BalkanVision Song Contest 20

Participation map
* Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in #20
* **BalkanVision Song Contest**
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The **BalkanVision Song Contest 20** was the twentieth edition of the BalkanVision Song Contest. The contest took place in Zurich, Switzerland, following Switzerland's victory at the BalkanVision Song Contest 19 in Serravalle, San Marino, with the song "Apollo", performed by Timebelle. This was the first time that Switzerland hosted the contest. The contest was held at the Zürcher Hallenstadion. It consisted of a final. The show was hosted by Ilira, Luca Hänni and Stefanie Heinzmann. The event was organized by the Balkan Broadcasting Union and hosted by SRG SSR. 25 countries competed with Bavaria, Czech Republic, Gagauzia, Liechtenstein and Monaco all making their debut appearance. Austria, Greece, Slovenia and Turkey returned, while Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro withdrew.

The winner was Bulgaria with the song "I Wanna Know", performed by VICTORIA. This was Bulgaria's fifth win, having previously won the 6th, 8th, 12th and 17th editions. Malta placed 2nd and Republika Srpska placed 3rd.

## Location

**Zürich**

The contest will be hosted in Zürich, Switzerland.

### Venue

The contest took place at the Zürcher Hallenstadion. The venue has a capacity of 13,000.

### About the host city

**Zürich** or **Zurich** is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. The municipality has approximately 409,000 inhabitants, the urban agglomeration 1.315 million and the Zürich metropolitan area 1.83 million. Zürich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zurich Airport and railway station are the largest and busiest in the country.

Permanently settled for over 2,000 years, Zürich was founded by the Romans, who, in 15 BC, called it Turicum. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6,400 years ago. During the Middle Ages, Zürich gained the independent and privileged status of imperial immediacy and, in 1519, became a primary centre of the Protestant Reformation in Europe under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli.

The official language of Zürich is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect, Zürich German.

Many museums and art galleries can be found in the city, including the Swiss National Museum, the Kunsthaus and newer Theater 11 in Oerlikon. Schauspielhaus Zürich is one of the most important theatres in the German-speaking world.

Zürich is a leading global city and among the world's largest financial centres despite having a relatively small population. The city is home to many financial institutions and banking companies. Many of Switzerland's research and development centres are concentrated in the Greater Zürich area and the low tax rates and canton funding subsidies attract overseas companies to set up their headquarters or finance treasury services in the city.

*Monocle's* 2012 "Quality of Life Survey" ranked Zürich first on a list of the top 25 cities in the world "to make a base within". According to several surveys from 2006 to 2008, Zürich was named the city with the best quality of life in the world as well as the wealthiest city in Europe in terms of GDP per capita.

## Format

### Rules change

According to the discussions held on the 19 May 2019, the Balkan Broadcasting Union made new rules. These new rules will count from the twentieth edition.

For the first time, the host nation can decide at which number it wants to perform. The sponsor(s) will also get decided by the host. The other countries will randomly get allocated to two halves. The running order will be made by a professional team. Before every entry, there will be a postcard from each artist, showing the flag and the name of the nation at the end.

World-famous artists like Dua Lipa and Bebe Rexha are only allowed if their song is either new or has less than 10 Million views. The competing artists need to send their entry for approval to the official BalkanVision Council, before publishing it. The council will check if the song is appropriate according to the rules or if there is something wrong. Overused entries are not allowed to compete anymore, the new views limit is a maximum of 10 Million.

The borrowing rules were updated too, allowing the borrowing nations either to take a native artist with a maximum of 10 Million views or to borrow from a related nation with a views limit of 50 Thousand views. The two microstates Malta and San Marino still have the 500 thousand borrowing rule, where they either take an Italian artist or an international one with a views limit of 500 thousand views. Malta can also borrow from a British artist. The third microstate Liechtenstein has the 500 thousand borrowing rule too, but it can borrow from a Swiss artist or an international one. The fourth microstate Monaco has the 500 thousand borrowing rule too, but it can borrow from a French artist or an international one.

There will also be a new voting system. Now every country has to send two sets of votes, a vote from a professional jury and a televote.

After the final results, the full jury and public voting grids will be published.

### Visual design

The theme for the edition "*Expand Your Horizons!*", was unveiled on the contest's discord server on the 21 August 2019.

### Presenter(s)

Luca Hänni and Stefanie Heinzmann were selected to host on the 13 August 2019. On the 21 August 2019, it was announced that Ilira would also host the contest.

### Running order

The running order was made by randomly splitting the participating countries into 2 halves, in which producers then used to create a running order.

## Scoreboard

### 12 points

Countries in **bold** gave the maximum 24 points (12 points apiece from professional jury and televoting) to the specified entrant.

### Jury

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's professional jury in the final:

### Televoting

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the final:

## Other countries

### Active BBU-members

* Bosnia and Herzegovina - Despite initially confirming, BHRT still decided to withdraw citing the poor results as the reason. In addition to that, the broadcaster has financial issues, which was later announced to be another reason for their withdrawal.

* Moldova - Despite that Moldova initially confirmed its return, TRM announced the country's withdrawal on the 8 June 2019 due to scheduling issues.

* Montenegro - RTCG announced the country's withdrawal without citing any reasons.

* Transnistria - The Transnistrian broadcaster TV PMR didn't announce anything about the participation in the twentieth edition. Transnistria wasn't on the final list of participants.