Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Bulgaria participated and won in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Sweden. having internally selected Dara Ekimova to represent the country with the song "Ostani".

## Background

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Bulgarian public broadcaster BNT debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in Template:Escyr. The country initially struggled to qualify for the final, with their only success being in Template:Escyr when Elitsa and Stoyan achieved 5th place in the final with the song "Water". In 2014, after a six-year non-qualification streak, the country withdrew from the contest due to financial problems. Bulgaria returned in Template:Escyr, when Poli Genova represented the country with the song "If Love Was a Crime", achieving 4th place. The country's success continued in Template:Escyr, when Kristian Kostov achieved the country's best result to date, 2nd place, with the song "Beautiful Mess".

In Template:Escyr, Bulgaria once again did not participate in the contest due to limited finances, but returned in Template:Escyr backed financially by a sponsor. The broadcaster internally selected Victoria Georgieva to represent the country with "Tears Getting Sober", before the 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Georgieva instead represented her country in 2021 with "Growing Up Is Getting Old", which achieved 11th place in the final with 170 points.

BNT broadcasts the event within Bulgaria and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. In the past, BNT had alternated between both internal selections and national finals in order to select the Bulgarian entry. The broadcaster has opted for an internal selection process since 2016, except on their absence from the contest in 2019.

## Before Eurovision

### Internal selection

In mid-September 2022, founder Milen Vrabevski revealed to Template:Ill that they had been selected to represent Bulgaria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. No official confirmation came until 2 February, when BNT announced the group as their representative for 2023 with the song "Ostani".

Among the members of the group is Template:Ill, who previously represented Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest together with Elitsa Todorova in Template:Esccnty where they placed fifth with the song "Water", and in Template:Esccnty where they failed to qualify for the final with the song "Template:Lang", and Chilean rock musician Ronnie Romero, who has been the lead singer of several bands, including Rainbow.

## At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 24 January 2023, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Bulgaria has been placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

## References

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Template:Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest
Template:Eurovision Song Contest 2023

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Template:Cite web
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