GreatVision Song Contest 7

Final date
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Entries
**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 7**, often referred to as **GVSC 7**, will be the seventh edition of the GreatVision Song Contest. The contest will be hosted in Bulgaria, after Mihaela Marinova won the the sixth edition with "Listata Padat". BNT chose the Arena Armeec in Sofia to serve as the host venue for the edition, DARA, TITA, Zahari Baharov and Mihaela Marinova were selected as the presenters. Mihaela Marinova will host the Green Room.

**Winner** after a big and exciting show was Evelina from  Finland with her the song "Vuoristorataa", she reached 341 Points. At the 2nd Place was the  Norway represent by Sigrid with her song "Strangers", she reached 335 Points and on 3rd Place was  Spain represent by Malú with her song "Invisible", she reached 329 Points, while the  Serbia,  Czech Republic and  Belarus completed the top six of the edition.

## Location

*For further information see Bulgaria*
**Bulgaria**, is a country in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe's 16th-largest country.

Organised prehistoric cultures began developing on current Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period. Its ancient history saw the presence of the Thracians, Greeks, Persians, Celts, Romans, Goths, Alans and Huns. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian state dates back to the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 AD, which dominated most of the Balkans and functioned as a cultural hub for Slavs during the Middle Ages. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 led to the formation of the Third Bulgarian State. The following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both world wars. In 1946 it became a one-party socialist state as part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc. In December 1989 the ruling Communist Party allowed multi-party elections, which subsequently led to Bulgaria's transition into a democracy and a market-based economy.

Bulgaria's population of 7.2 million people is predominantly urbanised and mainly concentrated in the administrative centres of its 28 provinces. Most commercial and cultural activities are centred on the capital and largest city, Sofia. The strongest sectors of the economy are heavy industry, power engineering, and agriculture, all of which rely on local natural resources.

The country's current political structure dates to the adoption of a democratic constitution in 1991. Bulgaria is a unitary parliamentary republic with a high degree of political, administrative, and economic centralisation. It is a member of the European Union, NATO, and the Council of Europe; a founding state of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE); and has taken a seat at the UN Security Council three times.

### Host City

*For further information see Sofia*
**Sofia** is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. 1.3 million people live in the city and 1.7 million people live in its metropolitan area. The city is at the foot of Vitosha Mountain in the western part of the country. Being in the centre of the Balkan peninsula, it is midway between the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea, and closest to the Aegean Sea.

Sofia has been an area of human habitation since at least 7000 BC. Being Bulgaria's primate city, Sofia is a hometown of many of the major local universities, cultural institutions and commercial companies. Sofia is one of the top 10 best places for start-up business in the world, especially in information technologies. Sofia was Europe's most affordable capital to visit in 2013.

### Venue

*For further information see Arena Armeec*
**Arena Armeets** is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Sofia, Bulgaria. It has a seating capacity of 12,373. For concerts it can grow to 17,000. It was originally called Arena Sofia before the Bulgarian insurance company Armeets purchased the naming rights until 2017. There are 887 parking lots, 614 of them placed in a central exterior parking, 231 placed in near streets and 42 designated for disabled people.

Designed as a universal hall for cultural events and sports, the arena could host up to 30 types of sports, including basketball, volleyball, handball, futsal, boxing, tennis, weightlifting, fencing and gymnastics competitions as well as concerts. The first major concert in the arena was held by Jean Michel Jarre, followed by artists Sade and Amorphis.

### Bidding phase

One day after their announcement of hosting the contest, BNT announced that there will be a Bidding phase in this edition. But the GBU has set some Rules for the Venue. Those were the following:

* The Green Room should be located in the arena or as near it as possible, with a capacity of 300.
* An additional room at least 6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft) in area, to house 2 catering stands, a viewing room, make-up rooms, wardrobe, and booths for approximately 50 commentators.
* Separate offices to house the press centre, open between end of August 2016 and mid/end September 2016, at least (43,000 sq ft) in area, with a capacity of at least 1,500 journalists.

**Key**
     Host venue

## Format

The GBU has decided that in the upcoming edition there will be most likely 2 Semi-finals. In each semi-final 10 countries and one Wildcard will qualify for the Grand Final to make a line-up of 27 competing countries (20 Semi-Final qualifers + Wildcard + 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. Televoting votes from all countries are pooled. After viewers have cast their votes, the results of each professional jury are presented. After the results of the professional juries are presented, the televoting points from all participating countries are combined, providing one score for each song. The results of countries finishing between 11th and 26th in the public vote are automatically added to the scoreboard, with only the results of the top ten countries being announced by the hosts. 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 tok place at Sofia City Hall on the 28th December 2017, hosted by DARA and Mihaela Marinova. 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-three or Twenty-two countries will participate in each semi-finals, respectively. From each semi-final, ten countries and a Wildcard will join the "Big 6" in the final, where a total of twenty-seven countries will participate.

The fourty-six semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, based on their geographical place. Drawing from different pots helps in reducing the chance of so-called neighbour voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined.

The six pots were the following:

* Armenia
* Belarus
* Greece
* Romania
* Serbia
* Turkey
* Ukraine
* Italy
* Malta
* Morocco
* Portugal
* San Marino
* Spain
* Vatican City
* France
* Germany
* Luxembourg
* Netherlands
* Poland
 Pot 4
 * Åland Islands
* Denmark
* Finland
* Iceland
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Norway
* United Kingdom
* Fiji
* Kiribati
* Nauru
* New Zealand
* Palau
* Singapore
* Vietnam
* Hong Kong
* Japan
* Macau
* North Korea
* Russia
* South Korea

### Running order

The Running order of both Semi-finals will be official announced by BNT on the 4th January 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

Originally **fifty-two** countries have confirmed their participation in the sevenfth edition. This includes The Netherlands which returned after being absent since the third edition, as well Luxembourg and Palau returned after there two-edition absence. Also Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Spain and Vatican City returned to the contest after their one-edition absence. Furthermore Kiribati, Macau and Morocco will make their debut appearance in this edition.

**Eight** countries, however, announced their withdrawal from the contest. Brazil, Estonia, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, South Africa and Thailand all announced their withdrawal citing their Head of Delegation change as the reason, while Sri Lanka's Head of Delegation had no longer interest to participate in the contest. Furthermore Nauru announced on the 28th December 2017 their withdrawal, without any reasons. The GBU will decide next year about sanctions for the Broadcaster.

The confirmation period for the seventh edition opened on the 2nd December 2017. The contest will start most likely in January 2018. As the rules say, if the country will select internally their entry, they should announced the artist at least one week before they reveal the song.

### Returning artists

Besa was internally selected to represent Albania for the second time; she previously represented the country in the thrid edition. Andorra will be represented by Ruth Lorenzo for the second time; she previously represented the country in the fourth edition. As well Kristian Kostov from Bulgaria took part for a second time, after he represented the country in the second edition. Also Jax Jones was selected to represent Gibraltar for the second time; he previously represented the United Kingdom in the first edition. Eleni Foureira was selected to represent Greece for the second time; she previously represented the country in the fourth edition. As well Italy will be represented by Francesca Michielin; she previously represented San Marino in the fourth edition, where she ended as Runner-up. Luxembourg will be represented by Laura Tesoro; she previously represented Belgium in the second edition. BTS was internally selected to represent North Korea for the second time; they previously represented the country in the fifth edition. San Marino will be represented by Lodovica Comello; she previously represented Vatican City in the first edition. The Sam Willows was internally selected to represent Singapore for the fourth time; they previously represented the country in the first-, third- and fifth edition. As well Marija was internally selected to represent Serbia for the second time; she previously represented the country in the third edition. The former winner of the first edition TAYANNA will return to the contest for the Ukraine.

## Results

### Semi Final 1

Twenty-two countries will participate in the first semi-final.  Andorra,  Moldova and  United States 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.

### Semi Final 2

Twenty-three countries will participate in the second semi-final.  Bulgaria,  Canada and  Sweden 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.

* Brazil: first confirm for the upcoming edition and annouced already their entry. But on the 20th December 2017 the HoD announced the withdrawl of the country. However, no reason was announced of the countries withdrawal. The Hod quit his position and will change his country to Ukraine. A return with new HoD is possible.
* Estonia: ERR 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 Spain. A return with new HoD is possible.
* Ireland: RTÉ 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 The Netherlands. A return with new HoD is possible.
* Liechtenstein: 1FLTV 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 Gibraltar. A return with new HoD is possible.
* Malaysia: MTP 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 China. A return with new HoD is possible.
* South Africa: SABC 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 Israel. A return with new HoD is possible.
* Sri Lanka: SLBC and the HoD announced the withdrawl of the country, because the broadcaster lost the interrest in a new participation. However, no reason was announced of the countries withdrawal. The HoD quit his position. A return with new HoD is possible.
* Thailand: NBT 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 Hong Kong. A return with new HoD is possible.

*After submission closed:*

* **^**  Nauru: NBS first confirm for the upcoming edition and was already allocated to the second half of the first semi-final. But on the 28th December 2017 the HoD announced the withdrawl of the country. However, no reason was announced of the countries withdrawal.

## Notes

1. **^** *Originally fifty-two countries confirm for the edition.*