Olympiad Song Contest 56

Semi-finals dates
 Final dates
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Director
 Executive supervisor
 Host
 Interval act
 Number of entries
 Voting system
 Winning song

**The Olympiad Song Contest** welcomes the world to  Belize for the **56th** Edition.

The **Olympiad Song Contest #56** will be the **56th** edition of the annual Olympiad Song Contest. It will take place in the **Belize Civic Centre**, located in **Belize City**,  Belize, following the country's victory at the **55th** edition with Aluna Francis performing **Envious**. This will be the **01st** time the country hosts the contest.

The contest is scheduled to consist of **02** semi finals and finally the grand final, with official dates for the semi finals being **22 March 2021 and 29 March 2021**. The grand final official date being the **10 April 2021**. All three live shows were hosted by **Arlen Escarpeta**

As of **14th March 2021**, **40** confirmed countries participated in the contest. **1** country has made their debut. **16** countries returned to the contest after absences, while **17** countries withdrew.

## Location

It will take place in the **Belize Civic Centre**, located in **Belize City**,  Belize, following the country's victory at the **55th** edition with Aluna Francis performing **"Envious"**.

### **Venue**

The **Belize Civic Centre** in **Belize City**, which has a capacity of approximately **4,500** attendees, was announced as the host venue on **10th March 2021**. This will be the Arena's first time hosting the contest.

### **Bidding phase and host city selection**

Following **Belize's** triumph, the Olympiad Broadcasting Union (OBU)'s Executive Supervisor for the Olympiad Song Contest, issued the hosting invitation to **TV Belize** during the winner's press conference.

**TV Belize**, announced on **5th March 2021** that with the contest being held in  **Belize** that any city, town or arena that would like to host the contest would had four days to apply to the broadcaster with their interest.

The following selection criteria were outlined for the selection of the host city:-

* The venue must be covered with a capacity of at least 1,000 but ideally up to 10,000 attendees.
* An international press centre must be able to accommodate no less than 1,550 journalists.
* Venues must also be provided for the opening and closing ceremonies of at least 3,000 attendees.
* The host city must be able to guarantee the safety and security of participants, members of delegations and guests.
* The host city must provide a social program alongside their bid, showcasing the hospitality, originality, cultural values and identity of both the city and country.

     **Host City**

## Format

### **Visual Design**

The theme for the contest, **Creative**, was unveiled on **6th March 2021** in a press conference. Its visual design features a **Gradient Sqaure** logo that alludes to the ideas to XX. The contest's Executive Supervisor remarked that the theme and logos "resonate with OSC's core values, including diversity, very well.

### **Presenters**

On **5th March 2021**, **TV Belize** announced that the contest would be hosted by **Arlen Escarpeta**.

**Spokesperson 1**:- **Arlen Escarpeta**

**Arlen Alexander Escarpeta** is a Belizean-American actor. He is best known for his roles in the films *Friday the 13th*, *Brotherhood*, *Final Destination 5*, *Into the Storm* (2014), and most notably, his portrayal of Bobby Brown in the 2015 film *Whitney.*

In November 2011, Escarpeta made an appearance on The CW's *The Secret Circle*. He also appeared in an episode of FOX's *House* (2012), NBC's *Grimm* (2014), and CBS' *Extant* (2014).

Escarpeta played the role of Bobby Brown in the new Whitney Houston biopic, *Whitney*, airing on Lifetime on January 17, 2015.

### **Voting**

The competition will consist of **02** semi-finals and a final. The **10** countries with the highest scores in each semi-final will qualify to the grand final where they will join the top 6 countries from the previous edition  **Bangladesh,  Mauritius,  Mexico,  Sweden,  United Kingdom and the host nation  Belize**.

Each participating country had their own national jury/HoD. Each member of a respective nation's jury is required to rank every song, except that of their own country, to produce an overall ranking from first to last place. The song which scored the highest overall rank received 12 points, while the tenth-best ranked song received 1 point.

## Participating Countries

As of **14th March 2021**, **40** confirmed countries participated in the contest. **1** country has made their debut. **16** countries returned to the contest after absences, while **17** countries withdrew.

### **Semi-final allocation draw**

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on **15th March 2021**. The **34** semi-finalists had been allocated into **05** pots, based on the geographical locations of the nations. Drawing from different pots helps to increase suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined which semi-final would be broadcast and voted by each of the six automatic finalist countries ( **Bangladesh,  Mauritius,  Mexico,  Sweden,  United Kingdom and the host nation  Belize**).

* Bolivia
* Brazil
* Canada
* Colombia
* Jamaica
* United States
* China
* Indonesia
* Malaysia
* Marshall Islands
* South Korea
* Taiwan
* France
* Germany
* Liechtenstein
* The Netherlands
* Portugal
* Spain
* Denmark
* Faroe Islands
* Lithuania
* Norway
* Russia
* Uzbekistan
* Greece
* Italy
* Malta
* North Macedonia
* Turkey

### **Returning Artists**

We welcome back some artists who have previous joined us in OSC.

* Australia Fifth Dawn
* Colombia Sebastián Yatra
* Greece Helena Paparizou
* Spain Alvero Soler
* Sweden Polina Gagarina [Represented  Russia #42 & #52]
* Turkey Ayse Hatun Onal

## Finals

### **Semi Final 1**

**17 Countries** are participating in this Semi Final with  Belize,  Mexico and  United Kingdom voting as 3 of the 6 automatic qualifiers of this edition. The top 10 countries that score the highest number of points will qualify to the grand final. This is to balance out the number of participants in each semi final to give each country a fair and equal chance of qualifying

     Qualified

### **Semi Final 2**

**17 Countries** are participating in this Semi Final with  Bangladesh,  Mauritius and  Sweden voting as 3 of the 6 automatic qualifiers of this edition. The top 10 countries that score the highest number of points will qualify to the grand final. This is to balance out the number of participants in each semi final to give each country a fair and equal chance of qualifying

     Qualified

## Scoring

### **12points**

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the Grand final:

### **Scoreboards**

#### This is how the votes were scored in each Semi Final.

     Voter was replaced
     Qualified

## National Selections

Here is a list of all the national selections held this edition.

 United Kingdom | United Kingdom: You Decide | Kids in the Corner  Amber Van Day  | 24