in order to guarantee a fair voting process. Besides the fact that semi-finalists were now allocated in different pots, the members of the big 6 were divided between the two semi-finals as well, as from this edition on members of the big 6 vote along the semi-finalists. This measure was put into place to increase interest in the semi-finals from tv-viewers from the big 6 countries. Host country Ukraine, Switzerland and the United Kingdom were allocated to vote in the first semi-final, while Armenia, Denmark and Russia were allocated to vote in the second semi-final.

### Postcards

The postcards form short introduction videos to each of the individual participants, while also showcasing beautiful spots of the host nation. Each postcard is approximately 30 seconds long. The postcards for the 16th edition of the Eurovision Song Festival were filmed between August and September, in order to show the Ukrainian summer in the nature and society. The postcards featured mostly aerial shots of interesting tourist hotspots of the country. The artists performed a small dance routine on the location of their postcard. The following locations were used for each participating country:

### Opening and interval acts

The opening act of the first semi-final was the first Ukrainian winner in the contest. Ivan NAVI performed the song "Khimiya" alongside Mariya Yaremchuk, who won for Ukraine that edition. The opening act for the second semi-final was organised by LOBODA, who performed a new version of her song "SuperSTAR". She was the second artist to win the contest for Ukraine. The final was opened by Ukraine's most recent winner NK with her song "Devochki rulyat".

The interval act of the first semi-final was a Ukrainian folk dance show, while the interval act of the second semi-final was organised by GO\_A who performed their hit "Shum". The interval act of the final was last edition's runner up Iveta Mukuchyan, who performed her song "Mets haykakan harsaniq"

## Participating countries

On 27 December 2021, the EBO announced that a total of 46 countries would take part in the contest. Morocco debuted, while Portugal withdrew.

### Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 27 June 2022 at 21:00 (CEST). A total of twenty countries participated in the first semi-final. Those countries plus Ukraine, Switzerland and the United Kingdom voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

### Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 29 June 2022 at 21:00 (CEST). A total of twenty countries participated in the second semi-final. Those countries plus Armenia, Denmark and Russia voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

### Final

The final took place on 1 July 2022 at 21:00 (CEST). Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all fourty-six participating countries eligible to vote.

## Other countries

Eligibility for potential participating in the Eurovision Song Festival requires a national broadcaster with active EBO membership that would be able to broadcast the contest via the Eurovision network. The EBO issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members.

* Andorra - RTVA confirmed that the country would not debut in this edition, but that the broadcaster was still looking at the possibility of debuting within three editions.
* Austria - Despite initially confirming their participation, ORF confirmed that funding could not be secured in time to take part in the sixteenth edition of the Eurovision Song Festival. Besides, the broadcaster only received 45 applications for their internal selection, of which none was found suitable for the contest.
* Belarus - While BTRC is still banned from competing in the contest, the Belarusian participation was organised by Belsat TV. The country eventually replaced Austria, after the EBO first invited Malta and Portugal to return to the contest.
* Estonia - Local Estonian media reported that Hääl Eestist would be scrapped and that an internal selection would be the new method of selecting the Estonian act. EER denied these rumours, but stated that the broadcaster would be responsible for selecting five artists internally for the show instead of zero.
* Kazakhstan - Kazakh media reported that politicians from all over the country demanded the broadcaster to withdraw from the show following a last place in the semi-final last edition, alongside record low viewing figures. Khabar TV however promised to bring an incredible artist to this edition.
* Kosovo - RTK launched their official new show for smaller broadcasters from all over Europe, who are not able to participate in the Eurovision Song Festival. Besides Kosovo, Andorra, Luxembourg and Malta were announced as participants of the first edition of the show. As a pre-condition to join the show, the participating broadcasters were also obliged to broadcast the Eurovision Song Festival 16 live.
* Russia - After the 2022 Russian invasion in Ukraine, Russian broadcaster Channel 1 was immediately banned from the EBO, meaning the broadcaster could no longer participate in the Eurovision Song Festival. Eventually, after discussion amongst the members of the EBO Steering Board, Russian participation was allowed, as long as the broadcaster would be independent and against the war in Ukraine. Russian participation was eventually organised by Dozhd, an independent TV station.
* Tunisia - Tunisian broadcaster Télévision Tunisienne 1 confirmed that it would send a delegation to the show to observe the Moroccan debut, meaning that a debut of Tunisia could be likely in the near future.
* Turkey - Turkish broadcaster TRT slammed the show for not 'acknowledging Turkish culture' and confirmed that the country would organise a national final to select its entry. TRT also stated that if the country would not qualify this edition, it would withdraw from the next edition.

## Other awards

### Best male vocals

In this category, music professionals could vote for the entry which featured the strongest male vocals.

 2
 3

### Best female vocals

In this category, music professionals could vote for the entry which featured the strongest female vocals.

 2
 3

### Best composition

In this category, music professionals could vote for the entry which was both lyrically and musically the best composed.

 2
 3

### Biggest surprise

In this category, music specialists could vote for the entry with the most (positively) surprising result.

 2
 3

## Viewing figures

The EBO announced that a total of 87 million viewers across Europe watched the show live, compared to 93 milion last edition. The drop in viewing figures could be explained by the fact that Belarus and Russia did not broadcast the show on live tv, according to the EBO. Besides all the participating countries, the show was also broadcast in Kosovo, Luxembourg and Portugal. Below are the viewing figures listed for the final: