UVSC 23

## 23rd UnitedVision Song Contest

**UnitedVision Song Contest 23**, often referred as **UnitedVision Song Contest April 2023**, will be the twenty-third edition of the UnitedVision Song Contest.

The event will be held at the Bass Concert Hall in Austin, Texas on April 29, 2023. The show will be hosted by Advisko.

7 States took part in the contest. Tennessee, Georgia, Massachusetts, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Texas. No new states debuted but 2 states returned (Kentucky, Georgia) and 1 state withdrew from the contest (Ohio). This will be Georgia's first participation in 2023, after leaving in December 2022.

The contest will be organized by the UBU. The contest was partnered with Autism Society for Autism Awareness Month.

## **Location**

### **Host City**

**Austin** is the state capital of Texas, an inland city bordering the Hill Country region. Home to the University of Texas flagship campus, Austin is known for its eclectic live-music scene centered around country, blues and rock. Its many parks and lakes are popular for hiking, biking, swimming and boating. South of the city, Formula One's Circuit of the Americas raceway has hosted the United States Grand Prix.

## Format

### Visual design

The slogan for this edition was, "Rise Up!". The official theme/artwork for the event was revealed on April 16, 2023. The generic logo spelled "UnitedVision Song Contest" with the host state and edition number in the middle at the bottom. The official logo was a Fire-Inspired Phoenix. The background had similar colors to the Phoenix. The UBU said "The phoenix symbolizes hope, rebirth and transformation, and this edition means being able to be reborn from the ashes and start a new beginning."

### **Voting**

The voting was changed back to the normal one due to the increase number of participating states and each state had to present their points; 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 points. Each point had to be given to each state. The televote remained the same and had people give out 3 amount of points; which included 1, 3, 5 Points. Each point had to be given to different states and couldn't be all given to 1 state.

### Opening and interval acts

One of the Interval Acts was a first. The first Interval Act was a Eurovision iconic, it was Conchita Wurst, the Eurovision 2014 winner and sung the song that she won at Eurovision. The other Interval Act was Boys World, the last edition winner. Conchita Wurst was chosen by the UBU to preform because of the theme of the edition.

### Stage design

The stage was decorated with the colors from the logo, there were decorations at the auditorium, the event did have a screen for the points and televote. Each state that participated this month, came up to the stage and sung there songs with the background visuals/props behind them on the stage. There were no restrictions for COVID-19, making it the first ever contest in the series to have no restrictions.

## Participants

### Participating states

The UBU released information on April 7, that applications would open on April 9, and close April 15. The UBU announced that 7 states were participating in the 23rd edition which were, Tennessee, Georgia, Massachusetts, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Texas.

During the grand final, Kentucky nearly won by a victory of 1 point. The state of Kentucky finally won their first win in the song contest and confirmed after the event that they would host the 24th edition in their home state, Kentucky.