The Sound Of Europe 11

## Editions

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The **Sound Of Europe 11**was the 11th edition of the Sound Of Europe. It took place in **Republican Stadium, Yerevan, Armenia**, following **Armenia**'s**victory** in the 10th edition with **Lucy** and her song **"Turn Around"**. This was the first time that Armenia hosted the contest. The 11th edition consisted of **two semi-finals**, which took place on 4 December 2016, and **a final**, held on 14 December 2016. The shows were presented by **Aram MP3** and **Eva Rivas** while **Lucy** was hosting the green room. Forty-seven countries participated in the 11th edition.

Once all the votes had been announced, based on 50% jury and 50% televoting, **Australia** won the contest, with **Delta Goodrem**'s song **"Wings"**.

## Location

**Yerevan** is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country. It has been the capital since 1918, the thirteenth in the history of Armenia, and the seventh located in or around the Ararat plain.

The history of Yerevan dates back to the 8th century BC, with the founding of the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BC by king Argishti I at the western extreme of the Ararat plain. Erebuni was "designed as a great administrative and religious centre, a fully royal capital." During the centuries long Iranian rule over Eastern Armenia that lasted from the early 16th century up to 1828, it was the center of Iran's Erivan khanate administrative division from 1736. In 1828, it became part of Imperial Russia alongside the rest of Eastern Armenia which conquered it from Iran through the Russo-Persian War between 1826 and 1828. After World War I, Yerevan became the capital of the First Republic of Armenia as thousands of survivors of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire settled in the area. The city expanded rapidly during the 20th century as Armenia became part of the Soviet Union. In a few decades, Yerevan was transformed from a provincial town within the Russian Empire, to Armenia's principal cultural, artistic, and industrial center, as well as becoming the seat of national government.

With the growth of the economy of the country, Yerevan has been undergoing major transformation as many parts of the city have been the recipient of new construction since the early 2000s, and retail outlets as much as restaurants, shops, and street cafes, which were rare during Soviet times, have multiplied.

As of 2011, the population of Yerevan was 1,060,138, just over 35% of the Republic of Armenia's total population. According to the official estimate of 2016, the current population of the city is 1,073,700.

Yerevan was named the 2012 World Book Capital by UNESCO. Yerevan is an associate member of Eurocities.

## Format

The edition consisted of two semi-finals and a final. The eleven countries with the highest scores in both semi-finals qualified to the final.

Each participating country had their own national jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry. Each member of a respective nation's jury was required to rank every song, except that of their own country. The voting results from each member of a particular nation's jury were combined to produce an overall ranking from first to last place. Likewise, the televoting results were also interpreted as a full ranking, taking into account the full televoting result rather than just the top ten. The combination of the jury's full ranking and the televote's full ranking produced an overall ranking of all competing entries. The song which scored the highest overall rank received 12 points, while the tenth-best ranked song received 1 point.

### **Running order**

The final running order of the competing performances at the semi-finals and the final were decided by the producer of the show and approved by the Executive Producer, the Executive Supervisor, the CBU and the Reference Group.

### **Presenters**

On 20 March 2016, DR announced that **Aram MP3** and **Eva Rivas**were the hosts of the 11th edition. **Lucy**, last edition's winner, was also chosen as host of the green room.

### **National host broadcaster**

During an initial meeting between the host broadcaster AMPTV and CBU (Contest Broadcasting Union), the representatives of the core organising team were selected. **Merfi Amadeus** was announced as the executive producer and **Kostas Bouris** as the executive supervisor.

## Participants

47 countries will participate in the 10th edition. The edition consisted of two semi-finals with 21 countries, from which the 11 with the highest scores qualified to the final. The FYR Macedonia returned to the contest, but Georgia withdrew for the second time.

### **Big 5**

  United Kingdom | The Saturdays
  Italy | Modà feat. Emma
  Latvia | Masha
  Ireland | Markus Feehily

## Results

### **Semi-final 1**

21 countries took part in the first semi-final. The eleven songs in places 1 to 11 qualified for the final and are marked in orange. Armenia, United Kingdom and Itay voted from the Big 5.

## Other countries

* Georgia - GPB announced the country's withdrawal from the contest, stating that the cost of participation is too high, and also due to the disappointing results.