ESC 2023 – Selezioni Nazionali – 2ª Semi-Finale

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La selezione dei partecipanti all’Eurovision Song Contest spetta alle emittenti televisive competenti dei singoli stati. A loro spetta la scelta del metodo di selezione: una selezione interna (quindi cantante e/o brano vengono scelti dall’emittente stessa), come accade solitamente per San Marino o Australia, oppure può organizzare un festival musicale (il pubblico sceglie un vincitore che viene invitato a partecipare all’Eurovision Song Contest), come accade in Norvegia (Norsk Melodi Grand Prix), Svezia (Melodifestivalen), Italia (Festival di Sanremo), Grecia (Ellinikós Telikós) e molti altri. Il vincitore dell’eventuale festival però non è obbligato a partecipare all’Eurovision Song Contest né tanto meno è obbligato ad esibirsi con la canzone vincitrice, ad esempio Iva Zanicchi ha vinto il Festival di Sanremo nel 1969, in coppia con Bobby Solo, con la canzone “Zingara”, ma all’Eurovision Song Contest si presentò da sola con il brano “Due grosse lacrime bianche”. Con il tempo buona parte delle emittenti sta abbandonando la selezione interna in favore del festival musicale.

I partecipanti non devono obbligatoriamente avere vincoli di nazionalità (ad esempio nel 1988 la Svizzera vinse con la cantante canadese Céline Dion) e le canzoni non hanno restrizioni riguardanti la lingua (anche se nelle prime edizioni vigeva un obbligo di cantare in una delle lingue ufficiali del proprio paese).

L’Eurovision Song Contest 2023 sarà la 67ª edizione dell’annuale concorso canoro. Il concorso si svolgerà presso la Liverpool Arena di Liverpool, nel Regno Unito, dopo che l’Ucraina, vincitrice dell’edizione precedente in seguito alla vittoria della Kalush Orchestra con “Stefania”, è stata dichiarata non in grado di ospitare il concorso a causa dell’invasione russa del territorio ucraino; sarà la nona edizione della manifestazione musicale a svolgersi in terra britannica, dopo le edizioni del 1960, 1963, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1982 e 1998.

A seguito della vittoria ucraina all’edizione 2022, ospitata dalla città italiana di Torino, l’EBU-UER ha invitato il paese, come da tradizione, a ospitare l’evento l’anno seguente, divenendo così la terza edizione della manifestazione musicale a svolgersi in Ucraina dopo quelle del 2005 e del 2017. Tuttavia, alla luce dell’invasione russa del territorio ucraino, è stato ipotizzato che un paese facente parte dei Big Five (Francia, Germania, Italia, Regno Unito e Spagna) avrebbe ospitato l’evento in cooperazione con l’emittente UA:PBC. A stretto giro ha seguito l’interesse ad ospitare l’evento di diversi paesi tra cui il Belgio (RTBF), l’Italia (Rai), i Paesi Bassi (NPO/AVROTROS), la Polonia (TVP), il Regno Unito (BBC) e la Svezia (SVT). Originariamente anche la Spagna (RTVE) aveva mostrato interesse a ospitare l’evento ma il 14 giugno 2022 ha ufficialmente ritirato la sua candidatura.

Il 17 giugno 2022 l’UER tramite un comunicato ha annunciato che l’Ucraina non sarebbe stata in grado di ospitare l’evento, facendone così la prima edizione dal 1980 a non essere ospitata dal paese vincitore, e che sarebbero state avviate discussioni con la BBC per una potenziale organizzazione nel Regno Unito, secondo classificato nell’edizione 2022.

Il 25 luglio successivo l’EBU-UER ha annunciato che il Regno Unito, con un’organizzazione congiunta tra BBC e UA:PBC, avrebbe organizzato la manifestazione, confermando inoltre che l’Ucraina avrebbe avuto un posto automatico nella finale in qualità di vincitrice dell’edizione precedente.

Dopo che l’UER ha annunciato che sarebbero iniziate le discussioni con la BBC, a stretto giro ha seguito l’interesse a ospitare l’evento di venti città britanniche: Aberdeen (P&J Live),] Belfast (SSE Odyssey Arena), Birmingham (Resorts World Arena e Utilita Arena Birmingham), Brighton (Brighton Centre), Bristol (YTL Arena), Cardiff (Principality Stadium), Darlington (Darlington Arena), Derry (Millennium Forum), Edimburgo (Highland Hall), Glasgow (OVO Hydro), Leeds (First Direct Arena), Liverpool (Liverpool Arena), Londra (O2 Arena, Copper Box e Wembley Arena), Manchester (Manchester Arena), Newcastle (Utilita Arena), Nottingham (Motorpoint Arena), Prudhoe, Sheffield (Sheffield Arena), Sunderland (Stadium of Light) e Wolverhampton (Molineux Stadium, Dunstall Park e Civic Halls).

Il 5 agosto la BBC e l’EBU-UER hanno annunciato e presentato il bando per ospitare la manifestazione, tramite il quale tutte le città interessate avrebbero potuto presentare ufficialmente la propria candidatura. Le prime città ad annunciare una mancanza d’interesse sono state Cardiff (citando la lista già ampia degli eventi previsti all’interno della città), Derry (che avrebbe appoggiato la candidatura di Belfast in assenza di una sede adatta), Nottingham (poiché la città non rispettava i criteri di disponibilità), Brighton (per la mancanza di una sede idonea) e Sunderland (per la mancanza di disponibilità della sede proposta).

Il 12 agosto la BBC e l’UER hanno annunciato che la scelta era stata ristretta alle città di Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle e Sheffield. Queste città sono passate alla seconda fase della selezione, dove hanno avuto tempo fino all’8 settembre per sviluppare un dossier dettagliato, che rispettava tutte le necessità per ospitare il concorso, da sottoporre alla valutazione della BBC, che avrebbe successivamente visitato le città candidate.

Il 27 settembre la BBC e l’EBU-UER hanno comunicato che la scelta era stata ristretta ulteriormente alle città di Glasgow e Liverpool, che rispettavano tutte le necessità del concorso, scartando di conseguenza Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle e Sheffield.

Il successivo 7 ottobre, durante il programma di BBC One The One Show, è stato confermato che la sede dell’Eurovision Song Contest 2023 sarebbe stata la Liverpool Arena dell’omonima città.

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 ← Eurovision Song Contest 2022 → Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Contest

🇩🇰 Denmark • 🇦🇲 Armenia • 🇷🇴 Romania • 🇪🇪 Estonia • 🇧🇪 Belgium • 🇨🇾 Cyprus • 🇮🇸 Iceland • 🇬🇷 Greece • 🇵🇱 Poland • 🇸🇮 Slovenia • 🇬🇪 Georgia • 🇸🇲 San Marino • 🇦🇹 Austria • 🇦🇱 Albania • 🇱🇹 Lithuania •  🇦🇺 Australia

• Country: 🇩🇰 Denmark

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023
  • Selection date(s): 11 February 2023
  • Host venue: Arena Næstved, Næstved, Denmark
  • Presenter(s): Tina Müller, Heino Hansen
  • Host broadcaster: DR
  • Participants – Number of entries: 8 songs will compete
  • Voting system: 100% App/SMS (Final); 50% App/SMS, 50% jury (Superfinal)
  • Selection entrant: Reiley (Rani Petersen)
  • Selection song: “Breaking My Heart”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Bård Mathias Bonsaksen, Hilda Stenmalm, Rani Petersen, Sivert Hjeltnes Hagtvet

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 1º SF 2: Failed to qualify (14th, 6 points)
  • Final result: –

Denmark participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with “Breaking My Heart” performed by Reiley. The Danish broadcaster DR organised the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023 in order to select the Danish entry. Eight songs competed in a televised show where the winner was decided upon through two rounds of voting.

Denmark was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023. Performing during the show in position 1, “Breaking My Heart” was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Denmark placed 14th out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 6 points.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Denmark had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty times since their first entry in 1957. Denmark had won the contest, to this point, on three occasions: in 1963 with the song “Dansevise” performed by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann, in 2000 with the song “Fly on the Wings of Love” performed by Olsen Brothers, and in 2013 with the song “Only Teardrops” performed by Emmelie de Forest. In the 2022 contest, “The Show” performed by Reddi failed to qualify Denmark to the final.

The Danish national broadcaster, DR, broadcasts the event within Denmark and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. DR confirmed their intention to participate at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on 26 August 2022. Denmark has selected all of their Eurovision entries thus far through the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. The broadcaster further announced that Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023 would be organised in order to select Denmark’s entry for the 2023 contest.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023. Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023 was the 53rd edition of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, the music competition that selects Denmark’s entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The event was held on 11 February 2023 at the Næstved Arena in Næstved, hosted by Tina Müller and Heino Hansen.

2.1.1.Format. Eight songs, all accompanied by the DR Grand Prix orchestra, competed in one show where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top three songs as determined exclusively on a public vote qualified to the superfinal. In the superfinal, the winner was determined based on the combination of votes from a public vote and a five-member jury panel. Viewers were able to vote via SMS or a newly introduced mobile application specifically designed for the competition. Viewers were able to vote via SMS or a mobile application specifically designed for the competition. Prior to the show, the public was provided with one free vote on the app to cast a vote each day between 6 and 10 February 2023, while viewers using the app during the show were provided with two free votes.

The five-member jury panel was composed of:

  • Anders Stig Gehrt Nielsen (Anders SG) – musician
  • Annika Aakjær – singer-songwriter
  • Emmelie de Forest – singer-songwriter, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013
  • Mich Hedin Hansen (Cutfather) – songwriter and music producer
  • Ole Tøpholm – radio host on DR P3

2.1.2.Competing entries. DR opened a submission period between 8 September 2022 and 28 October 2022 for artists and composers to submit their entries. The broadcaster stated that the competition would seek out songs that “represent the quality and breadth of the Danish music scene” with emphasis on songs that “have the potential to represent Danish music and Danish culture in the most distinguished way at the Eurovision Song Contest.” The eight competing entries were announced on 19 January 2023 at DR Byen in Copenhagen.

Two weeks before the national final, it was reported by Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet that Reiley was at risk of disqualification from the competition, as it was revealed that he previously performed his entry “Breaking My Heart” at Slow Life Slow Live Festival in Seoul, South Korea, in October 2022. This was in contravention with the contest’s rules that songs must not have been performed or released publicly prior to the contest without the broadcaster’s permission. However, it was later decided by DR that the previous performance by Reiley did not give him a competitive advantage in relation to a Danish audience and participation in DMGP.

Competing entries
Artist Song Composer(s)
EYJAA (Brynja Mary Sverrisdóttir, Sara Victoria Sverrisdóttir) “I Was Gonna Marry Him” Maria Broberg, Rasmus Olsen, Thomas Buttenschøn 
Frederik Leopold “Stuck on You” Frederik Jyll, Lasse Lindorff 
Maia Maia “Beautiful Bullshit” Joy Deb, Maja Barløse, Niclas Lundin
Mariyah LeBerg “Human” Lars Pedersen, Mariyah LeBerg, Nermin Harambašić
Micky Skeel (Micky Skeel Hansen) “Glansbillede“ Martin Bjelke, Micky Skeel Hansen
Nicklas Sonne “Freedom” Nicklas Sonne
Reiley (Rani Petersen) “Breaking My Heart” Bård Mathias Bonsaksen, Rani Petersen, Sivert Hjeltnes Hagtvet
Søren Torpegaard Lund “Lige her“ Lasse Storm, Martin Palme Skriver [da], Steven McClintock, Søren Torpegaard Lund, Tim Schou Nielsen

2.1.3.Final. The  final  took place on 11 February 2023. The running order was determined by DR and announced on 31 January 2023. In the first round of voting the top three advanced to the superfinal based on the votes of a public vote. In the week leading up to the show, viewers could vote through the DR Grand Prix app. During the show, viewers could via through SMS and the app. In the first round of voting the three songs with the most votes received through SMS as well as by each of Denmark’s regions and autonomous territories were announced, and the top three advanced to the superfinal. In the superfinal, the winner, “Breaking My Heart” performed by Reiley, was selected based on the votes of a five-member jury (50%) and a public vote (50%). In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Svea S and Ukrainian Eurovision Song Contest 2022 winner Kalush Orchestra performed as the interval acts. It was reported by DR that DR Grand Prix, the app used for voting during the national final, crashed due to overload, which caused several breaks during the show. However, according to DMGP program manager Erik Struve, the results of the show were not affected by the app crash.

Final – 11 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Frederik Leopold “Stuck on You” Eliminated
2 Eyjaa “I Was Gonna Marry Him” Eliminated
3 Micky Skeel “Glansbillede“ Advanced
4 Maia Maia “Beautiful Bullshit” Eliminated
5 Nicklas Sonne “Freedom” Advanced
6 Mariyah LeBerg “Human” Eliminated
7 Søren Torpegaard Lund “Lige her“ Eliminated
8 Reiley “Breaking My Heart” Advanced
Detailed Regional Televoting Results
Draw Song North Jutland,
Faroe Islands and
Greenland		 Central
Denmark		 Southern
Denmark		 Zealand Capital
Region		 SMS
1 “Stuck on You”
2 “I Was Gonna Marry Him”
3 “Glansbillede“ X X X X X
4 “Beautiful Bullshit” X
5 “Freedom” X X X X X
6 “Human” X
7 “Lige her“
8 “Breaking My Heart” X X X X X X
Superfinal – 11 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
1 Micky Skeel “Glansbillede“ 8% 15% 23% 3
2 Nicklas Sonne “Freedom” 14% 20% 34% 2
3 Reiley “Breaking My Heart” 28% 15% 43% 1

Controversies. 

Reiley’s non-disqualification. Two weeks before the final, it was reported by the newspaper Ekstra Bladet that Reiley was in danger of being disqualified from the contest because it was revealed on Instagram that he previously performed his entry at Slow Life Slow Live Festival in Seoul, South Korea last October 2022. This ran contrary to the contest’s rules that songs must not have been performed or released publicly prior to the contest without the broadcaster’s permission. However, it was later decided by DR that the previous performance by Reiley did not give him a competitive advantage in relation to a Danish audience and participation in DMGP.

Voting app crash. It was reported by DR that DR Grand Prix, the app used for voting during Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023 crashed during the final due to overload, which caused the delay of the show. However, according to Program Manager Erik Struve, the results of the show was not affected by the app crash.

3.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Denmark has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Denmark was set to perform in position 1, before the entry from Armenia.

At the end of the show, Denmark was not among the ten countries announced as qualifiers for the final.

All three shows were broadcast live within Denmark on DR1 with Danish commentary provided by Nicolai Molbech.[20] The three shows were also broadcast within the Faroe Islands on Kringvarp Føroya, with both Danish-language commentary via DR and Faroese commentary by Gunnar Nolsøe and Siri Súsonnudóttir Hansen available. The semi-final 1 broadcast on DR1 reached a total of 380,000 viewers, while the semi-final 2, which included the participation of Denmark, was viewed by 479,000 people. 372,000 people tuned into the DR1 broadcast of the final, a drop of around 150,000 viewers compared to the 2022 contest.

3.2.Voting.

3.2.1.Points awarded to Denmark.

Points awarded to Denmark (Semi-final 2)

Score Televote
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points  Iceland
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

3.2.2.Points awarded by Denmark.

Points awarded by Denmark (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Iceland
10 points  Australia
8 points  Belgium
7 points  Poland
6 points  Austria
5 points  Lithuania
4 points  Cyprus
3 points  Albania
2 points  Slovenia
1 point  Estonia
Points awarded by Denmark (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Finland  Sweden
10 points  Norway  Norway
8 points  Sweden  Finland
7 points  Ukraine  Austria
6 points  Belgium  France
5 points  Poland  Cyprus
4 points  Switzerland  Lithuania
3 points  Italy  Belgium
2 points  Cyprus  Australia
1 point  Moldova  United Kingdom

3.2.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Danish jury:

  • Anders Øhrstrøm
  • Andreas Hemmeth
  • Brigitte Naess-Schmidt
  • Ericka Jane Pedersen
  • Lise Cabble

Detailed voting results from Denmark (Final)

Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 6 7 6 7 19 4 7 19
02  Portugal 20 22 23 24 22 25 25
03  Switzerland 15 8 3 12 21 11 7 4
04  Poland 19 11 12 19 9 18 6 5
05  Serbia 25 19 2 25 25 15 22
06  France 17 20 15 2 5 5 6 13
07  Cyprus 7 4 7 13 12 6 5 9 2
08  Spain 18 25 20 8 15 21 26
09  Sweden 1 1 1 1 2 1 12 3 8
10  Albania 22 23 25 26 13 24 16
11  Italy 13 21 10 3 17 13 8 3
12  Estonia 8 6 9 16 16 14 21
13  Finland 2 3 17 5 10 3 8 1 12
14  Czech Republic 16 17 18 14 4 16 12
15  Australia 3 10 21 20 6 9 2 11
16  Belgium 14 14 14 15 1 8 3 5 6
17  Armenia 11 18 11 9 14 17 23
18  Moldova 24 24 5 22 18 19 10 1
19  Ukraine 12 15 26 11 23 22 4 7
20  Norway 5 5 8 4 3 2 10 2 10
21  Germany 23 9 16 23 24 23 20
22  Lithuania 10 2 19 21 7 7 4 14
23  Israel 4 16 13 6 20 12 17
24  Slovenia 21 13 24 17 8 20 18
25  Croatia 26 26 22 18 26 26 15
26  United Kingdom 9 12 4 10 11 10 1 24

• Country: 🇦🇲 Armenia

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Internal selection 2023
  • Selection date(s): Artist: 1 February 2023 Ι Song: 15 March 2023
  • Host venue: –
  • Presenter(s): –
  • Host broadcaster: ARMTV (AMPTV)
  • Participants – Number of entries: –
  • Voting system: –
  • Selection entrant: Brunette / Բրյունետ (Elen Yeremyan, Էլեն Երեմյան)
  • Selection song: “Future Lover”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Elen Yeremyan (Էլեն Երեմյան)

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 2º SF 2: Qualified (6th, 99 points)
  • Final result: 14th, 122 points

Armenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song “Future Lover”, written and performed by Brunette. The internal selection of Brunette as the Armenian artist in the 2023 contest was announced by the Armenian broadcaster Public Television of Armenia (AMPTV) on 1 February 2023, while the song “Future Lover” was later presented to the public on 15 March 2023.

Armenia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023. Performing during the show in position 2, “Future Lover” was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 13 May. It was later revealed that Armenia placed sixth out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 99 points. In the final, Armenia performed in position 17 and placed fourteenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 122 points, marking Armenia’s highest placing in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2016.

1.Background. Prior to the  2023 contest, Armenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fourteen times since its first entry in 2006. Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been fourth place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 2008 with the song “Qélé, Qélé” performed by Sirusho and in 2014 with the song “Not Alone” performed by Aram Mp3. Armenia had, to this point, failed to qualify to the final on three occasions, in 2011, 2018 and 2019. The nation briefly withdrew from the contest on two occasions: in 2012 due to long-standing tensions with then-host country Azerbaijan, and in 2021 due to social and political crises in the aftermath of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. In 2022, Armenia returned to the contest, with its entry “Snap” performed by Rosa Linn qualifying for the final and placing 20th overall.

The Armenian national broadcaster, Public Television of Armenia (AMPTV), broadcasts the event within Armenia and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. Following their one-year absence, AMPTV confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on 20 October 2022. Armenia has used various methods to select the Armenian entry in the past, such as internal selections and a live televised national final to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. Between 2014 and 2016, and in 2019 and 2022, the broadcaster internally selected both the artist and the song, while the national final Depi Evratesil was organized in 2017, 2018 and 2020.[6] For 2023, the broadcaster opted to continue selecting the Armenian entry internally.

2.Before Eurovision. 

2.1.Internal selection. The Armenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was internally selected by AMPTV. On 25 January 2023, Armenian media reported that singer Brunette had been selected to represent the country with an R&B style song, though AMPTV did not comment. On 1 February 2023, AMPTV officially confirmed that Brunette would represent Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Following the announcement, Hovhannes Movsisyan, executive director of AMPTV, stated that “last year, sending a young artist to Eurovision was justified. The song is still successful and captivates millions of fans. I hope this year we will surprise the European audience with a unique Armenian artist.” Brunette stated that “I am happy to share the news with you. I just create music, and this time I will share it with the European audience!”. Her entry, “Future Lover”, was released on 15 March 2023, alongside a music video which was premiered on the official Eurovision YouTube channel. The video was directed by Aramayis Hayrapetyan.

“‘Future Lover’ is a poetic canvas, a letter with no addressee. I remember once scrolling through my phone and seeing this beautiful quote which was such a simple yet beautiful thought that immediately inspired me. The words turned into a melody and a whole range of emotions just exploded out of me. Throughout our lives we’re all looking for the one – the future lover, the embodiment of our dreams, ideals, fears.” — Brunette.

Promotion. Brunette made several appearances across Europe and Armenia to promote “Future Lover” as the Armenian Eurovision entry. On 8 April 2023, she travelled to Madrid, Spain, where she performed at the PrePartyES in Madrid’s Sala La Riviera. On 15 April 2023, Brunette performed “Future Lover” at the Eurovision in Concert 2023 at Amsterdam’s AFAS Live in the Netherlands.

In the run-up to the contest, AMPTV launched their annual promotional series Destination Eurovision that introduced and focused on Brunette’s journey to Liverpool, and covered the preparations for her Eurovision performance. On 15 April 2023, AMPTV broadcast a special pre-recorded edition of their music programme First Studio, featuring several performances from Brunette, including the premiere of her Armenian language song “Dimak” and special orchestral versions of “Future Lover” and “Arevin Mot”.

3.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Armenia was placed into the second semi-final, held on 11 May 2023, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Armenia was set to perform in position 2, following the entry from Denmark and before the entry from Romania. Immediately after the close of the second semi-final, a press conference was held in which each of the artists drew the half of the final of which they would perform in.[18] Armenia was drawn into the second half of the final and was later selected by the EBU to perform in position number 17, following the entry from Belgium and before the entry from Moldova.

In Armenia, all shows were broadcast on Armenia 1 and on Public Radio of Armenia, with commentary by Hamlet Arakelyan and Hrachuhi Utmazyan. The Armenian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Armenian jury during the final, was Maléna, who won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021 for Armenia.

3.1.Semi-final. Brunette took part in technical rehearsals on 1 and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May. This included the jury show on 10 May where the professional back-up juries of each country watched and voted in a result used if any issues with public televoting occurred.

The Armenian performance featured marble effect pink and blue LED’s on the floor, whilst Brunette was positioned on a large platform for the majority of the performance. Brunette’s costume was designed by Narek Jhangiryan and alluded to the Mother Armenia monument in Yerevan. Jhangiryan stated that “I drew inspiration from one of the most iconic landmarks in Yerevan – the Mother Armenia statue. This powerful metallic sculpture of a woman can be seen as you enter the city centre and symbolises the strength, power and beauty of Armenian women. My dress is a modern representation of this remarkable statue, designed to pay homage to the enduring spirit of Armenian women”. For the performance, the Armenian delegation also included a dance break to the song, altering the original version of “Future Lover”.

At the end of the show, Armenia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final, marking a second consecutive Armenian qualification to the final. It was later revealed that Armenia placed sixth out of the sixteen participating countries in the second semi-final with 99 points.

3.2.Final. Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners’ press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Armenia was drawn to compete in the second half. Following this draw, the shows’ producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Armenia was subsequently placed to perform in position number 17, following the entry from Belgium and before the entry from Moldova.

Brunette once again took part in dress rehearsals on 12 and 13 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show on 12 May. She performed a repeat of their semi-final performance during the final on 13 May. Armenia placed 14th in the final, scoring 122 points; 53 points from the public televoting and 69 points from the juries.

3.3.Voting. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Armenia in the second semi-final and in the final. Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public. The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country’s jury and televoting were released after the final. The Armenian jury consisted of Arsen Grigoryan, David Badalyan, Hrach Keshishyan, Vahagn Gevorgyan and Sona Rubenyan. In the second semi-final, Armenia placed 6th with 99 points, receiving maximum twelve points from Belgium and Georgia. In the final, Armenia placed 14th with 122 points, receiving twelve points in the televote from France and Georgia. Over the course of the contest, Armenia awarded its 12 points to Georgia in the second semi-final, and to Israel in both the jury and televote of the final.

3.3.1.Points awarded to Armenia.

Points awarded to Armenia (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points
  •  Belgium
  •  Georgia
10 points
  •  Cyprus
  •  Rest of the World
  •  Spain
8 points
  •  Albania
  •  Greece
7 points
6 points  Romania
5 points  Poland
4 points
  •  Austria
  •  San Marino
3 points
  •  Estonia
  •  Ukraine
2 points  Australia
1 point
  •  Lithuania
  •  Slovenia 
Points awarded to Armenia (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points
  •  France
  •  Georgia
10 points
  •  Albania
  •  Georgia
8 points  Rest of the World  Czech Republic
7 points  France
6 points  Belgium  Ireland
5 points
  •  Italy
  •  Switzerland
4 points  Cyprus  Cyprus
3 points  Israel
  •  Estonia
  •  Spain
  •  United Kingdom
2 points
  •  Czech Republic
  •  Greece
  •  Moldova
  •  Spain
  Moldova
1 point
  •  Austria
  •  Latvia
  •  Poland

3.3.2.Points awarded by Armenia.

Points awarded by Armenia (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Georgia
10 points  Cyprus
8 points  Poland
7 points  Albania
6 points  Estonia
5 points  Slovenia
4 points  Australia
3 points  Austria
2 points  Greece
1 point  Belgium
Points awarded by Armenia (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Israel  Israel
10 points  France  Sweden
8 points  Cyprus  Finland
7 points  Sweden  France
6 points  Finland  Spain
5 points  Poland  Cyprus
4 points  Norway  Norway
3 points  Italy  Ukraine
2 points  Switzerland  Austria
1 point  Ukraine  Poland

3.3.3.Detailed voting results. Each nation’s jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song’s composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation’s televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

The following members comprised the Armenian jury:

  • Arsen Grigoryan – actor, singer
  • David Badalyan – singer
  • Hrach Keshishyan – film director, producer
  • Vahagn Gevorgyan – songwriter, producer
  • Sona Rubenyan – singer-songwriter
Detailed voting results from Armenia (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 4 8 18 9 20 9 2 20
02  Portugal 11 12 23 11 24 18 21
03  Switzerland 18 17 22 19 21 23 9 2
04  Poland 12 9 17 12 7 10 1 6 5
05  Serbia 8 13 24 18 23 19 25
06  France 9 10 6 3 3 4 7 2 10
07  Cyprus 6 7 9 7 6 6 5 3 8
08  Spain 5 3 11 6 12 5 6 16
09  Sweden 2 2 3 5 2 2 10 4 7
10  Albania 25 25 25 25 25 25 15
11  Italy 13 19 5 10 19 11 8 3
12  Estonia 14 11 15 20 5 12 14
13  Finland 1 5 2 1 9 3 8 5 6
14  Czech Republic 20 21 4 13 22 13 19
15  Australia 16 18 7 16 18 15 24
16  Belgium 19 16 12 23 17 20 18
17  Armenia
18  Moldova 22 15 16 22 16 22 13
19  Ukraine 15 4 13 14 4 8 3 10 1
20  Norway 7 6 14 4 10 7 4 7 4
21  Germany 23 20 19 15 13 21 17
22  Lithuania 21 22 10 21 8 16 22
23  Israel 3 1 1 2 1 1 12 1 12
24  Slovenia 10 14 21 17 11 17 11
25  Croatia 24 24 20 24 15 24 23
26  United Kingdom 17 23 8 8 14 14 12

• Country: 🇷🇴 Romania

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Selecția Națională 2023
  • Selection date(s): 11 February 2023
  • Host venue: TVR Studio Pangrati, Bucharesg
  • Presenter(s): Ilinca Băcilă, Laurențiu Niculescu
  • Host broadcaster:Televiziunea Română (TVR)
  • Participants – Number of entries: –
  • Voting system: 100% tele/online
  • Selection entrant: Theodor Andrei
  • Selection song: “D.G.T. (Off and On)” (Fingers)
  • Selected songwriter(s): Theodor Andrei, Mikail Jahed, Luca de Mezzo, Luca Udățeanu

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 3º SF 2: Failed to qualify (15th, 0 points)
  • Final result: –

Romania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with “D.G.T. (Off and On)” performed by Theodor Andrei. The Romanian broadcaster Televiziunea Română (TVR) organised the national final Selecția Națională 2023 on 11 February 2023 in order to select the Romanian entry for the 2023 contest.

Romania was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023. Performing during the show in position 3, “D.G.T. (Off and On)” was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Romania placed 15th out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final, with no points having been awarded to the nation.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Romania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since its first entry in 1994. To this point, its highest placing in the contest has been third place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 2005 with the song “Let Me Try” performed by Luminița Anghel and Sistem, and in 2010 with the song “Playing with Fire” performed by Paula Seling and Ovi. To this point, Romania has qualified to the final 14 out of 17 times since the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the contest in 2004. In 2022, “Llámame” by WRS qualfied to the final and placed 18th.

The Romanian national broadcaster, Televiziunea Română (TVR), broadcasts the event within Romania and organizes the selection process for the nation’s entry. TVR has consistently selected the Romanian Eurovision entry through national finals that feature a competition among several artists and songs, except in 2021 when the Romanian entry was internally selected. Despite threatening a possible withdrawal in response to the nation’s suspended jury votes in the 2022 contest, the broadcaster confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on 26 August 2022 after dropping all objections towards the EBU. TVR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Romania, a procedure which the broadcaster opted for once again to select their 2023 entry.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.0.Selecția Națională 2023. Selecția Națională 2023 was the national final format developed by TVR in order to select Romania’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The competition took place at the TVR studios on 11 February 2023.

2.1.1.Competing entries. TVR opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries between 14 November 2022 and 11 December 2022. Composers were able to submit songs without a performer and should this be the case, the performers would be chosen by TVR in consultation with their composers. The broadcaster received 85 submissions after the submission deadline passed. An expert committee consisting of Sebastian Ferenț (Untold and Neversea), Laura Coroianu (Emagic), Bogdan Strătulă (Urban Sunsets Radio), John Varbiu (Summer Well), Alin Vaida (Jazz in the Park), Mihai Predescu (Head of the Romanian delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest) and Remus Achim (project director of the national final) reviewed the received submissions between 14 and 16 December 2022. Each juror on the committee rated each song between 1 (lowest) and 10 (highest) based on criteria such as the melodic harmony, structure and lyrics of the song, the orchestral arrangement, originality and stylistic diversity of the composition, sound and voice quality as well as the overall interpretative, visual and artistic quality. After the combination of the jury votes, the top twelve entries that scored the highest were selected for the national final. The competing entries were announced on 17 December 2022. Among the artists, Andrada Popa previously represent Romania in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 alongside Mădălina Lefter.

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Adriana Moraru “Faralaes“ Oana Adriana Moraru
Aledaida “Bla Bla Bla” Liam Erixon, Emilija Jokubaitytė, Ellis Sportel, Andrei Mihai
Amia “Puppet” Erin Dăneț, Cătălina Ioana Oțeleanu, Alexia Maria Troacă
Andrada Popa “No Time for Me” Andrada Popa, Ciprian Lemnaru
Andreea D Folclor Orchestra “Perinița mea“ Silviu Păduraru, Andreea Păduraru
Andrei Duțu “Statues” Kjetil Mørland, Aidan O’Connor
Deiona “Call on Me” Erin Dăneț, Cătălina Ioana Oțeleanu, Andreea Ioana Stoica
JaxMan (Erin Dăneţ) “Bad & Cool” Erin Dăneț, Cătălina Ioana Oțeleanu
Maryliss “Hai vino“ Maria Avramescu
Ocean Drive “Take You Home” Alin Mihai Dunca, Andrei Glad Condor, Cătălin Peter, Czol Laszlo, David Andrei Dragoș
Steven Roho, Gabriella and Formația Albatros “Lele“ Alex Roșu, Formația Albatros, Gabriela Lazăr
Theodor Andrei “D.G.T. (Off and On)” Theodor Andrei, Mikail Jahed, Luca De Mezzo, Luca Udățeanu

2.1.2.Final. The final took place on 11 February 2023. Twelve songs competed and the winner was selected exclusively by a public vote through televoting and online voting.

Final – 11 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Public Place
Televote Online Total
1 Deiona “Call on Me” 925 953 1,878 9
2 Andrada Popa “No Time for Me” 704 902 1,606 10
3 Ocean Drive “Take You Home” 867 602 1,469 11
4 Amia “Puppet” 2,346 1,886 4,232 5
5 Andrei Duțu “Statues” 2,269 2,033 4,302 3
6 Theodor Andrei “D.G.T. (Off and On)” 2,556 2,674 5,230 1
7 Steven Roho, Gabriella and Formația Albatros “Lele“ 1,626 1,231 2,857 6
8 Aledaida “Bla Bla Bla” 2,118 2,132 4,250 4
9 Adriana Moraru “Faralaes” 510 415 925 12
10 Maryliss “Hai vino“ 1,497 974 2,471 7
11 JaxMan “Bad & Cool” 1,271 1,188 2,459 8
12 Andreea D Folclor Orchestra “Perinița mea“ 2,896 1,946 4,845 2

3.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Romania has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Romania was set to perform in position 3, following the entry from Armenia and before the entry from Estonia.

At the end of the show, Romania was not among the ten countries announced as qualifiers for the final. It was later revealed Romania received no points along with San Marino and placed 15th.

3.1.Voting.

3.1.1.Points awarded to Romania. In the semi-final, Romania did not receive any points in the televote.

3.1.2.Points awarded by Romania.

Points awarded by Romania (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Slovenia
10 points  Australia
8 points  Albania
7 points  Austria
6 points  Armenia
5 points  Estonia
4 points  Cyprus
3 points  Poland
2 points  Georgia
1 point  Lithuania
Points awarded by Romania (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Moldova  Italy
10 points  Finland  Sweden
8 points  Sweden  Estonia
7 points  Italy  Moldova
6 points  Israel  Cyprus
5 points  Norway  Albania
4 points  Ukraine  Israel
3 points  France  Australia
2 points  Slovenia  Belgium
1 point  Cyprus  Poland

3.1.4.Detailed final results. The following members comprised the Romanian jury:

  • Bogdan Stratula
  • Razvan Petre
  • Alexandra Cepraga
  • Christina Nicoleta Savulescu
  • Elena Monica Anghel
Detailed voting results from Romania (Final) 
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 26 21 21 24 13 23 21
02  Portugal 19 24 8 9 10 16 22
03  Switzerland 25 7 16 7 14 14 19
04  Poland 13 8 19 8 6 10 1 16
05  Serbia 22 23 25 23 21 25 17
06  France 11 12 20 17 11 21 8 3
07  Cyprus 7 17 9 3 5 5 6 10 1
08  Spain 18 18 18 6 20 20 13
09  Sweden 3 13 2 5 1 2 10 3 8
10  Albania 6 11 6 4 9 6 5 20
11  Italy 4 1 1 1 4 1 12 4 7
12  Estonia 9 2 4 2 15 3 8 23
13  Finland 21 20 24 25 2 13 2 10
14  Czech Republic 14 16 15 19 22 22 15
15  Australia 1 22 14 15 23 8 3 18
16  Belgium 2 15 12 14 17 9 2 25
17  Armenia 16 9 7 11 24 15 12
18  Moldova 8 4 5 12 3 4 7 1 12
19  Ukraine 15 5 17 20 16 17 7 4
20  Norway 20 10 13 10 12 18 6 5
21  Germany 5 25 26 16 19 19 11
22  Lithuania 12 3 10 18 25 11 26
23  Israel 17 14 3 13 7 7 4 5 6
24  Slovenia 23 19 22 21 18 24 9 2
25  Croatia 24 26 23 26 26 26 14
26  United Kingdom 10 6 11 22 8 12 24

• Country: 🇪🇪 Estonia

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Eesti Laul 2023 (Estonian Song, The Song of Estonia)
  • Selection date(s): Semi-final 1: 12 January 20232, Semi-final 2: 14 January 2023 I Final: 11 February 2023
  • Host venue: Viimsi Artium, Lubja, Estonia
  • Presenter(s): Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld
  • Host broadcaster: ERR
  • Participants – Number of entries: 12 songs will compete in the Final (10 songs will compete in Semi-final 1, 6 songs will qualify for the Final; 10 songs will compete in Semi-final 2, 6 songs will qualify for the Final)
  • Voting system: Semi-finals: In the first round of voting, five qualifiers will be determined by 50% jury, 50% televoting. In the second round of voting, one more qualifier will be chosen by 100% televoting; Final: Three superfinalists will be determined by 50% international jury, 50% televoting. In the Superfinal, the winner will be determined by 100% televoting.
  • Selection entrant: Alika (Alika Milova)
  • Selection song: “Bridges”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Alika Milova, Wouter Hardy, Nina Sampermans

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 4º SF 2: Qualified (10th, 74 points)
  • Final result: 8th, 168 points

Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with “Bridges” performed by Alika. The Estonian broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) organised the national final Eesti Laul 2023 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2023 contest.

In the second semi-final, Estonia qualified for the final on 13 May, where they later finished in 8th place.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-seven times since its first entry in 1994, winning the contest in 2001 with the song “Everybody” performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Estonia has, to this point, managed to qualify to the final on eight occasions. In 2022, “Hope” performed by Stefan qualified Estonia to the final, where it placed 13th.

The Estonian national broadcaster, Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR), broadcasts the event within Estonia and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. ERR confirmed Estonia’s participation at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on 1 August 2022.[1] Since their debut, the Estonian broadcaster has organised national finals that feature a competition among multiple artists and songs in order to select Estonia’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The Eesti Laul competition has been organised since 2009 in order to select Estonia’s entry, and on 13 September 2022, ERR announced the organisation of Eesti Laul 2023 in order to select the nation’s 2023 entry.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Eesti Laul 2023. Eesti Laul 2023 was the fifteenth edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul, which selected Estonia’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The competition consisted of twenty entries competing in two semi-finals on 12 and 14 January 2023 leading to a twelve-song final on 11 February 2023. All three shows were broadcast on Eesti Televisioon (ETV), on ETV+ with Russian commentary, via radio on Raadio 2 as well as streamed online at the broadcaster’s official website err.ee.

2.1.1.Format. The format of the competition included two semi-finals on 12 and 14 January 2023 and a final on 11 February 2023. Ten songs competed in each semi-final and the top five from each semi-final qualified. The results of the semi-finals were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a professional jury and public televoting for the first four qualifiers, and a second round of public televoting for the fifth qualifier. The public also selected two wildcards out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from both semi-finals to complete the twelve song lineup in the final. The winning song in the final was selected over two rounds of voting: the first round results selected the top three songs via the 50/50 combination of jury and public voting, while the second round (superfinal) determined the winner solely by public televoting.

2.1.2.Competing entries. On 13 September 2022, ERR opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 20 October 2022 through an online upload platform. Each artist and songwriter was only able to submit a maximum of five entries. Foreign collaborations were allowed as long as 50% of the songwriters were Estonian. A fee was also imposed on songs being submitted to the competition, with €50 for songs in the Estonian language and €100 for songs in other languages; both of the fees were doubled for entries submitted from 17 October 2022. 217 submissions were received by the deadline, of which 92 were in Estonian. A 16-member jury panel selected 20 semi-finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced during the ETV entertainment program Ringvaade on 1 and 2 November 2022. The selection jury consisted of Ahto Kruusmann, Alar Kotkas, Andres Aljaste, Carola Madis, Ingrid Kohtla, Janika Sillamaa, Karl-Erik Taukar, Kristiina Kraus, Lenna, Margus Kamlat, Marta Püssa, Ott Lepland, Robert Linna, Silver Lass, Simon Jay and Vaido Pannel. Wiiralt were originally supposed to perform their entry “Salalik” together with Ultima Thule, but the latter band withdrew after its member Riho Sibul died in November 2022.

Among the competing artists was previous Eurovision Song Contest entrant Robin Juhkental, who represented Estonia in 2010 as part of the group Malcolm Lincoln together with Manpower 4. Andres Kõpper (member of Meelik), Annett x Fredi, Bonzo, Elysa, Inger, Joosep Järvesaar (member of Bedwetters), Karl-Kristjan Kingi (member of Bedwetters), Meelik Samel (member of Meelik), Mia, Sissi and Wiiralt have all competed in previous editions of Eesti Laul. Elysa’s entry is written by Stig Rästa, who represented Estonia in 2015, and the entry from M Els is co-written by Stefan Airapetjan, who represented Estonia in 2022. Janek’s entry is written by Kjetil Mørland, who represented Norway in 2015.

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Alika

(Alika Milova)

 “Bridges” Alika Milova, Wouter Hardy, Nina Sampermans
Andreas Poom “Why Do You Love Me” Andreas Poom, Alan Roy Scott, Julia Sundberg
Anett x Fredi

(Anett Kulbin,Frederik Küüts) 

 “You Need To Move On” Frederik Küüts, Anett Kulbin, Jason Hunter
Bedwetters (Joosep Järvesaar, Mihkel Mõttus, Karl-Kristjan Kingi, Kaspar Koppel, Rauno Kutti) “Monsters” Joosep Järvesaar, Mihkel Mõttus, Rauno Kutti, Kaspar Koppel, Karl-Kristjan Kingi, Claus Peneri, Kris Evan-Säde
Carlos Ukareda “Whiskey Won’t Forget” Carlos Ukareda, Gevin Niglas, Chris Roberts
Ellip “Pretty Girl” Pille-Riin Karro, Meelis Meri
Elysa

(Elisa Kolk)

 “Bad Philosophy” Stig Rästa, Vallo Kikas, Elisa Kolk, Anne Gudrun Michaelsen, Alex Ghinea
Inger

(Inger Fridolin)

 “Awaiting You” Inger Fridolin, Oliver de la Rosa Padilla, Sofia-Liis Liiv
Janek

(Janek Valgepea)

 “House of Glass” Janek Valgepea, Kjetil Mørland
Kaw “Valik” Gevin Niglas, Jesse Keihäsvuori
Linalakk & Bonzo

(, Andrus Albrecht ‘Bonzo’)

 “Aeg” Liina Tsimmer
M els “So Good At What You Do” Stefan Airapetjan, Andreas Poom, Hugo Martin Maasikas, Gevin Niglas, Stig Rästa
Meelik “Tuju” Andres Kõpper, Meelik Samel, Rain Parve, Martin Petermann
Merlyn

(Merlyn Uusküla-Hein, Merka)

 “Unicorn Vibes” Merlyn Uusküla, Llauri Lembinen
Mia (Kersti Kukk) “Üks samm korraga” Kersti Kukk
Neon Letters & Maiko

( , Maiko Tammik)

 “Tokimeki” (ときめき) Aap-Eerik Lai, Johanna Holvandus, Maiko Tammik
Ollie

(Oliver Mazurtšak)

 “Venom” Oliver Mazurtšak
Robin Juhkental “Kurbuse matused” Robin Juhkental
Sissi

(Sissi Nylia Benita)

 “Lighthouse” Sissi Nylia Benita
Wiiralt & Ultima Thule (Marta Arula, Vahur Krautman, Martin Saaremägi, Sander Nõmmistu, Mihkel Uba, Siim Türnpuu, Hans K. Pikani & Riho Sibul, Raul Vaigla, Tõnis Mägi, Toomas Rull, Kalle Vilpuu, Aare Põder) “Salalik” Martin Saaremägi, Vahur Krautman

2.1.3.Shows.

2.1.3.1.Semi-finals. The two semi-finals took place on 12 and 14 January 2023 at the Viimsi Artium in Viimsi, hosted by Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld. In each semi-final ten songs competed for the first four spots in the final with the outcome decided upon by the combination of the votes from a jury panel and a public televote, with the remaining qualifier decided by an additional televote between the remaining non-qualifiers. The jury panel that voted in the semi-finals consisted of Eleryn Tiit, Birgit Sarrap, Grete Paia, Eva Palm, Indrek Vaheoja, Aarne Saluveer, Jaan Tätte Jr., Toomas Olljum, Danel Pandre, Sandra Ashilevi and Jon Mikiver.

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the band Minimal Wind with Janika Sillama, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993, the duo Chlicherik and Mäx, and the hosts Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld performed as the interval acts in the first semi-final, while singers Grete Paia with Sven Lõhmus, Kerli Kõiv with Kristjan Järvi, and Yasmyn performed as the interval acts in the second semi-final.

* First round (jury and televote) qualifier ** Second round (televote-only) qualifier

Semi-final 1 – 12 January 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Votes Points Votes Points
1 Janek “House of Glass” 33 3 1,134 7 10 6
2 Ellip “Pretty Girl” 91 8 502 2 10 7
3 Kaw “Valik” 42 4 269 1 5 10
4 Merlyn “Unicorn Vibes” 14 1 529 4 5 9
5 Mia “Üks samm korraga” 29 2 1,326 8 10 5
6 Neon Letters and Maiko “Tokimeki“ 61 5 520 3 8 8
7 Ollie * “Venom” 115 12 1,397 12 24 1
8 Andreas *  “Why Do You Love Me” 81 7 555 5 12 4
9 Bedwetters * “Monsters” 73 6 1,335 10 16 2
10 Anett and Fredi * “You Need to Move On” 99 10 742 6 16 3
Semi-final 1 – Second round
Artist Song Televote Place
Ellip “Pretty Girl” 971 2
Janek ** “House of Glass” 1,535 1
Kaw “Valik” 265 6
Merlyn “Unicorn Vibes” 497 3
Mia “Üks samm korraga” 285 5
Neon Letters and Maiko “Tokimeki“ 434 4
Semi-final 2 – 14 January 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Votes Points Votes Points
1 Inger * “Awaiting You” 58 6 918 8 14 3
2 Linalakk and Bonzo “Aeg” 30 2 393 2 4 9
3 Meelik * “Tuju” 85 8 775 6 14 4
4 Elysa “Bad Philosophy” 30 1 1,464 10 11 5
5 Robin Juhkental “Kurbuse matused” 44 3 317 1 4 10
6 M Els “So Good (At What You Do)” 50 4 611 5 9 7
7 Wiiralt “Salalik” 65 7 414 3 10 6
8 Sissi * “Lighthouse” 114 12 890 7 19 2
9 Carlos Ukareda “Whiskey Won’t Forget” 51 5 606 4 9 8
10 Alika *  “Bridges” 111 10 4,364 12 22 1
Semi-final 2 – Second round
Artist Song Televote Place
Carlos Ukareda “Whiskey Won’t Forget” 655 3
Elysa “Bad Philosophy” 731 2
Linalakk and Bonzo “Aeg” 270 5
M Els * “So Good (At What You Do)” 872 1
Robin Juhkental “Kurbuse matused” 265 6
Wiiralt “Salalik” 464 4

Wildcard selection.A further televote was held between the non-qualifiers in the semi-finals in order to select the two wildcard finalists. Voting took place between 15 and 16 January 2023 and the two qualifiers were announced during the ETV entertainment program Ringvaade on 16 January.

***Wildcard qualifier

Wildcard selection – 15–16 January 2023
Artist Song Televote Place
Carlos Ukareda “Whiskey Won’t Forget” 572 6
Ellip “Pretty Girl” 852 5
Elysa *** “Bad Philosophy” 1,419 2
Kaw “Valik” 267 8
Linalakk and Bonzo “Aeg” 172 9
Merlyn “Unicorn Vibes” 1,058 4
Mia *** “Üks samm korraga” 1,502 1
Neon Letters and Maiko “Tokimeki“ 338 7
Robin Juhkental “Kurbuse matused” 130 10
Wiiralt “Salalik” 1,064 3

2.1.3.2.Final. The final took place on 11 February 2023 at the Tondiraba Ice Hall in Tallinn, hosted by Tõnis Niinemets and Grete Kuld. The five entries that qualified from each of the two preceding semi-finals and the two wildcard qualifiers, all together twelve songs, competed during the show. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a jury (50%) and public televote (50%) determined the top three entries to proceed to the superfinal. In the superfinal, “Bridges” performed by Alika was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote. The jury panel that voted in the first round of the final consisted of Alma (Finnish musician), Birgit Simal (Belgian television producer), Kat Reinhert (American vocal teacher, songwriter and Berklee College of Music professor), Lucas Gullbing (Swedish music producer), Deban Aderemi (British journalist at Wiwibloggs), Matthew Tryba (American music producer and songwriter), Anja Roglić (television producer and music editor at the Radio Television of Serbia), Joe Bennett (American musicologist), Tim Hall (American musician and Berklee College of Music professor), Tomi Saarinen (CEO of Live Nation Finland) and Yves Shifferele (Swiss Eurovision Head of Delegation).

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the band Zetod opened the show, while Stefan, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, the group Púr Múdd with Ines, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, the band 2 Quick Start, singer Karl-Erik Taukar and pianist Rein Rannap performed as interval acts.

Final – 11 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Votes Points Votes Points
1 Meelik “Tuju” 61 7 3,048 6 13 4
2 Inger “Awaiting You” 52 4 1,107 4 8 7
3 Janek “House of Glass” 56 5 3,051 7 12 5
4 Elysa “Bad Philosophy” 36 0 694 1 1 11
5 M Els “So Good (At What You Do)” 40 1 1,046 3 4 9
6 Bedwetters “Monsters” 67 10 4,685 8 18 3
7 Andreas “Why Do You Love Me” 51 3 752 2 5 8
8 Alika “Bridges” 85 12 8,514 12 24 1
9 Anett and Fredi “You Need to Move On” 41 2 593 0 2 10
10 Ollie “Venom” 67 8 6,832 10 18 2
11 Mia “Üks samm korraga” 25 0 372 0 0 12
12 Sissi “Lighthouse” 57 6 2,130 5 11 6
Detailed Jury Votes hide
Draw Song Alma B. Simal K. Reinhert L. Gullbing D. Aderemi M. Tryba A. Roglić J. Bennett T. Hall T. Saarinen Y. Shifferele Total
1 “Tuju” 8 6 5 12 12 6 10 2 61
2 “Awaiting You” 4 7 7 1 2 3 7 7 4 6 4 52
3 “House of Glass” 12 4 10 10 6 4 3 7 56
4 “Bad Philosophy” 3 5 1 2 6 5 10 1 3 36
5 “So Good (At What You Do)” 1 3 2 6 5 1 8 1 8 5 40
6 “Monsters” 6 10 8 7 12 5 8 2 1 8 67
7 “Why Do You Love Me” 5 2 3 4 10 6 12 4 5 51
8 “Bridges” 12 4 4 1 8 10 12 10 12 12 85
9 “You Need to Move On” 12 8 7 1 5 5 3 41
10 “Venom” 7 8 6 5 7 4 6 4 7 7 6 67
11 “Üks samm korraga” 2 1 10 3 2 2 2 2 1 25
12 “Lighthouse” 10 3 8 12 3 3 8 10 57
Superfinal – 11 February 2023
Artist Song Televote Place
Alika “Bridges” 13,141 1
Bedwetters “Monsters” 7,991 3
Ollie “Venom” 10,280 2

3.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Estonia has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Estonia was set to perform in position 4, following the entry from Romania and before the entry from Belgium.

At the end of the show, Estonia was announced as a qualifier for the final.

3.1.Voting.

3.1.1.Points awarded to Estonia.

Points awarded to Estonia (Semi-final 2)
Score Televote
12 points
10 points
  •  Lithuania
  •  San Marino
8 points  Ukraine
7 points
6 points  Armenia
5 points
  •  Romania
  •  Slovenia
4 points  Australia
3 points
  •  Austria
  •  Cyprus
  •  Greece
  •  Iceland
2 points
  •  Albania
  •  Belgium
  •  Georgia
  •  Poland
  •  Rest of the World
  •  United Kingdom
1 point
  •  Denmark
  •  Spain
Points awarded to Estonia (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Latvia
10 points
  •  Germany
  •  San Marino
  •  Slovenia
  •  Switzerland
8 points
  •  Albania
  •  Australia
  •  Poland
  •  Portugal
  •  Romania
7 points
  •  Moldova
  •  Spain
6 points
  •  Finland
  •  Latvia
  •  Italy
  •  United Kingdom
5 points
  •  Lithuania
  •  Netherlands
  •  Georgia
  •  Israel
  •  Lithuania
  •  Ukraine
4 points
3 points  Croatia
2 points
  •  Czech Republic
  •  Sweden
1 point  Azerbaijan

3.1.2.Points awarded by Estonia.

Points awarded by Estonia (Semi-final 2)
Score Televote
12 points  Australia
10 points  Lithuania
8 points  Poland
7 points  Slovenia
6 points  Austria
5 points  Cyprus
4 points  Belgium
3 points  Armenia
2 points  Iceland
1 point  Georgia
Points awarded by Estonia (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Finland  Sweden
10 points  Sweden  Finland
8 points  Ukraine  Australia
7 points  Norway  Ukraine
6 points  Australia  Belgium
5 points  Lithuania  Italy
4 points  Switzerland  Israel
3 points  Poland  Armenia
2 points  Italy  Spain
1 point  Slovenia  Lithuania

3.1.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Estonian jury:[26]

  • Bert Järvet
  • Gevin Niglas
  • Tambet Mumma
  • Dagmar Oja
  • Liis Lemsalu
Detailed voting results from Estonia (Final) 
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 14 11 19 15 11 16 21
02  Portugal 17 21 14 21 19 24 23
03  Switzerland 18 20 16 17 7 15 7 4
04  Poland 21 14 13 14 20 22 8 3
05  Serbia 13 7 23 22 24 18 20
06  France 11 18 18 10 15 17 12
07  Cyprus 6 19 22 13 10 12 11
08  Spain 8 17 1 9 18 9 2 24
09  Sweden 3 2 12 2 3 1 12 2 10
10  Albania 19 24 6 24 23 19 25
11  Italy 1 6 11 6 12 6 5 9 2
12  Estonia
13  Finland 4 1 10 1 17 2 10 1 12
14  Czech Republic 16 22 9 18 16 21 13
15  Australia 5 5 5 11 1 3 8 5 6
16  Belgium 9 4 7 5 2 5 6 18
17  Armenia 10 8 4 7 6 8 3 19
18  Moldova 23 13 21 20 14 23 15
19  Ukraine 2 3 15 3 8 4 7 3 8
20  Norway 20 10 24 8 21 14 4 7
21  Germany 24 23 2 23 22 11 17
22  Lithuania 12 9 8 16 4 10 1 6 5
23  Israel 7 12 3 4 9 7 4 16
24  Slovenia 22 15 20 19 5 13 10 1
25  Croatia 25 25 25 25 25 25 14
26  United Kingdom 15 16 17 12 13 20 22

• Country:🇧🇪Belgium

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Eursong 2023
  • Selection date(s): Introduction shows / Songclub shows: 9 January 2023, 10 January 2023, 11 January 2023, 12 January 2023, 13 January 2023 Ι Final:14 January 2023
  • Host venue: Paleis 12, Brussels, Belgium
  • Presenter(s): Peter Van de Veire
  • Host broadcaster: VRT (Eén)
  • Participants: 7
  • Participants – Number of entries: 7 (14)
  • Voting system: 50% jury, 50% televoting
  • Selection entrant: Gustaph (GVSTΛPH; Stef Caers)
  • Selection song: “Because of You”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Stef Caers, Jaouad Alloul

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 5º SF 2: Qualified (8th, 90 points)
  • Final result: 7th, 182 points

Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with “Because of You” performed by Gustaph. The Flemish broadcaster of Belgium, Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT), organised the national final Eurosong 2023 in order to select the Belgian entry for the 2023 contest.

In the second semi-final, Belgium qualified for the final on 13 May.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Belgium had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty-three times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in 1956. Since then, the country has won the contest on one occasion in 1986 with the song “J’aime la vie” performed by Sandra Kim. Following the introduction of semi-finals for 2004, Belgium had been featured in eight finals. In 2022, Jérémie Makiese represented the nation with the song “Miss You”, qualifying for the final and placing 19th.

The Belgian broadcaster for the 2023 contest, who broadcasts the event in Belgium and organises the selection process for its entry, is Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT). The Belgian participation in the contest alternates between two broadcasters: the Flemish VRT and the Walloon Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF). Both broadcasters have selected the Belgian entry using national finals and internal selections in the past.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Eurosong 2023. Eurosong 2023 was the national final that selected Belgium’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The competition will consist of five pre-recorded songclub shows that was broadcast between 9 and 13 January 2023, followed by a live final on 14 January 2023 where the winning song and artist was selected. All six shows was hosted by Peter Van de Veire and broadcast on Eén, as well as on the broadcaster’s online streaming platform VRT MAX.

2.1.1.Format. Seven artists were sought to compete in Eurosong. The competition included five songclub shows that were broadcast between 9 and 13 January 2023. The shows featured each artist presenting their two candidate Eurovision songs in front of the six other artists that provided commentary and feedback on the songs. Based on the feedback, the artist selected one of the two songs to proceed to the final. The final took place on 14 January 2023 where the winner was chosen by an expert jury and public voting.

The jury panel consisted of:

  • Alexander Rybak – Norwegian singer, winner of the 2009 contest
  • Nikkie de Jager – Dutch makeup artist and YouTuber, co-host of the 2021 contest
  • Laura Tesoro – singer and actress, represented Belgium in 2016
  • Jérémie Makiese – singer, represented Belgium in 2022
  • Laura Govaerts – presenter at MNM
  • Ann Reymen – presenter at Radio 2
  • Korneel de Clercq – presenter at Radio 1
  • Thibault Christiaensen – presenter at Studio Brussel
  • Francicso Schuster – actor, singer and dancer
  • Leslie Cable – Eurovision Head of Delegation for Wallonian broadcaster RTBF
  • Jasper van Biesen – author of 65 years of Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest
  • Stephan Monsieur – chairman of OGAE Belgium
  • André Vermeulen – journalist and Eurovision specialist
  • Els Germonpré – music coordinator for Eén
  • Manu Lammens – music manager of MNM

2.1.2.Competing entries. The names of the seven acts selected for the competition were announced on 8 November 2022 during the radio MNM programme Kawtar & Keyaert. Among the competing artists is former Eurovision Song Contest participant Tom Dice (member of the Starlings), who represented Belgium in 2010. The artists were selected by an A&R Team (Arts and Repertoire) consisting of music experts from VRT in consultation with record labels and artist managers. Artists that were previously rumoured to be selected included Niels Destadsbader and Belgian Eurovision Song Contest 2016 participant Laura Tesoro. The candidate Eurovision songs to be performed by the artists were announced on 15 December 2022, along with twenty-second snippets of each entry.

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Ameerah (Astrid Roelants) “Armageddon” Astrid Roelants, Zac Poor
“The Carnival” Astrid Roelants, Zac Poor
Chérine (Cherine Mroue) “Ça m’ennuie pas” Chérine Mroue, William Rousseau, François Welgryn
“Mon étoile” Chérine Mroue, Hans Francken
Gala Dragot (Gala Aliaj) “Emotion Ollie” Max Robert Baby, Gala Aliaj
“T’inquiète” Jan Lemmens, Yello Staelens, Gala Aliaj
Gustaph (Stef Caers) “Because of You” Stef Caers, Jaouad Alloul
“The Nail” Stef Caers
Hunter Falls (Tchiah Ommar Abdulrahman) “Home” Thomas “TK” Karlsson
“Ooh La La” Michael Garvin
Loredana (Loredana De Amicis) “Dream in Colours” Tim Gosden, Maria Broberg, Tristan Henry, Loredana De Amicis, Serge Ramaekers
“You Lift Me Up” Udo Mechels, Loredana De Amicis, John Miles Jr., Pat Krimson
The Starlings (Tom Dice en Kato Callebaut) “Oceanside” Kato Callebaut, Tom Eeckhout, Jeroen Swinnen, Ashley Hicklin
“Rollercoaster” Kato Callebaut, Tom Eeckhout, Laurell Barker, Thomas Stengaard, Andreas Stone Johansson

Songclub shows. The songclub shows were recorded in Tournai and aired between 9 and 13 January 2023 at 19:45 CET. In the shows, each artist performed their two candidate songs and selected one of them to advance to the final, taking into account the advice of the other contestants. Every act followed the advice of the fellow contestants with the exception of The Starlings, who had been advised to select “Oceanside” by the other participants.

Songclub shows – 9–13 January 2023
Broadcast Artist Draw Song Songwriter(s) Result
9 January Loredana  1 “Dream in Colours” Tim Gosden, Maria Broberg, Tristan Henry, Loredana De Amicis, Serge Ramaekers Eliminated
2 “You Lift Me Up” Udo Mechels, Loredana De Amicis, John Miles Jr., Pat Krimson Advanced
10 January Chérine 1 “Mon étoile“ Chérine Mroue, Hans Francken, Domien Cnockaert Eliminated
2 “Ça m’ennuie pas“ Chérine Mroue, William Rousseau, François Welgryn Advanced
Hunter Falls 1 “Ooh La La” Tchiah Ommar Abdulrahman, Michael Garvin Advanced
11 January 2 “Home” Tchiah Ommar Abdulrahman, Thomas “TK” Karlsson Eliminated
Ameerah 1 “Armageddon” Astrid Roelants, Zac Poor, Ellen Wilcox Eliminated
2 “The Carnival” Astrid Roelants, Zac Poor, Ellen Wilcox Advanced
12 January Gala Dragot 1 “Emotion Ollie” Max Robert Baby, Gala Aliaj Eliminated
2 “T’inquiète“ Jan Lemmens, Yello Staelens, Gala Aliaj, Pepijn Leenders Advanced
Gustaph 1 “Because of You” Stef Caers, Jaouad Alloul Advanced
13 January 2 “The Nail” Stef Caers Eliminated
The Starlings 1 “Oceanside” Kato Callebaut, Tom Eeckhout, Jeroen Swinnen, Ashley Hicklin Eliminated
2 “Rollercoaster” Kato Callebaut, Tom Eeckhout, Laurell Barker, Thomas Stengaard, Andreas Stone Johansson, Anderz Wrethov, Anna Grey Advanced

2.1.2.Final. The final took place on 14 January 2023 at the Palais 12 in Brussels. The combination of results from an expert jury and a public televote selected the winner. During the final, commentary and feedback to the entries was provided by four members of the expert jury, namely Alexander Rybak, Nikkie de Jager, Laura Tesoro and Jérémie Makiese, who decided the outcome of the final together with eleven other jury members, who were appointed to vote offstage. In addition to the competing entries, the participants performed covers of Eurovision songs: “Euphoria” performed by Ameerah, “Rhythm Inside” performed by Gala Dragot, “Waterloo” performed by Gustaph, “Rise Like a Phoenix” performed by Loredana, “Heroes” performed by Hunter Falls, “Voilà” performed by Chérine and “Snap” performed by the Starlings, as well as performances from Duncan Laurence and Alexander Rybak.

Final – 14 January 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Percentage Points
1 Hunter Falls “Ooh La La” 84 5.6% 44 128 7
2 Chérine “Ça m’ennuie pas“ 145 15.8% 123 268 4
3 The Starlings “Rollercoaster” 94 23.5% 183 277 2
4 Ameerah “The Carnival” 107 8.2% 64 171 5
5 Gustaph “Because of You” 121 20.1% 157 278 1
6 Gala Dragot “T’inquiète“ 146 16.0% 125 271 3
7 Loredana “You Lift Me Up” 83 10.8% 84 167 6

Ratings.

Viewing figures by show
Show Date Viewers
Songclub show 1 9 January 2023 775,323
Songclub show 2 10 January 2023 790,522
Songclub show 3 11 January 2023 631,988
Songclub show 4 12 January 2023 715,039
Songclub show 5 13 January 2023 606,507
Final 14 January 2023 892,781

3.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Belgium has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Belgium was set to perform in position 5, following the entry from Estonia and before the entry from Cyprus.

At the end of the show, Belgium was announced as a qualifier for the final. The performance featured a cameo from vogueing dancer PussCee West.

In Belgium, the contest was aired by both the Flemish broadcaster VRT and the Walloon broadcaster RTBF. Peter Van de Veire provided commentary for Flemish viewers on television and radio, with all three shows broadcast live on VRT 1 and a live broadcast of the final on Radio 2. The Walloon broadcasts on television and radio received commentary by Jean-Louis Lahaye and Maureen Louys, with semi-final 1 shown on Tipil, semi-final 2 and the final on La Une, and all three shows broadcast on Vivacité.

On Flemish television, the semi-final 1 broadcast on 9 May reached over 549,000 viewers and the semi-final 2 broadcast on 11 May, which included the participation of Belgium, reached 1,044,000 viewers; in both cases these figures represent viewers which watched the shows live or deferred viewing on the same day. The broadcast of the final on 13 May reached a total of 1,334,000 viewers on Flemish television, including those which watched the show within seven days of the live broadcast, which represents a 69.7% market share. On Walloon television, the first semi-final broadcast on Tipik reached 90,000 viewers, while the second semi-final broadcast on La Une reached 252,000 viewers, with both figures representing those which watched the shows live or deferred viewing on the same day. The broadcast of the final on 13 May on La Une reached a total of 344,000 viewers, either watching the contest live or on demand within seven days; this represents a 31.4% market share for all Walloon television channels that evening.

3.1.Voting.

3.1.1.Points awarded to Belgium.

Points awarded to Belgium (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Austria
10 points
8 points
  •  Denmark
  •  Spain
7 points
  •  Australia
  •  Iceland
  •  Slovenia
6 points  United Kingdom
5 points
  •  Lithuania
  •  Rest of the World
  •  San Marino
4 points
  •  Cyprus
  •  Estonia
3 points
  •  Albania
  •  Georgia
  •  Poland
2 points
1 point
  •  Armenia
  •  Greece
  •  Ukraine

Points awarded to Belgium (Final)

Score Televote Jury
12 points
  •  Australia
  •  Georgia
  •  Greece
10 points  Netherlands
  •  Ireland
8 points
7 points  Sweden
  •  Lithuania
  •  San Marino
  •  United Kingdom
6 points
  •  Denmark
  •  Iceland
  •  United Kingdom
  •  Estonia
  •  Portugal
5 points
  •  Albania
  •  Finland
  •  Iceland
  •  Poland
  •  Slovenia
4 points  Norway
  •  Netherlands
  •  Spain
3 points
  •  Australia
  •  Ireland
  •  Spain
  •  Austria
  •  Denmark
  •  Israel
2 points
  •  France
  •  Germany
  •  Slovenia
  •  Italy
  •  Latvia
  •  Romania
1 point  Portugal

3.1.2.Points awarded by Belgium.

Points awarded by Belgium (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Armenia
10 points  Austria
8 points  Albania
7 points  Poland
6 points  Australia
5 points  Lithuania
4 points  Cyprus
3 points  Slovenia
2 points  Estonia
1 point  Iceland
Points awarded by Belgium (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Finland  Austria
10 points  Sweden  Israel
8 points  Norway  Sweden
7 points  Italy  Italy
6 points  Armenia  Spain
5 points  Israel  Finland
4 points  Poland  Australia
3 points  Albania  Czech Republic
2 points  France  Poland
1 point  Ukraine  France

3.1.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Belgian jury:

  • Alex Callier
  • Lester William Senior
  • Sam Jaspers
  • Laura Govaerts
  • Sennek
Detailed voting results from Belgium (Final) 
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 1 2 7 11 5 1 12 12
02  Portugal 13 14 17 18 6 14 15
03  Switzerland 17 8 18 7 23 13 14
04  Poland 10 10 1 14 21 9 2 7 4
05  Serbia 23 22 19 19 12 22 24
06  France 12 5 8 24 4 10 1 9 2
07  Cyprus 21 12 21 23 11 19 13
08  Spain 4 13 2 4 10 5 6 22
09  Sweden 15 1 4 12 2 3 8 2 10
10  Albania 20 15 9 15 16 18 8 3
11  Italy 7 6 10 3 1 4 7 4 7
12  Estonia 6 9 11 10 20 12 17
13  Finland 14 24 6 2 3 6 5 1 12
14  Czech Republic 3 4 14 9 7 8 3 18
15  Australia 2 19 5 6 9 7 4 19
16  Belgium
17  Armenia 19 7 13 13 24 15 5 6
18  Moldova 11 21 22 21 19 21 11
19  Ukraine 18 25 24 25 13 23 10 1
20  Norway 25 16 12 8 17 17 3 8
21  Germany 22 18 20 20 22 24 23
22  Lithuania 9 11 15 22 14 16 20
23  Israel 8 3 3 1 18 2 10 6 5
24  Slovenia 5 20 25 5 8 11 21
25  Croatia 24 23 23 17 25 25 16
26  United Kingdom 16 17 16 16 15 20 25

• Country: 🇨🇾 Cyprus

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Internal selection 2023
  • Selection date(s): Artist: 17 October 2022 Ι Song: 2 March 2023
  • Host venue: –
  • Presenter(s): –
  • Host broadcaster: CyBC (PIK)
  • Participants – Number of entries: –
  • Voting system: –
  • Selection entrant: Andrew Lambrou (Άντριου Λάμπρου)
  • Selection song: “Break a Broken Heart”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Τζίμι Γιάνσον (Jimmy Jansson), Τζίμι “Joker” Θόρνφελντ (Jimmy “Joker” Thornfeldt), Μάρκους Γουίνθερ-Τζον (Marcus Winther-John), Τόμας Στένγκααρντ (Thomas Stengaard)

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 6º SF 2: Qualified (7th, 96 points)
  • Final result: 12th, 126 points

Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, having internally selected Andrew Lambrou to represent the country with the song “Break a Broken Heart”.

In the second semi-final, Cyprus qualified for the final on 13 May.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Cyprus has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 38 times since the island country made its debut in the 1981 contest. Its best placing was at the 2018 contest where Eleni Foureira placed second with “Fuego“. Before that, Cyprus’s best result was fifth, which it achieved three times: in the 1982 competition with the song “Mono I Agapi” performed by Anna Vissi, in the 1997 edition with “Mana Mou” performed by Hara and Andreas Constantinou, and the 2004 contest with “Stronger Every Minute” performed by Lisa Andreas. Cyprus’ least successful result was in the 1986 contest when it placed last with the song “Tora Zo” by Elpida, receiving only four points in total. However, its worst finish in terms of points received was when it placed second to last in the 1999 contest with “Tha’nai Erotas” by Marlain Angelidou, receiving only two points.[2] After returning to the contest in 2015 following their absence in 2014 due to the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis and the broadcaster’s budget restrictions, Cyprus has qualified for the final of all the contests until 2022, when “Ela” performed by Andromache failed to advance from the semi-finals.

The Cypriot national broadcaster, CyBC, broadcasts the contest within Cyprus and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. Cyprus has used various methods to select its entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. In 2015, the broadcaster organised the national final Eurovision Song Project, which featured 54 songs competing in a nine-week-long process resulting in the selection of the Cypriot entry through the combination of public televoting and the votes from an expert jury. Since 2016, however, the broadcaster has opted to select the entry internally without input from the public. On 28 May 2022, it was reported by OGAE Greece that the label Panik Records had signed an agreement with CyBC in order to select the Cypriot artist for 2023 through a Greek-Cypriot talent show based on the British reality television music competition All Together Now.[4] However, such plans were pushed back to 2024, with the broadcaster reverting to an internal selection.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Internal selection. CyBC ccontinued to internally select the Cypriot entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in conjunction with Panik Records. On 17 October 2022, CyBC announced that they had selected Australian-Cypriot singer Andrew Lambrou to represent Cyprus in Liverpool. Lambrou had previously attempted to represent Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2022, placing seventh in the national final Eurovision – Australia Decides 2022 with the song “Electrify”. His entry, “Break a Broken Heart”, was released on 2 March 2023.

3.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Cyprus has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Cyprus was set to perform in position 6, following the entry from Belgium and before the entry from Iceland.

At the end of the show, Cyprus was announced as a qualifier for the final.

All three shows were broadcast live on RIK 1 and RIK Sat with commentary by Melina Karageorgiou and Alexandros Taramountas. The grand final broadcast on RIK 1 on 13 May reached over 139,000 viewers, which represents a 61.6% market share.

3.1.Voting.

3.1.1.Points awarded to Cyprus.

Points awarded to Cyprus (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Greece
10 points
  •  Armenia
  •  Australia
8 points
7 points  Poland
6 points  Albania
5 points
  •  Estonia
  •  Georgia
  •  Iceland
4 points
  •  Belgium
  •  Denmark
  •  Lithuania
  •  Romania
  •  Slovenia
  •  Ukraine
  •  United Kingdom
3 points  Spain
2 points  Austria
1 point  San Marino
Points awarded to Cyprus (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Greece
10 points  Poland
8 points
  •  Armenia
  •  Australia
7 points  Albania  Norway
6 points  Azerbaijan
  •  Latvia
  •  Romania
5 points  San Marino
  •  Armenia
  •  Denmark
  •  Malta
4 points  Poland
  •  Albania
  •  Greece
  •  Moldova
3 points  Moldova
  •  Australia
  •  Georgia
2 points
  •  Denmark
  •  Norway
  Austria
1 point  Romania
  •  Finland
  •  Israel
  •  Lithuania
  •  Sweden

3.1.2.Points awarded by Cyprus.

Points awarded by Cyprus (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Greece
10 points  Armenia
8 points  Lithuania
7 points  Australia
6 points  Poland
5 points  Austria
4 points  Belgium
3 points  Estonia
2 points  Slovenia
1 point  Albania
Points awarded by Cyprus (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Israel  Sweden
10 points  Ukraine  Austria
8 points  Sweden  Australia
7 points  Finland  Israel
6 points  Italy  Spain
5 points  Norway  Italy
4 points  Armenia  Armenia
3 points  France  Finland
2 points  Poland  Switzerland
1 point  Moldova  Czech Republic

3.1.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Cypriot jury:

  • Nikolas Markantonis (Νικόλας Μαρκαντώνης)
  • Pantel Panagiotou
  • Alexia Moutafidou
  • Antri Aggelidou
  • Marileni Staurou
Detailed voting results from Cyprus (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 2 3 8 2 4 2 10 19
02  Portugal 16 17 17 15 17 19 24
03  Switzerland 8 5 12 8 8 9 2 12
04  Poland 20 14 20 18 22 21 9 2
05  Serbia 24 24 15 23 25 25 20
06  France 10 19 2 17 14 11 8 3
07  Cyprus
08  Spain 1 4 9 9 13 5 6 23
09  Sweden 5 2 5 3 1 1 12 3 8
10  Albania 23 18 24 11 11 18 25
11  Italy 7 11 1 10 7 6 5 5 6
12  Estonia 13 15 22 4 10 13 17
13  Finland 4 12 4 5 24 8 3 4 7
14  Czech Republic 6 6 7 14 15 10 1 16
15  Australia 3 1 14 7 2 3 8 22
16  Belgium 11 13 19 12 21 16 21
17  Armenia 14 10 11 1 6 7 4 7 4
18  Moldova 12 16 23 19 23 20 10 1
19  Ukraine 19 9 10 22 16 14 2 10
20  Norway 15 21 6 16 5 12 6 5
21  Germany 25 22 18 21 18 24 18
22  Lithuania 17 20 25 13 9 17 11
23  Israel 9 7 3 6 3 4 7 1 12
24  Slovenia 22 23 16 20 20 23 15
25  Croatia 21 25 13 24 19 22 14
26  United Kingdom 18 8 21 25 12 15 13

• Country: 🇮🇸 Iceland

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Söngvakeppnin 2023 (Söngvakeppni sjónvarpsins, The Television’s Song Contest)
  • Selection date(s): Semi-final 1: 18 February 2023, Semi-final 1 25 February 2023 I Final: 04 March 2023
  • Host venue:Semi-finals: Laugardalshöll, Reykjavík, Final: RVK Studios, Gufunesi, Iceland
  • Presenter(s): Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir, Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson, and Sigurður Þorri Gunnarsson
  • Host broadcaster: Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV)
  • Participants – Number of entries: 10
  • Voting system:Semi-finals: 100% Televoting; Final: 50% international jury, 50% televoting; Superfinale:Votes from first round, Televoting
  • Selection entrant: Diljá (Diljá Pétursdóttir)
  • Selection song: “Power” (Lifandi inni mér)
  • Selected songwriter(s): Pálmi Ragnar Ásgeirsson, Diljá Pétursdóttir

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 7º SF 2: Failed to qualify (11th, 44 points)
  • Final result: –

Iceland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with “Power” performed by Diljá. The Icelandic broadcaster Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) organised the national final Söngvakeppnin 2023 in order to select the Icelandic entry for the contest. The national final consisted of three shows: two semi-finals on 18 and 25 February 2023 and a final on 4 March 2023.

Iceland was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023. Performing during the show in position 7, “Power” was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Iceland placed 11th out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 44 points.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Iceland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 38 times since its first entry in 1986.[1] Iceland’s best placing in the contest to this point was second, which it achieved on two occasions: in 1999 with the song “All Out of Luck” performed by Selma and in 2009 with the song “Is It True?” performed by Yohanna. Since the introduction of a semi-final to the format of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004, Iceland has failed to qualify to the final seven times. In 2022, Iceland placed 23rd in the grand final with the song “Með hækkandi sól” performed by Systur.

The Icelandic national broadcaster, Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV), broadcasts the event within Iceland and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. From 2006 to 2020, and later in 2022, Iceland’s entry has been selected by Söngvakeppnin, a televised national competition. RÚV confirmed its intention to participate at the 2023 contest on 29 August 2022, and concurrently affirmed details for the production of Söngvakeppnin 2023 to select its entry as well as opening the song submission process.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Söngvakeppnin 2023. Söngvakeppnin 2023 was the national final organised by RÚV in order to select Iceland’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. It consisted of two semi-finals on 18 and 25 February 2023 and a final on 4 March 2023. The shows took place in the RVK Studios in Gufunes, hosted by Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir, Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson, and Sigurður Þorri Gunnarsson.

2.1.1.Format. In each semi-final, five of the ten competing acts performed, and the two entries which were determined solely by the viewing public through telephone voting and the newly-introduced RÚV Stjörnur app progressed to the final. As per the rules of the competition, an additional optional qualifier could be selected by the contest organisers from among the non-qualifying acts, which would also progress to the final. This option was subsequently invoked by the organisers, meaning that a total of five acts qualified for the final.

In the final, two rounds of voting determined the winning song: in the first round, the votes of the viewing public through telephone voting and the votes of a ten-member international jury panel determined two entries which would progress to the second round. The public and jury each accounted for 50% of the result in the first round, with the rankings of each jury member being converted to match the total number of televotes cast by the public. In the second round, a further round of televoting will be held, with the winner determined by aggregating the results of the first round to the votes received in the second round.

2.1.2.Competing entries. Between 29 August and 4 October 2022, RÚV opened the period for interested songwriters to submit their entries. Songwriters did not have any particular requirement to meet, and the process was open to all. The broadcaster received 132 submissions at the closing of the deadline. The ten competing entries were revealed on 28 January 2023.

Söngvakeppnin 2023 – Competing entries
Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Icelandic title English title
Benedikt (Benedikt Gylfason) “Þora“ “Brave Face” Benedikt Gylfason, Hildur Kristín Stefánsdóttir, Una Torfadóttir
Bragi (Arnar Bragi Bergsson) “Stundum snýst heimurinn gegn þér“ “Sometimes the World’s Against Us” Bragi Bergsson, Joy Deb, Rasmus Palmgren, Aniela Eklund
Celebs (Hrafnkell Hugi Vernharðsson (Keli), Katla Vigdís Vernharðsdóttir, and Valgeir Skorri Vernharðss) “Dómsdags dans“ “Doomsday Dancing” Hrafnkell Hugi Vernharðsson, Katla Vigdís Vernharðsdóttir, Valgeir Skorri Vernharðsson, Árni Hjörvar Árnason
Diljá (Diljá Pétursdóttir) “Lifandi inni í mér“ “Power” Pálmi Ragnar Ásgeirsson, Diljá Pétursdóttir
Kristín Sesselja (Kristín Sesselja Einarsdóttir) “Óbyggðir“ “Terrified” Kristín Sesselja Einarsdóttir, Tiril Beisland, Vetle Sigmundstad, Guðrún Helga Jónasdóttir
Langi Seli og Skuggarnir (Langi Seli, Jón Skuggi, Erik Quick) “OK” — Axel Hallkell Jóhannesson, Erik Robert Qvick, Jón Þorleifur Steinþórsson
Móa (Móeiður Júníusdóttir) “Glötuð ást“ “Lose This Dream” Móeiður Júníusdóttir, Guðrún Sigríður Guðlaugsdóttir
Sigga Ózk “Gleyma þér og dansa“ “Dancing Lonely” Klara Elias, Alma Goodman, David Mørup, James Gladius Wong
Silja Rós & Kjalar “Ég styð þína braut“ “Together We Grow” Silja Rós Ragnarsdóttir, Rasmus Olsen
Úlfar (Úlfar Viktor Björnsson) “Betri maður“ “Impossible” Rob Price, Úlfar Viktor Björnsson, Elín Sif Halldórsdóttir

2.1.3.Semi-finals. Two semi-finals took place on 18 and 25 February 2023. In each semi-final, five of the ten competing acts performed, and two entries progressed to the final, determined solely by the viewing public through telephone voting and the RÚV Stjörnur app. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, a number of guest performances were also featured during the two shows. The first semi-final featured a performance from Friðrik Dór Jónsson. The second semi-final featured performances from Ragnhildur Gísladóttir, Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson, Guðlaug Sóley Höskuldsdóttir, and Sveinbjörns Thorarensen. In addition, an optional qualifier was selected by the contest organisers from among the non-qualifying acts, which also progressed to the final.

Semi-final 1 – 18 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Votes Place Result
1 Benedikt “Þora“ 2,262 5 Eliminated
2 Diljá “Lifandi inni í mér“ 9,605 1 Finalist
3 Celebs “Dómsdags dans“ 7,133 3 Wildcard
4 Bragi “Stundum snýst heimurinn gegn þér“ 7,135 2 Finalist
5 Móa “Glötuð ást“ 3,308 4 Eliminated
Semi-final 2 – 25 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Votes Place Result
1 Úlfar “Betri maður“ 6,862 3 Eliminated
2 Kristín Sesselja “Óbyggðir“ 2,638 5 Eliminated
3 Langi Seli og Skuggarnir “OK” 12,714 1 Finalist
4 Silja Rós & Kjalar “Ég styð þína braut“ 5,178 4 Eliminated
5 Sigga Ózk  “Gleyma þér og dansa“ 10,024 2 Finalist

2.1.4.Final. The final took place on 4 March 2023 and featured the four qualifiers and the wildcard from the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, all competing entries were required to be performed in Icelandic; however, entries competing in the final were required to be presented in the language they would compete with in the Eurovision Song Contest. Langi Seli og Skuggarnir decided to perform their entry in Icelandic while the other four entries decided to perform their entry in English. In addition to the competing entries, the 2022 Icelandic representatives Systur and 2022 Norwegian representatives Subwoolfer performed as interval acts. Gaute Ormåsen, a member of Subwoolfer, was also part of the jury panel.

Final – First round – 4 March 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Result
1 Sigga Ózk “Dancing Lonely” 24,350 12,179 36,529 5 Eliminated
2 Bragi “Sometimes the World’s Against You” 22,345 14,463 36,808 4 Eliminated
3 Celebs “Doomsday Dancing” 23,491 17,436 40,927 3 Eliminated
4 Diljá “Power” 30,939 47,549 78,488 1 Advanced
5 Langi Seli og Skuggarnir “OK” 22,059 31,557 53,616 2 Advanced
Detailed Jury Votes
Draw Song Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Juror 6 Juror 7 Juror 8 Juror 9 Juror 10 Total
1 “Dancing Lonely” 2,292 2,292 2,005 2,292 1,719 3,438 3,438 2,005 2,864 2,005 24,350
2 “Sometimes the World’s Against You” 2,864 2,005 2,864 2,864 2,005 2,292 1,719 1,719 2,292 1,719 22,345
3 “Doomsday Dancing” 2,005 3,438 2,292 1,719 2,292 1,719 2,005 2,864 1,719 3,438 23,491
4 “Power“ 3,438 2,864 3,438 3,438 2,864 2,864 2,292 3,438 3,438 2,864 30,939
5 “OK” 1,719 1,719 1,719 2,005 3,438 2,005 2,864 2,292 2,005 2,292 22,059
Jury members (sorted by country)
  •  Australia: Emely Griggs
  •  Denmark: Ihan Haydar
  •  Iceland: Guðlaug Sóley Höskuldsdóttir
  •  Iceland: Joey Christ 
  •  Iceland: Jón Ólafsson
  •  Iceland: Lay Low
  •  Lithuania: Ramūnas Zilnys
  •  Norway: Gaute Ormåsen
  •  Sweden: Helena Nilsson
  •  Turkey: Ersin Parlak
Final – Second round – 4 March 2023
Draw Artist Song Votes Place
Round 1 Round 2 Total
1 Diljá “Power” 78,488 85,515 164,003 1
2 Langi Seli og Skuggarnir “OK” 53,616 42,235 95,851 2

3.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Iceland has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Iceland was set to perform in position 7, following the entry from Cyprus and before the entry from Greece.

At the end of the show, Iceland was not among the ten countries announced as qualifiers for the final.

3.3.Voting.

3.3.1.Points awarded to Iceland.

Points awarded to Iceland (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Denmark
10 points
8 points
7 points  San Marino
6 points  Georgia
5 points  Australia
4 points
3 points
  •  Rest of the World
  •  Slovenia
2 points
  •  Estonia
  •  Lithuania
1 point
  •  Albania
  •  Austria
  •  Belgium
  •  United Kingdom

3.3.2.Points awarded by Iceland.

Points awarded by Iceland (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Australia
10 points  Poland
8 points  Austria
7 points  Belgium
6 points  Denmark
5 points  Cyprus
4 points  Lithuania
3 points  Estonia
2 points  Albania
1 point  Slovenia
Points awarded by Iceland (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Finland  Australia
10 points  Sweden  Finland
8 points  Norway  Austria
7 points  Poland  Sweden
6 points  Belgium  Czech Republic
5 points  Croatia  Belgium
4 points  France  Norway
3 points  Australia  Spain
2 points  Ukraine  Germany
1 point  Italy  Serbia

3.3.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Icelandic jury:

  • Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen – Musician, lecturer, programme director
  • Sigurjón Örn Böðvarsson – Singer
  • Heiða Eiríksdóttir – Singer-songwriter
  • Kristjana Stefánsdóttir – Singer, musical director, arranger, composer
  • Lovísa Rut Kristjánsdóttir – Program producer
Detailed voting results from Iceland (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 9 1 5 9 3 3 8 12
02  Portugal 14 12 20 23 19 21 25
03  Switzerland 13 20 16 19 15 20 17
04  Poland 26 16 23 24 24 25 4 7
05  Serbia 25 2 19 10 16 10 1 21
06  France 21 13 18 13 25 22 7 4
07  Cyprus 5 24 17 20 10 13 15
08  Spain 12 14 14 6 5 8 3 24
09  Sweden 1 11 4 4 17 4 7 2 10
10  Albania 10 5 8 26 13 11 23
11  Italy 7 23 7 14 22 12 10 1
12  Estonia 11 21 12 18 18 19 19
13  Finland 2 9 1 3 6 2 10 1 12
14  Czech Republic 15 4 3 2 11 5 6 14
15  Australia 3 3 2 1 1 1 12 8 3
16  Belgium 6 6 6 5 4 6 5 5 6
17  Armenia 8 18 13 12 20 17 26
18  Moldova 16 10 24 17 8 16 13
19  Ukraine 19 19 9 8 23 15 9 2
20  Norway 4 17 11 7 9 7 4 3 8
21  Germany 17 15 10 22 2 9 2 18
22  Lithuania 20 8 22 15 12 18 16
23  Israel 18 26 15 21 26 24 11
24  Slovenia 23 25 26 11 14 23 22
25  Croatia 24 7 21 16 7 14 6 5
26  United Kingdom 22 22 25 25 21 26 20

• Country: 🇬🇷 Greece

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Internal selection 2023
  • Selection date(s): Artist: 30 January 2023 Ι Song: 12 March 2023
  • Host venue: –
  • Presenter(s): –
  • Host broadcaster: ERT
  • Participants – Number of entries: –
  • Voting system: –
  • Selection entrant: Victor Vernicos (Victor Vernicos Jørgensen, Βίκτορ Βερνίκος Γιούργκενσεν)
  • Selection song: “What They Say”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Victor Vernicos Jørgensen (Βίκτορ Βερνίκος Γιούργκενσεν)

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 8º SF 2: Failed to qualify (13th, 14 points)
  • Final result: –

Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. The Greek broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) internally selected Victor Vernicos to represent the country with the song “What They Say”, which he composed himself. Vernicos was announced as the artist on 30 January 2023, while the song was presented to the public on 12 March. The entry selection process was subject to a legal challenge by second-place candidate Melissa Mantzoukis, however, Vernicos’ participation was ultimately allowed to continue.

To promote the “What They Say” as the Greek entry, a music video for the song was created as well as an acoustic version. Vernicos subsequently attended a meet-and-greet and gave interviews to foreign press. Greece was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023. Performing during the show in position eight, “What They Say” placed 13th in the semi-final with 14 points, failing to qualify for the contest’s final.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 42 times since its debut in 1974. The nation has won the contest once to this point, in 2005 with the song “My Number One” performed by Helena Paparizou. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece managed to qualify for the final with each of their entries for several years. Between 2004 and 2013, the nation achieved nine top ten placements in the final. 2016-entrant Argo with their song “Utopian Land”, was the nation’s first entry to not qualify to the final. Its 16th place finish marked Greece’s worst placing at the contest and led to their absence from the final for the first time since 2000, when they did not send an entry. In the 2018 contest, Greece failed to qualify for the second time with Yianna Terzi and the song “Oniro mou” finishing 14th in the semi-final. For the three contests prior to 2023, the nation once again returned to qualifying for the final, including in 2022, when Amanda Tenfjord and her song “Die Together” went on to place eighth with 215 points.

The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), broadcasts the event within Greece and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. ERT had been in charge of Greece’s participation in the contest since their debut in 1974 until 2013 when the broadcaster was shut down by a government directive and replaced firstly with the interim Dimosia Tileorasi (DT) and then later by the New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television (NERIT) broadcaster. Following the victory of the Syriza party at the January 2015 Greek legislative election, the Hellenic Parliament renamed NERIT to ERT that June. ERT confirmed their intentions to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 on 26 August 2022 when the announced details of their upcoming selection process for their entry.

2.Before Eurovision. 

2.1.Internal Selection. On 26 August 2022, ERT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their proposals for consideration by the broadcaster until 9 October 2022. Artists were required to be signed to record labels and their proposal had to contain up to three songs, indicate the accompanying artistic group, and include ideas or concepts for the song’s promotion and presentation. 106 songs were received by the submission deadline. Seven entries were then shortlisted by a seven-member artistic committee and were announced on 28 December 2022. The entries included: “Shout Out!” performed by Antonia Kaouri and Maria Maragkou, “Holy Water” by Klavdia, “We’re Young” by Konstantina Iosifidou, “Somewhere to Go” by Leon of Athens, “Liar” by Melissa Mantzoukis, “Proud” by Monika, and “What They Say” by Victor Vernicos.

The seven acts were then evaluated by public and artistic committees. The public committee consisted of a total of 70 members randomly selected from 2,982 applications based on five age groups: 25 members in the 18 to 24 category, 20 members in the 25 to 34 category, 15 members in the 35 to 44 category and 10 members in the over 45 category. The artistic committee consisted of Petros Adam (music producer), Leonidas Antonopoulos (journalist and music producer), Fotis Apergis (ERT radio director), Konstantinos Bourounis (head of ERT’s youth program), Maria Kozakou (director of the Second Programme of Hellenic Radio), Dimitris Papadimitriou (music composer) and Yannis Petridis, (music producer). On 19 January 2023, ERT shortlisted three final songs from the seven, which was the outcome of the public committee vote, followed by a respective evaluation by the artistic committee. The final three were announced through ERT1 show, Proian se eidon tin mesimvrian (Greek: Πρωίαν σε είδον την μεσημβρίαν).

The combination of votes from the public committee (50.6%) and the artistic committee (49.4%) then selected the Greek entry. This marked the first time that ERT had opted for a format where the entry was selected by two panels. Greek-Danish singer Victor Vernicos was announced as the Greek representative for the 2023 contest through ERT1’s newscast on 30 January 2023. At 16 years-old, he became the youngest entrant to be selected to represent the nation.] Vernicos’ entry, “What They Say”, was released on 12 March 2023 through Panik Records alongside its music video.

First round. 

Shortlisted artists and songs in the first round
Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Antonia Kaouri and Maria Maragkou (Μαρία Μαραγκού-Αντωνία Καούρη) “Shout Out!” —
Klavdia (Κλαυδία; Klavdia Papadopoulou, Κλαυδία Παπαδοπούλου) “Holy Water” Arcade, Pantelis Loupasakis
Konstantina Iosifidou (Κωνσταντίνα Ιωσηφίδου) “We’re Young” Konstantina Iosifidou
Leon of Athens (Timoleon Veremis, Τιμολέων Βερεμής) “Somewhere to Go” Timoleon Veremis, David Sneddon, Katerine Duska
Melissa Mantzoukis (Μελίσσα Μαντζούκη) “Liar” —
Monika (Μόνικα; Monika Christodoulou, Μόνικα Χριστοδούλου) “I’m Proud”
Victor Vernicos (Bίκτωρ Βερνίκος; Victor Vernicos Jorgensen) “What They Say” Victor Vernicos Jorgensen

Second round. 

Shortlisted artists and songs in the second round
Artist Song Artistic
committee		 Public
committee		 Total Place
Antonia Kaouri and Maria Maragkou “Shout Out!” 720 341 1,061 3
Melissa Mantzoukis “Liar” 440 693 1,133 2
Victor Vernicos “What They Say” 740 509 1,249 1

Reception and legal challenge.Following the announcement of Vernicos as the Greek entrant, Mantzoukis publicly protested the results of the process, threatening legal action. Mantzoukis and her legal team cited two concerns in their challenge of the results. Prior to the artistic committee’s vote, it was reported that Kaouri and Maragkou had withdrawn themselves from consideration, leaving only two entrants as options. Despite this, all three acts were awarded points by the committee. Secondly, they alleged that even if all three acts were considered, the point values awarded do not sum to the quantity of points available, and if they had, Mantzoukis would have won. Artistic committee member Kozakou then explained in an interview on ERT’s Proian se eidon tin mesimvrian that point values were not awarded based on awards of first, second and third place by the committee (12, 10 or 8 points, respectively, in Eurovision fashion), but from 12 through 4 points (first through seventh) to align the total point values with the quantity awarded by the public committee. Mantzoukis’ lawyer Christos Zotiadis responded during an interview on Star Channel’s show Breakfast @ Star that they were unsatisfied with ERT’s response, and requested that the detailed committee votes for each member at each voting stage be released for transparency.

A temporary injunction halting the Greek participation was denied by Greek courts on 6 March, citing the short time period between then and the EBU’s 13 March deadline for entry submissions.Mantzoukis’ lawsuit to be declared the winner and awarded damages was anticipated to be heard in mid-May following the contest; however, no further updates have been made on the case since.

Promotion. To promote the entry, a music video of the song, directed by Yiannis Georgioudakis, was filmed. The video was produced by PickCodes, with Kostas Kalimeris, Steve Sovolos, and Vangelis Gialamas taking part in its production. It was scheduled to be released on 6 March alongside the song itself, but was delayed due to the Tempi train crash. The song and video were eventually released on 12 March through ERT’s over-the-top media service ERTFlix. To further promote the entry, Vernicos took part in a meet-and-greet event on 6 April organised by ERT. The event was attended by the Greek Eurovision delegation, local British embassy representatives, as well as mainstream print, television and radio media. He sang his entry “What They Say” live with a guitar and covered a number of past Eurovision entries. Further promotion involved an acoustic version of the song being released on the official Eurovision YouTube channel as part if its A Little Bit More series. Vernicos was largely absent from the Eurovision touring circuit and did not attend pre-parties, although he made several appearances and performed at The Cavern Club and the EuroClub in Camp and Furnace upon his arrival in Liverpool.

3.At Eurovision. The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 took place at the Liverpool Arena in Liverpool, United Kingdom, and consisted of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 9 and 11 May and the final on 13 May 2023. 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 10 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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Greece has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. Once all the competing entries for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the producers of the contest to prevent similar songs from being placed next to each other. Greece was set to perform in position eight, following the entry from the Iceland and before the entry from Poland. In Greece, all shows were televised on ERT1 with commentary by Maria Kozakou and Jenny Melita. A radio broadcast on Deftero Programma included the commentary by Kozakou and Melita, with Dimitris Meidanis covering the commercial breaks with interviews and contest history.

3.1.Performances. Prior to leaving for the contest, Vernicos took part in rehearsals daily at ERT’s studios in Athens in late April. This was followed by technical rehearsals in Liverpool on 2 and 5 May, and dress rehearsals on 10 May. The latter included the jury show where the professional back-up juries of each country watched and voted in a result used if any issues with public televoting occurred.

The stage presence for “What They Say” was organised by Konstantinos Rigos who served as artistic director for the entry. Rigos had previously directed the Greek entries in 2011 and 2012. The performance consisted of Vernicos being alone on stage with no backing dancers or vocalists. He wore a beige-coloured shorts-suit by costume designer George Segredakis, and was surrounded by a video wall showing rainfall, a large-scale video of himself, as well as lyrics of the song in both Greek and English. Rigos described the inspiration for the stage presence as “Greek summer”.

At the end of the second semi-final, Greece was not among the ten countries announced as qualifiers for the final. It was later revealed that the Greece placed 13th in the semi-final, receiving a total of 14 points.

3.2.Voting. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Greece in the second semi-final as well as by Greece in the second semi-final and final of the contest. Also included is the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows. Voting during the shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public. Each nation’s jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song’s composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country’s jury and televoting were released after the final; the individual results from each jury member were released in an anonymised form. The Greek jury consisted of Christos Giakoumopoulos, Fotios Giannoutsos, Nikolaos Nikolakopoulos, Claudia Matola, and Evanthia Theotokatou.

In the second semi-final, Greece finished in 13th place out of 16 entries and received 14 points total from two countries: the top 12 points from Cyprus and two points from Armenia. Over the course of the contest, Greece awarded its 12 points to Cyprus in the second semi-final and to Belgium (jury) and Cyprus (televote) in the final. The Greek spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Greek jury during the final, was Fotis Sergoulopoulos.

3.2.1.Points awarded to Greece.

Points awarded to Greece (Semi-final 2)

Score Televote
12 points
  • Cyprus
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
  • Armenia
1 point

3.2.2.Points awarded by Greece.

Points awarded by Greece (Semi-final 2)
Score Televote
12 points  Cyprus
10 points  Albania
8 points  Armenia
7 points  Georgia
6 points  Austria
5 points  Poland
4 points  Australia
3 points  Estonia
2 points  Slovenia
1 point  Belgium
Points awarded by Greece (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Cyprus  Belgium
10 points  Finland  Portugal
8 points  Sweden  Israel
7 points  Israel  Austria
6 points  Norway  Sweden
5 points  Italy  Australia
4 points  Albania  Cyprus
3 points  France  Albania
2 points  Armenia  Switzerland
1 point  Czech Republic  Serbia

3.2.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Greek jury:

  • Christos Giakoumopoulos
  • Fotios Giannoutsos
  • Nikolaos Nikolakopoulos
  • Claudia Matola
  • Evanthia Theotokatou
Detailed voting results from Greece (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 23 3 2 5 3 4 7 15
02  Portugal 4 11 1 2 2 2 10 25
03  Switzerland 1 15 13 10 25 9 2 20
04  Poland 9 23 8 7 20 11 11
05  Serbia 2 22 22 8 12 10 1 19
06  France 11 21 19 17 9 17 8 3
07  Cyprus 7 18 6 4 8 7 4 1 12
08  Spain 6 19 21 16 21 15 21
09  Sweden 16 2 10 9 4 5 6 3 8
10  Albania 17 7 4 6 16 8 3 7 4
11  Italy 13 14 17 18 17 21 6 5
12  Estonia 22 9 7 13 13 13 22
13  Finland 15 26 25 26 7 20 2 10
14  Czech Republic 8 17 15 11 19 14 10 1
15  Australia 5 4 9 20 6 6 5 23
16  Belgium 3 5 3 3 1 1 12 17
17  Armenia 12 6 11 15 18 12 9 2
18  Moldova 18 12 24 25 24 25 12
19  Ukraine 14 16 12 19 10 16 14
20  Norway 20 8 18 21 15 19 5 6
21  Germany 21 13 20 14 23 24 16
22  Lithuania 19 20 16 12 22 23 26
23  Israel 24 1 5 1 5 3 8 4 7
24  Slovenia 10 24 23 24 14 22 13
25  Croatia 25 25 26 23 26 26 24
26  United Kingdom 26 10 14 22 11 18 18

After Eurovision. 

Reception. Greece’s failure to qualify to the final led to media outlets once again citing Mantzoukis’ lack of selection as a problem. As reported in TVNea, foreign press preferred Mantzoukis’ entry “Liar” over Vernicos’ from the beginning, and saw it as a contender for high placement at the contest. Giorgos Liagas, presenter of the show To Proino on ANT1, expressed that ERT had mocked the Greek people by including them in the selection process, but not sending their preferred candidate to represent them at the contest. Appearing on the Alpha TV show Super Katerina on 12 May, the day after the second semi-final, lyricist Evi Droutsa opined that the song lacked a melody, that Vernicos was too young to compete at this level, and that his selection centered too much on his last name and family. ERT released a statement following the non-qualification, reinforcing the integrity of the selection process and explaining that Vernicos met the demands of the contest and deserved applause. The artist himself posted on social media shortly after saying “I love you guys. Many more to come soon. Thank you to all Eurovision fans for the amazing experience”.

• Country:🇵🇱Polonia

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję! 2023 (Here beats the heart of Europe! We choose the hit for Eurovision 2023)
  • Selection date(s): 26 February 2023
  • Host venue: Studio Transcolor, Szeligi, Warsaw (Polonia).
  • Presenter(s): Aleksander Sikora, Ida Nowakowska, Małgorzata Tomaszewska
  • Host broadcaster: TVP (TVP2, TVP Polonia, TVP Rozrywka, TVP VOD.)
  • Participants – Number of entries: 10
  • Voting system: 50% jury, 50% televoting
  • Selection entrant: Blanka
  • Selection song: “Solo”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Blanka Stajkow, Maciej Puchalski, Mikołaj Trybulec, Bartłomiej Rzeczycki, Marcin Górecki, Maria Broberg, Julia Sundberg

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 9º SF 2: Qualified (3rd, 124 points)
  • Final result: 19th, 93 points

Poland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with “Solo” performed by Blanka. The Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) organised the national final Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję! in order to select the Polish entry.

In the second semi-final, Poland qualified for the final on 13 May.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Poland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-four times since its first entry in 1994. Poland’s highest placement in the contest, to this point, has been second place, which the nation achieved with its debut entry in 1994 with the song “To nie ja!” performed by Edyta Górniak. Poland has only reached the top ten on two other occasions, when Ich Troje performing the song “Keine Grenzen – Żadnych granic” finished seventh in 2003, and when Michał Szpak performing the song “Color of Your Life” finished eighth in 2016. Between 2005 and 2011, Poland failed to qualify from the semi-final round six out of seven years with only their 2008 entry, “For Life” performed by Isis Gee, managing to take the nation to the final during that period. After once again failing to qualify to the final in 2011, the country withdrew from the contest throughout 2013. Since returning to the contest in 2014, Poland managed to qualify to the final each year before failing to qualify to the final between 2018 and 2021. In 2022, Ochman brought Poland back to the final, eventually finishing 12th with his song “River”.

The Polish national broadcaster, Telewizja Polska (TVP), broadcasts the event within Poland and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. The broadcaster opted to select the Polish entry for the 2022 contest during a national selection show titled Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję!, a process that was continued for their 2023 entry.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję.Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję! (“The heart of Europe beats here! We choose the hit for Eurovision!”) was the national final organised by TVP in order to select the Polish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The show was held on 26 February 2023 in the Transcolor Studio in Szeligi, hosted by Aleksander Sikora, Ida Nowakowska and Małgorzata Tomaszewska, The show was broadcast on TVP1 and TVP Polonia, as well as online via the platform TVP VOD. The national final was watched, according to the Average Minute Rating, by 1.5 million people with a market share of 10.6%. According to Nielsen Audience Measurement, the show attracted 1.1 million viewers, while the Real Viewership Model reported 1.4 million viewers for the show.

2.1.2.Competing entries. TVP opened a submission period for interested artists and songwriters to submit their entries between 19 September 2022 and 10 February 2023. The broadcaster received 300 submissions at the closing of the deadline. It was recommended for the artists to take part in the process of composing or songwriting of their song. A five-member selection committee consisting of a representative of TVP, a radio personality, a music expert, a journalist and a representative of the Polish Musicians Union selected ten entries from the received submissions to compete in the national final, while TVP reserved the right to select the final finalist (a wildcard) from outside of the submissions. The chosen competing entries were announced on 15 February 2023 during the TVP2 programme Pytanie na śniadanie. Among the competing artists was Alicja Szemplińska, who was due to represent Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 before its cancellation. The competing artists were required to submit a promotional video for their song to TVP by 20 February 2023.

On 23 February, Janusz Daszczyński, journalist and former chairman of TVP, expressed outrage regarding the participation of the song “Booty” by Ahlena in the selection on his Facebook account, claiming that selecting such a song for the national final was “scandalous”, and that the lyrics of the song were obscene and not fit for being broadcast on national television. The topic was discussed during a programme council meeting held on the same day, which resulted in Ahlena being asked to change parts of the composition of the song, which the artist complied with.

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Ahlena “Booty” Magdalena Pawłowska, Maksymilian Niemczyk
Alicja Szemplińska (Alicja Maria Szemplińska) “New Home” Alicja Szemplińska, Chloe Martini, Farrah Guenena
Blanka “Solo” Blanka Stajkow, Maciej Puchalski, Mikołaj Trybulec, Bartłomiej Rzeczycki, Marcin Górecki, Maria Broberg, Julia Sundberg
Dominik Dudek “Be Good” Dominik Dudek, Mateusz Kotowski, Patryk Kumór [pl], Dominic Buczkowski-Wojtaszek
Felivers “Never Back Down” Miłosz Fergiński, Konrad Jażdżyk
Jann (Jan Rozmanowski) “Gladiator” Jan Rozmanowski
Kuba Szmajkowski (Jakub Szmajkowski) “You Do Me” Thomas Karlsson, Joakim Övrenius, Julia Nilcrantz
Maja Hyży (Maja Krygier) “Never Hide” Wojciech Stekla, Aleksandra Lewandowska
Natasza (Natasza Urbańska) “Lift U Up” Natasza Urbańska, Jan Bielecki, Twan Ray
Yan Majewski “Champion” Mikołaj Trybulec, Ashley Hicklin, Bastien Kaltenbacher, Marine Kaltenbacher

2.1.3.Final.The final took place on 26 February 2023. Ten entries competed in the national final, with the winner determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a five-member professional jury and a public vote. In the event of a tie, the tie would be decided in favour of the jury. The jury that voted during the show consisted of chairperson Edyta Górniak (singer, runner-up of the Eurovision Song Contest 1994), as well as Agustin Egurrola (choreographer), Aneta Woźniak (Programme Director of TVP), Marcin Kusy (President of the Polish Radio Program I) and Marek Sierocki (music journalist and artistic director, commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest in Poland).[16] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show was opened by 2021 Greek Eurovision entrant Stefania – „Last Dance” and 2022 Eurovision winners Kalush Orchestra – „Stefania”, while the interval acts included 1994 Polish entrant and jury member Edyta Górniak – „Andromeda”, 2021 Azerbaijani entrant Efendi – „Mata Hari”, 2022 Polish Eurovision entrant Ochman – „River”, as well as former Polish Junior Eurovision entrants Roksana Węgiel  – „Anyone I Want to Be” and Sara James – „Somebody”, who represented the country in 2018 and 2021, respectively.

Final – 26 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
1 Natasza “Lift U Up” 6 2 8 7
2 Kuba Szmajkowski “You Do Me” 3 3 6 8
3 Ahlena “Booty” 1 1 2 10
4 Dominik Dudek “Be Good” 10 8 18 3
5 Alicja Szemplińska “New Home” 5 5 10 6
6 Felivers “Never Back Down” 8 6 14 4
7 Maja Hyży “Never Hide” 2 4 6 9
8 Jann “Gladiator” 7 12 19 2
9 Blanka “Solo” 12 10 22 1
10 Yan Majewski “Champion” 4 7 11 5

Controversy. During the jury voting sequence, booing could be heard throughout the audience. Following the final of the selection, accusations were made against TVP and the jury of alleged deals with winner Blanka, who had been heavily promoted by the broadcaster beforehand. In addition, viewers accused the jury of intentionally lowering the score of the audience’s favourite, Jann, in favor of the eventual winner, which caused demands for the results to be annulled. It was alleged that Blanka and Allan Krupa, son of Edyta Górniak (chairman of the jury), knew each other personally, which was later denied. The votes of jury member Agustin Egurrola were also questioned due to the fact that Blanka used dancers from the dance group Volt, owned by Egurrola, in her performance, leading to allegations of cronyism. The amount of impact the jury had on the result also caused outrage, as it had been reported by multiple sites that the viewers cast three times as many votes for Jann than runner-up Blanka. Shortly prior to the show, TVP changed the format of the results sequence, which was originally supposed to be held in a similar way to the 2022 one with two voting rounds and proportional rankings, and then changing the results sequence once again during the live broadcast, this time to only include revealing the overall scores of all artists, instead of revealing the detailed televoting result as planned. Due to public pressure, the televoting ranking was revealed a day after the final.

Following the final, two petitions appeared in which Internet users demanded a change of representative. The two petitions gained over 87,000 votes combined. Five major Polish fan portals, namely Eurowizja.org jointly with the Polish OGAE fanclub, Dziennik Eurowizyjny, Dobry Wieczór Europo, Misja Eurowizja and Let’s Talk About ESC, petitioned TVP for the publication of the number of votes cast for individual participants, which, together with the issue of the allegations of fixing the results, would be examined by an “independent external company”. The media also protested the lack of transparency in the presentation of the results. An official appeal was sent to TVP on 2 March, urging the broadcaster to respond on the matter. TVP issued a statement on 9 March, claiming that it “complied with the voting rules in accordance with the regulations” and that the voting was “supervised by a notary present during the final”.

Promotion.In order to promote “Solo” as the Polish entry for the 2023 contest, Blanka embarked on a promotional tour throughout Europe. She was set to perform during the Moldovan national final Etapa națională2023 as a guest, however, her flight to the event was cancelled. Kicking off her international promotional activities on 10 March 2023 performing at the Melfest WKND in Stockholm, she then travelled to Barcelona to attend the Eurovision pre-party held on 25 March 2023, then to Tel Aviv on 3 April, where she performed at Israel Calling in Hangar 11, and to Madrid on 8 April 2023, where she performed at the PrePartyES in Sala La Riviera. She was also due to make appearances at the Eurovision in Concert 2023 at Amsterdam’s AFAS Live on 15 April 2023 and the London Eurovision Party at London’s Here at Outernet venue on 16 April, but withdrew from them due to illness

3.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Poland has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Poland was set to perform in position 9, following the entry from Greece and before the entry from Slovenia.

At the end of the show, Poland was announced as a qualifier for the final.

3.1.Voting.

3.1.1.Points awarded to Poland.

Points awarded to Poland (Semi-final)

Score Televote
12 points
  • Lithuania
  • Ukraine
10 points
  • Iceland
  • United Kingdom
8 points
  • Armenia
  • Estonia
  • Georgia
  • Slovenia
7 points
  • Albania
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Denmark
6 points
  • Cyprus
5 points
  • Greece
4 points
  • Spain
3 points
  • Romania
2 points
  • San Marino
1 point
Points awarded to Poland (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points
  • Ukraine
10 points
8 points
  • Ireland
  • Lithuania
  • United Kingdom
7 points
  • Iceland
6 points
  • Norway
  • Ukraine
5 points
  • Armenia
  • Denmark
4 points
  • Belgium
  • Germany
  • Moldova
3 points
  • Estonia
2 points
  • Cyprus
  • Netherlands
  • Belgium
  • Israel
1 point
  • Albania
  • San Marino
  • Slovenia
  • Armenia
  • Romania

3.1.2.Points awarded by Poland.

Points awarded by Poland (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Slovenia
10 points  Austria
8 points  Australia
7 points  Cyprus
6 points  Lithuania
5 points  Armenia
4 points  Albania
3 points  Belgium
2 points  Estonia
1 point  Georgia
Points awarded by Poland (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Ukraine  Israel
10 points  Finland  Cyprus
8 points  Norway  Estonia
7 points  Sweden  Sweden
6 points  Croatia  Italy
5 points  Israel  Belgium
4 points  Cyprus  Australia
3 points  Czech Republic  Lithuania
2 points  Slovenia  Switzerland
1 point  Lithuania  Armenia

3.1.4.Detailed final results. The following members comprised the Polish jury:

  • Grzegorz Urban
  • Marcin Kusy
  • Zygmunt Kukla
  • Kamila Sowińska
  • Agnieszka Wilczynska
Detailed voting results from Poland (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 11 8 16 8 12 11 17
02  Portugal 15 20 19 13 19 19 25
03  Switzerland 6 7 17 15 7 9 2 15
04  Poland
05  Serbia 13 23 18 19 23 20 21
06  France 18 13 12 6 18 12 13
07  Cyprus 1 5 3 14 1 2 10 7 4
08  Spain 16 9 10 11 17 13 22
09  Sweden 3 10 1 1 11 4 7 4 7
10  Albania 19 17 23 25 20 22 24
11  Italy 5 6 5 2 10 5 6 11
12  Estonia 4 1 4 4 6 3 8 20
13  Finland 20 24 22 23 24 24 2 10
14  Czech Republic 17 18 13 16 16 18 8 3
15  Australia 7 4 14 5 5 7 4 19
16  Belgium 12 3 15 3 3 6 5 18
17  Armenia 10 12 6 12 8 10 1 14
18  Moldova 24 19 21 22 21 23 12
19  Ukraine 14 15 7 18 15 14 1 12
20  Norway 9 16 11 17 13 15 3 8
21  Germany 25 22 24 20 14 21 16
22  Lithuania 8 14 9 7 4 8 3 10 1
23  Israel 2 2 2 10 2 1 12 6 5
24  Slovenia 23 11 8 21 22 17 9 2
25  Croatia 22 25 25 24 25 25 5 6
26  United Kingdom 21 21 20 9 9 16 23

• Country: 🇸🇮 Slovenia

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Internal selection 2023
  • Selection date(s): Artist: 08.12.2022 Ι Song: 04.02.2023
  • Host venue: –
  • Presenter(s): 
  • Host broadcaster: –
  • Participants – Number of entries: –
  • Voting system: –
  • Selection entrant: Joker Out (Bojan Cvjetićanin, Jure Maček, Kris Guštin, Jan Peteh, Nace Jordan)
  • Selection song: “Carpe Diem”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Bojan Cvjetićanin, Jan Peteh, Jure Maček, Kris Guštin, Nace Jordan, Žarko Pak

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 10º SF 2: Qualified (5th, 103 points)
  • Final result: 21st, 78 points

Slovenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, having internally selected Joker Out to represent the country with the song “Carpe Diem“, written by band members Bojan Cvjetićanin, Jan Peteh, Jure Maček, Kris Guštin and Nace Jordan, alongside Žarko Pak. Joker Out were announced as the Slovenian entrants to the contest on 8 December 2022, whilst their song was presented to the public in a televised presentation show, Misija Liverpool, on 4 February 2023.

Slovenia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023 and was later selected to perform in position 10. At the end of the show, “Carpe Diem” was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and hence qualified to compete in the final, marking Slovenia’s first qualification to the final since 2019. It was later revealed that Slovenia placed fifth out of the sixteen participating countries in the semi-final with 103 points. In the final, Slovenia performed in position 24 and placed twenty-first out of the 26 participating countrin. 

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-seven times since its first entry in 1993. Slovenia’s highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been seventh place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 1995 with the song “Prisluhni mi” performed by Darja Švajger and in 2001 with the song “Energy” performed by Nuša Derenda. The country’s only other top ten result was achieved in 1997 when Tanja Ribič performing “Zbudi se” placed tenth. Since the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the contest in 2004, Slovenia had thus far only managed to qualify to the final on six occasions. In 2022, “Disko” performed by LPS failed to qualify to the final, finishing in last place in the first semi-final with 15 points. This marked Slovenia’s worst result at the contest in ten years. The Slovenian national broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija), broadcasts the event within Slovenia and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. Following the poor result in 2022, RTVSLO considered withdrawing from the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023. However, after discussions with the Music Commission of the Programme Council, the broadcaster opted against a withdrawal, and confirmed its participation in the 2023 contest, to be held in Liverpool, on 15 September 2022. The Slovenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest has usually been selected through a national final entitled Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats, with the exceptions of 2013 and 2021 when the Slovenian entry was internally selected. Despite initially confirming that EMA would be used to select the Slovenian entry for the 2023 contest, the broadcaster later opted to forego the use of the national final in order to internally select the Slovenian entry.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Internal Selection 2023: The Slovenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was selected internally by Radiotelevizija Slovenija, marking only the third time the broadcaster has internally selected their act for the contest. On 8 December 2022, the broadcaster announced that they had selected the band Joker Out to represent Slovenia in Liverpool during a special press conference held at the Ljubljana Botanical Gardens. Following the announcement of their selection as the Slovenian entrants, the band stated that “This is an offer we could not refuse. We talked about Eurovision years ago, but we were waiting for the right moment. This is obviously now. We are incredibly proud to represent Slovenia with our brand of music to show to the European stage”. The Slovenian song was recorded in December 2022 in Hamburg, Germany. The band worked with Mark Pirc, Zarko Pak and Todd Burke during the recording process, with Pirc also acting as the creative director for the entry’s music video, which was completed in January 2023. “Carpe Diem” was announced as the title of the Slovenian entry on 28 January 2023.

“We decided to use a tried and tested form of national selection, namely the internal selection. We have chosen Joker Out, who, like Magnifico and the bands Siddharta and Big Foot Mama before them, bring good quality popular music to the Slovenian music scene to the delight of the broadest of audiences. We were looking for a good sound and popularity, and I’m convinced that we have found them.” — Vanja Vardjan, head of the Entertainment Division of RTV Slovenija.

The selected song, “Carpe Diem“, was presented to the public on 4 February 2023, during the special presentation show Misija Liverpool. The show was broadcast on TV SLO 1 and hosted by Miša Molk. In addition to the presentation of the Slovene entry, past Slovenian Eurovision entrants Amaya, who represented Slovenia in 2011; Filip Vidušin, lead singer of LPS, who represented Slovenia in 2022; Nuša Derenda, who represented Slovenia in 2001; and Tomaž Mihelič, who represented Slovenia in 2002 as a member of Sestre, performed live in a special anniversary performance dedicated to Slovenia’s thirty years since first entering the contest. Konstrakta, who represented Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, also performed live. The band also released the music video for the song, which was shot in Ljubljana at the Grand Hotel Union and directed by Bonino Englaro.

2.1.1.Promotion. In order to promote “Carpe Diem” as the Slovenian entry for the 2023 contest, Joker Out embarked on a promotional tour across Europe and Slovenia. They became the first Slovenian Eurovision entrants in history to attend all promotional parties. The band were the first to be confirmed as attending the Barcelona Eurovision Party on 8 April 2023. The band also appeared at pre-parties in Madrid, Tel Aviv, London, Warsaw and Amsterdam. On 9 March, the band revealed that they were recording an English-language version of “Carpe Diem“, after approaching fans on Instagram, with the track later released on 31 March 2023. On 29 April 2023, the band travelled to Liverpool in order to film a music video to their new single “New Wave” in collaboration with English singer Elvis Costello. They appeared on several British radio stations including BBC Radio Merseyside. On 9 April 2023, “Carpe Diem” was played at Anfield before a Premier League football match between Liverpool and Arsenal. On 20 April 2023, RTVSLO held a press conference in Ljubljana, with Slovenian media having the opportunity to talk with Joker Out. The band also detailed their preparations for the contest and the concept of their staging plans with the BBC. The band also made several virtual appearances with media outlets in Croatia, Slovakia and Austria. On 25 April 2023, the band held a special concert in Prešeren Square, Ljubljana, where they performed a catalogue of songs including “Carpe Diem” in their final performance in Slovenia before departing for Liverpool. On 30 April 2023, the band also released a party version of the song, which was premiered on the Eurovision YouTube channel.

On 20 March 2023, the band began a weekly series documenting their preparations and journey to the Eurovision Song Contest across Europe, starting in Hamburg with the recording process and concluding with the band’s final performance in Liverpool. On 11 May 2023, RTVSLO broadcast Pot v Liverpool on TV SLO 2 , a special programme accounting Joker Out’s journey to the contest. On 13 May 2023, a behind-the-scenes show was broadcast on TV SLO 1 with special backstage footage from Liverpool.

3.At Eurovision. According to 2023 rules, all nations with the exceptions of the reigning champion nation (Ukraine) and the “Big Five” (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and hosting country 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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Slovenia was placed into the second semi-final, held on 11 May 2023, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Slovenia was set to perform in position 10, following the entry from Poland and before the entry from Georgia. Immediately after the close of the second semi-final, a press conference was held in which each of the artists drew the half of the final of which they would perform in. Slovenia was drawn into the second half of the final and was later selected by the EBU to perform in position number 24, following the entry from Israel and before the entry from Croatia.

In Slovenia, the semi-finals were broadcast on TV SLO 2 and the final was broadcast on TV SLO 1, with commentary by Andrej Hofer. The second semi-final and the final were also broadcast on Radio Maribor and Radio Val 202, with commentary of the second semi-final by Maja Stepančič, Maruša Kerec, Neja Jerant and Uršula Zaletelj, whilst radio coverage of the final featured commentary by Maja Stepančič, Miha Šalehar and Uršula Zaletelj. All shows were also screened on RTVSLO’s 4D online platform MMCŽivo with commentary by journalist Žana Čeh. The Slovenian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Slovenian jury during the final, was Melani Mekicar.

3.1.Semi-final. Joker Out took part in technical rehearsals on 2 and 5 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May. This included the jury show on 10 May where the professional back-up juries of each country watched and voted in a result used if any issues with public televoting occurred.

Damir Raković, better known as Ponorelii, was the costumer designer for the band’s performance, having previously designed outfits for Estelle, Severina, who represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, Katarina Rešek, Senidah and Dino Merlin, who represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 and 2011. He stated that, on the Eurovision stage, the Slovenian quintet would shine in light and romantic colours that match the melody of “Carpe Diem” and mark the thematic set of the Garden of Eden, symbolising the coming of the animal and plant world. Each of the band members were also accompanied by a different motif, with each of them having their own animal, plant and precious stone, which was sewn into an unobtrusive part of the costume. Ponorelii also played with natural dyes in the costume colours, fusing colours in accordance to their energy and personality, with each having their own lace. Ponorelii also collaborated with Slovenian Idrija lace designer Andraž Drobnič to bring a distinctly Slovene motive to the performance. Matic Zadravec also served as the choreographer for the Slovenian performance, having already worked with the band in Slovenia for several years.

During the Slovenian performance, dark red and black LED’s dominated, with each band member interacting with each other for the entirety of the show. Lead singer Bojan Cvjetićanin stated that the band’s aim is to create “a three-minute Joker Out concert” on stage, fusing “Slovene cultural heritage with a distinctly rock defining stage performance for Europe”. At the end of the performance, each of the band members lined up at the front of the stage before bowing to the audience.

At the end of the show, Slovenia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. This marked the first time since 2019 that Slovenia qualified for the final of the contest. It was later revealed that Slovenia placed fifth out of the sixteen participating countries in the second semi-final with 103 points.

Final. Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners’ press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Slovenia was drawn to compete in the second half. Following this draw, the shows’ producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Slovenia was subsequently placed to perform in position number 24, following the entry from Israel and before the entry from Croatia.

Prior to the band’s performance in the final, lead singer Bojan Cvjetićanin stated that “we felt so much more pressure as internally selected artists to represent Slovenia. Now we have reached the final, our aim is to continue representing Slovenia in the best possible way, hopefully achieving a good result for the country”.

Joker Out once again took part in dress rehearsals on 12 and 13 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show on 12 May. They performed a repeat of their semi-final performance during the final on 13 May. Slovenia placed 21st in the final, scoring 78 points; 45 points from the public televoting and 33 points from the juries.

3.2.Voting. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Slovenia in the second semi-final and in the final. Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public. The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country’s jury and televoting were released after the final. The Slovenian jury consisted of Edita Čepin, Lara Baruca, Matjaž Vlašič, Hugo Smeh (Hyu) and Jernej Sobočan. In the second semi-final, Slovenia placed 5th with 103 points, receiving maximum twelve points from Poland, Romania and Spain. This marked the first Slovenian qualification to the final since 2019. In the final, Slovenia placed 21st with 78 points, receiving twelve points in the jury vote from Serbia and twelve points in the public televote from Croatia. Over the course of the contest, Slovenia awarded its 12 points to Albania in the second semi-final, and to Italy (jury) and Croatia (televote) in the final.

3.2.1.Points awarded to Slovenia.

Points awarded to Slovenia (Semi-final 2)
Score Televote
12 points
  •  Poland
  •  Romania
  •  Spain
10 points  Austria
8 points  Australia
7 points
  •  Estonia
  •  Lithuania
6 points
  •  Rest of the World
  •  Ukraine
5 points  Armenia
4 points  Albania
3 points
  •  Belgium
  •  United Kingdom
2 points
  •  Cyprus
  •  Denmark
  •  Greece
1 point
  •  Georgia
  •  Iceland
Points awarded to Slovenia (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Croatia  Serbia
10 points
8 points  Serbia
7 points  Finland
6 points
  •  Austria
  •  Czech Republic
5 points  Azerbaijan  Croatia
4 points
3 points  Czech Republic  Ukraine
2 points
  •  Albania
  •  Latvia
  •  Poland
  •  Romania
1 point
  •  Australia
  •  Estonia
  United Kingdom

3.2.2.Points awarded by Slovenia.

Points awarded by Slovenia (Semi-final 2)
Score Televote
12 points  Albania
10 points  Austria
8 points  Poland
7 points  Belgium
6 points  Australia
5 points  Estonia
4 points  Cyprus
3 points  Iceland
2 points  Lithuania
1 point  Armenia
Points awarded by Slovenia (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Croatia  Italy
10 points  Finland  Estonia
8 points  Italy  Lithuania
7 points  Albania  Sweden
6 points  Serbia  Czech Republic
5 points  Norway  Belgium
4 points  Sweden  Australia
3 points  France  Austria
2 points  Belgium  Spain
1 point  Poland  Switzerland

3.2.3.Detailed voting results. Each nation’s jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song’s composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation’s televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

The following members comprised the Slovene jury:

  • Hugo Smeh (Hyu) – music producer
  • Jernej Sobočan Ivanovič – music editor at Radio Val 202
  • Matjaž Vlašič – singer, guitarist, lyricist and pop music composer
  • Edita Čepin – stage name Ditka, singer-songwriter and composer
  • Lara Baruca – pop music singer and composer
Detailed voting results from Slovenia (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 4 7 12 5 11 8 3 17
02  Portugal 21 15 14 14 9 18 21
03  Switzerland 25 3 17 10 7 10 1 15
04  Poland 22 11 25 24 10 20 10 1
05  Serbia 24 20 18 21 20 25 5 6
06  France 13 14 8 25 18 17 8 3
07  Cyprus 19 4 19 9 8 13 16
08  Spain 2 13 9 15 19 9 2 24
09  Sweden 8 8 11 2 3 4 7 7 4
10  Albania 18 19 13 22 17 22 4 7
11  Italy 1 6 16 1 1 1 12 3 8
12  Estonia 11 2 3 4 2 2 10 20
13  Finland 12 18 20 8 6 14 2 10
14  Czech Republic 3 10 4 7 23 5 6 12
15  Australia 9 17 2 19 4 7 4 19
16  Belgium 10 16 1 6 13 6 5 9 2
17  Armenia 5 9 7 13 22 12 22
18  Moldova 15 25 21 12 25 23 14
19  Ukraine 6 23 15 16 15 16 13
20  Norway 7 21 24 17 21 19 6 5
21  Germany 23 22 10 20 14 21 18
22  Lithuania 14 1 6 3 12 3 8 23
23  Israel 20 5 23 18 16 15 11
24  Slovenia
25  Croatia 17 24 5 11 5 11 1 12
26  United Kingdom 16 12 22 23 24 24 25

After Eurovision. Following the contest, Joker Out were praised in Slovenian media for their qualification to the final, with the show becoming the most watched Eurovision final in Slovenia since 2015. An average of 345,000 viewers watched the final on TV SLO 1, with a peak viewing figure of 895,300 viewers – a peak viewing share of 55%. This marked the highest ever viewing levels recorded in Slovenia since the country’s debut in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Following their placing, the band stated that “the result is not the best, we have to admit that, but the impression we left on the arena was very good”. They also emphasised that the band was proud of their performance: “We couldn’t have done more than what we are. It is a truly unique experience. But we are extremely grateful that we were able to experience it once in our lives”. On 19 May 2023, the band announced their first international tour across Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina following their representation of Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest. On 31 May 2023, it was announced that “Carpe Diem” had become the most streamed Slovene language song in streaming history, generating over 10 million streams in the three months following release.

• Country: 🇬🇪 Georgia

• National selection:

  • Selection process:Artist: The Voice of Georgia 2023 (The Voice საქართველო, The Voice Sakartvelo – Season 5 / „ვოისი“ (Voisi, The Voice)) Ι Song: Internal Selection
  • Selection date(s): Artist:  2 February 2023 Ι Song: 16 March 2023
  • Host venue: -, Tbilisi
  • Presenter(s): Gvantsa Daraselia Ι Coaches: Dato Porchkhidze, Dato Evgenidze, Sopo Toroshelidze, Stephane Mgebrishvili
  • Host broadcaster: GPB (1TV)
  • Participants – Number of entries: 32 artists
  • Voting system: –
  • Selection entrant: Irina “Iru” Khechanovi (ირინა “ირუ” ხეჩანოვი)
  • Selection song: “Echo”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Giorgi Kukhianidze, Beni Kadagidze, Iru Khechanovi

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 11º SF 2: Failed to qualify (12th, 33 points)
  • Final result: –

Georgia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Iru Khechanovi was selected as the Georgian representative through the fifth season of The Voice Georgia, while her competing song “Echo” was internally selected and released on 16 March 2023.

Georgia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023. Performing during the show in position 11, “Echo” was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Georgia placed 12th out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 33 points.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Georgia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fourteen times since their first entry in 2007. The nation’s highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been ninth place, which was achieved on two occasions: in 2010 with the song “Shine” performed by Sofia Nizharadze and in 2011 with the song “One More Day” performed by Eldrine. The nation briefly withdrew from the contest in 2009 after the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) rejected the Georgian entry, “We Don’t Wanna Put In”, for perceived political references to Vladimir Putin who was the Russian Prime Minister at the time. The withdrawal and fallout was tied to tense relations between Georgia and then-host country Russia, which stemmed from the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia has, to this point, failed to qualify to the final on seven occasions.

The Georgian national broadcaster, Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), broadcasts the event within Georgia and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. Georgia has selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest both through national finals and internal selections in the past. In 2013 and 2014, GPB opted to internally select the Georgian entry, in 2015, the Georgian entry was selected via a national final, and in 2016, the artist was internally selected while the song was chosen in a national final. For their 2017 participation, the entry was selected through a national final. In 2018 the artist was internally selected. In 2019, the entry was fully selected through Georgian Idol, and the show was used again to select the singer the following year. However, after the 2020 contest was cancelled, the broadcaster reverted to an internal selection in 2021, sending the same artist set to take part in 2020. In 2022, another internal selection was made, with the band Circus Mircus and their song “Lock Me In” being chosen to represent Georgia. The entry failed to qualify from the second semi-final, placing 18th with 22 points. For their 2023 participation, the Georgian entry was selected via the reality television show The Voice Georgia.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.The Voice of Georgia (The Voice Georgia (season 5)): The Georgian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was selected through the fifth season of The Voice Georgia, the Georgian version of the reality television singing competition format The Voice. GPB announced the opening of applications in late August 2022, which would close on in late September. The competition commenced on 8 December 2022 and concluded with a final on 2 February 2023. All shows in the competition were hosted by presenter Gvantsa Daraselia. The live shows were broadcast on 1TV and via online streaming on the broadcaster’s website In the final, the 8 remaining artists performed one after the other, with no eliminations, and the winner was selected exclusively via televote. Iru Khechanovi emerged as the winner of the season and the Georgian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

Final – 2 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 Tako Kakalashvili “Stand Up” 10.09% 7
2 Lika Siradze “Heroes” 13.73% 4
3 Giorgi Datiashvili “Gethsemane” 15.72% 2
4 Likuna Tutisani “A Song for You” 13.76% 3
5 Tina Datikashvili “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” 10.34% 6
6 Kakha Aslamazishvili “Love You to Death” 2.92% 8
7 Anka Tatarashvili “7 Rings” / “Thank U, Next” 11.56% 5
8 Iru Khechanovi “Euphoria” 21.88% 1

The Voice Georgia (season 5) (2022–2023). The fifth season of the Georgian reality television series The Voice Georgia premiered on 8 December 2022 on 1TV. Stephane Mgebrishvili was the only coach returning from the previous season and Dato Porchkhidze returned after a two-season hiatus. Meanwhile, Sopo Toroshelidze and Dato Evgenidze debuted as coaches, and Gvantsa Daraselia debuted as the show’s presenter.

Broadcaster 1TV announced the opening of applications on 23 August 2022, which would close on 20 September. With this announcement, the channel also revealed that the competition would be used to choose the Georgian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The season finale was aired on 2 February 2023. Iru Khechanovi was named as the winner of this season, marking Dato Porchkhidze’s third win as a coach.

Teams color key
[a] Winner [h] Seventh place
[b] Runner-up [i] Eighth place
[c] Third place [j] Eliminated in the Live Shows
[d] Fourth place [k] Stolen in the Battles
[f] Fifth place [l] Eliminated in the Battles
[g] Sixth place [m] Withdrew

–

Coaches’ teams
Coach Top 32 artists
Dato Porchkhidze
Iru Khechanovi [a] Tako Kakalashvili [h]  Erekle Turkadze [j] Tsotne Barbakadze [j]  Ekaterine Mdivani [j] 
Irakli Kapanadze Ani Nozadze [k] Nini Asiliani [k] Kakha Aslamazashvili [k] Koka Davitadze [l]
Dato “Evgena” Evgenidze
Giorgi Datiashvili [b] Kakha Aslamazashvili [i]  Allegro [j] Giorgi Putkaradze [j] Gvantsa Kupatadze [j]
Ani Nozadze [m] Ekaterine Mdivani [k] Mariam Buighlishvili [l] Salome Takaishvili [l] Sopo Garakanidze [l]
Sopo Toroshelidze
Lika Siradze [d]  Tina Datikashvili [g]  Mariam Toronjadze [j] Salome Tsintsadze [j] Ana Vashakmadze [j]
Sopo Batilashvili Mariam Kokeladze [k] Tako Kakalashvili [k] Anika Gabiskiria [l] Anri Bolkvadze [l]
Stephane Mgebrishvili
Likuna Tutisani [c] Anka Tatarashvili [e]  Dato Rusadze [j] Saba Chachua [j] Mariam Kokeladze [j]
Nini Asiliani Ana Vashakmadze [k] Mariam Toronjadze [k] Aliona Tsintsadze [l] Luka Niavadze [l]
Note: Italicized names are stolen artists (names struck through within former teams).

Blind Auditions. The Blind auditions were aired on 8, 15, 22 and 29 December 2022. In each audition, an artist sings their piece in front of the coaches, whose chairs are facing the audience. If a coach is interested to further work with the artist, they press their button to face the contestant. If a singular coach presses the button, the artist automatically becomes part of their team, and if multiple coaches turn they will compete for the artist, who will decide which team they will join. The artists who qualified for the battles round from each show are shown below.

Blind Auditions Show 1 – 8 December 2022
Artist Song Team Joined
Likuna Tutisani “Ain’t No Way” Stephane Mgebrishvili
Salome Taqaishvili “Uninvited” Dato Evgenidze
Kakha Aslamazashvili “Is This Love” Dato Porchkhidze
Salome Tsintsadze “You Oughta Know” Sopho Toroshelidze
Aliona Tsintsadze “Bez boyu” (Без бою) Stephane Mgebrishvili
Giorgi Datiashvili “If I Get High” Dato Evgenidze
Lika Siradze “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” Sopho Toroshelidze
Tsotne Barbakadze “Tennessee Whiskey” Dato Porchkhidze
Blind Auditions Show 2 – 15 December 2022
Artist Song Team Joined
Mariam Bugianishvili “La Vie en rose” Dato Evgenidze
Saba Chachua “That’s What I Like” Stephane Mgebrishvili
Tako Kakalashvili “Driver’s License” Sopho Toroshelidze
Erekle Turkadze “Virtual Insanity” Dato Porchkhidze
Dato Rusadze “Beneath Your Beautiful” Stephane Mgebrishvili
Ekaterine Mdivani “Babooshka” Dato Evgenidze
Anri Bolkvadze “Trymai” (Тримай) Sopho Toroshelidze
Tina Datikashvili “Anyone” Sopho Toroshelidze
Blind Auditions Show 3 – 22 December 2022
Artist Song Team Joined
Iru Khechanovi “Never Enough” Dato Porchkhidze
Anka Tatarashvili “I Never Loved a Man…” Stephane Mgebrishvili
Anika Gabiskiria “Kiss From a Rose” Sopho Toroshelidze
Gvantsa Kupatadze “Teenage Fantasy” Dato Evgenidze
Sopho Garaqanidze “All I Want” Dato Evgenidze
Sopho Batilashvili “Nothing Compares 2 U” Sopho Toroshelidze
Allegro “Per Te” Dato Evgenidze
Blind Auditions Show 4 – 29 December 2022
Artist Song Team Joined
Nini Alisiani “How Come You Don’t Call Me” Dato Porchkhidze
Luka Niavadze “Fly On” Stephane Mgebrishvili
Koka Davitadze “Make You Feel My Love” Dato Porchkhidze
Mariam Kokeladze “No More Blues” Sopho Toroshelidze
Giorgi Putkaradze “Iron Sky” Dato Evgenidze
Ani Nozadze “When We Were Young” Dato Porchkhidze
Anastasia Vashaqmadze “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” Stephane Mgebrishvili
Mariam Toronjadze “What a Girl Wants” Stephane Mgebrishvili

Battles. The battles shows were aired on 31 December 2022 and 5 January 2023. In this round, the coaches pick two of their artists to compete in a singing match and select one of them to advance to the next round. Losing artists may be stolen by another coach, becoming new members of their team. Multiple coaches can attempt to steal an artist, resulting in a competition for the artist, who will ultimately decide which team they will go to. Every coach stole two eliminated artists: Ana Vashakmadze and Mariam Toronjadze were stolen by Sopo Toroshelidze, Mariam Kokeladze and Nini Alisiani were stolen by Stephane Mgebrishvili, Ani Nozadze and Kakha Aslamazashvili were stolen by Dato Evgenidze, and Ekaterine Mdivani and Tako Kakalashvili were stolen by Dato Porchkhidze.

Battles color key
 * Artist won the battle and advanced to the quarter-finals
 ** Artist lost the battle, but was stolen by another coach
 *** Artist lost the battle and was eliminated
Battles results
Episode Order Coach Winner Song Loser ‘Steal’ result
Dato Evgena Sopo Stephane
Episode 5
(31 December)
 1 Stephane Likuna Tutisani * “I’m Your Baby Tonight” Mariam Toronjadze ** — —  ✔**  —
2 Sopo Tina Datikashvili * “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” Anri Bolkvadze *** — — — —
3 Dato Iru Khechanovi * “Leave the Door Open” Ani Nozadze ** —  ✔** — —
4 Evgena Giorgi Datiashvili * “You Don’t Know My Nation” Ekaterine Mdivani **  ✔**  — — —
5 Stephane Dato Rusadze * “My Funny Valentine” Aliona Tsintsadze *** — — — —
6 Sopo Sopo Batilashvili * “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)” Tako Kakalashvili **  ✔**  — — —
7 Dato Tsotne Barbakadze * “No Woman, No Cry” Kakha Aslamazashvili ** Team full  ✔**  — —
8 Evgena Allegro * “Silent Night” Mariam Bugianishvili*** Team full — —
Episode 6
(5 January)		 1 Stephane Saba Chachua * “Déjà Vu” Ana Vashakmadze ** Team full Team full  ✔** —
2 Dato Erekle Turkadze * “Love’s in Need of Love Today” Nini Alisiani ** Team full  ✔**
3 Sopo Salome Tsintsadze * “No Diggity” Mariam Kokeladze **  ✔**
4 Stephane Anka Tatarashvili * “Purple Rain” Luka Niavadze*** Team full
5 Evgena Giorgi Putkaradze* “Emotions” Salome Takaishvili***
6 Sopo Lika Siradze * “Hedonism” Anika Gabiskiria***
7 Dato Irakli Kapanadze * “After the Love Has Gone” Koka Davitadze***
8 Evgena Gvantsa Kupatadze * “Don’t Be Afraid” Sopo Garakanidze***

Live Shows.

Quarter-finals (12 and 19 January). The quarter-finals took place on 12 and 19 January 2023. The six remaining acts in each team performed and a public televote picked three artists to advance directly to the semi-final. An additional wildcard was then picked by the coach of the team from the eliminated acts. The quarter-finals were the first live shows of the season, with the previous episodes being pre-recorded. Ani Nozadze, who was originally selected to be part of Team Evgena following the battles, withdrew from the competition before the quarter-finals due to health issues.

Team Stephane – 12 January 2023
Order Artist Song Televote Place Result
1 Saba Chachua “Rock with You” 18.03% 3 Advanced
2 Dato Rusadze “Gogov gogov shavtvala” (გოგოვ გოგოვ შავთვალა) 17.28% 4 Wildcard
3 Nini Asiliani “Ain’t Nobody (Loves Me Better)” 9.46% 6 Eliminated
4 Anka Tatarashvili “Got to Be Real” 21.51% 2 Advanced
5 Mari Kokeladze “Mercy” 9.90% 5 Eliminated
6 Likuna Tutisani “He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)” 34.80% 1 Advanced
Team Sopo – 12 January 2023
Order Artist Song Televote Place Result
1 Sali Tsintsadze “What You Waiting For?” 17.93% 3 Advanced
2 Lika Siradze “Cochise” 14.53% 4 Wildcard
3 Sopo Batilashvili “Stairway to Heaven” 8.19% 5 Eliminated
4 Ana Vashakmadze “I See Red” 4.49% 6 Eliminated
5 Mari Toronjadze “Stay with Me” 20.06% 2 Advanced
6 Tina Datikashvili “Queen” 34.80% 1 Advanced
Team Dato – 19 January 2023
Order Artist Song Televote Place Result
1 Iru Khechanovi “Smells Like Teen Spirit” / “Around The World” 35.31% 1 Advanced
2 Erekle Turkadze “Golden Hour” 22.67% 2 Advanced
3 Tsotne Barbakadze “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” 5.62% 5 Wildcard
4 Irakli Kapanadze “Everything I Wanted” 15.09% 4 Eliminated
5 Ekaterine Mdivani “Habanera” 5.20% 6 Eliminated
6 Tako Kakalashvili “Habits (Stay High)” 16.11% 3 Advanced
Team Evgena – 19 January 2023
Order Artist Song Televote Place Result
1 Kakha Aslamazishvili “Time” 17.90% 3 Advanced
2 Allegro “Luna” 19.30% 2 Advanced
3 Giorgi Putkaradze “Sunburn” 28.55% 1 Advanced
4 Giorgi Datiashvili “Heaven on Their Minds” 17.39% 4 Wildcard
5 Gvantsa Kupatadze “The Way You Make Me Feel” 16.86% 5 Eliminated

Semi-final (26 January). The semi-final took place on 26 January 2023. The four remaining acts in each team performed and a public televote picked one artist to advance directly to the final. An additional wildcard was then picked by the coach of the team from the eliminated acts.

Team Stephane – 26 January 2023
Order Artist Song Televote Place Result
1 Anka Tatarashvili “Best Part” 31.92% 1 Advanced
2 Likuna Tutisani “I Say a Little Prayer” 29.13% 2 Wildcard
3 Dato Rusadze “Fix You” 19.97% 3 Eliminated
4 Saba Chachua “Dream On” 18.98% 4 Eliminated
Team Sopo – 26 January 2023
Order Artist Song Televote Place Result
1 Mari Toronjadze “Queen of the Night” 18.73% 3 Eliminated
2 Tina Datikashvili “Higher Ground” 30.32% 2 Wildcard
3 Lika Siradze “Street Spirit” 40.58% 1 Advanced
4 Sali Tsintsadze “Mad About You” 10.37% 4 Eliminated
Team Dato – 26 January 2023
Order Artist Song Televote Place Result
1 Iru Khechanovi “Rise Like a Phoenix” 44.52% 1 Advanced
2 Tako Kakalashvili “How Deep Is Your Love” 17.89% 3 Wildcard
3 Tsotne Barbakadze “Keeping Me Alive” 7.67% 4 Eliminated
4 Erekle Turkadze “Jealous” 29.92% 2 Eliminated
Team Evgena – 26 January 2023
Order Artist Song Televote Place Result
1 Kakha Aslamazishvili “Dark Necessities” 14.18% 4 Wildcard
2 Giorgi Datiashvili “Fragile” 33.77% 1 Advanced
3 Giorgi Putkaradze “Shenamde sharebi shoria” (შენამდე შარები შორია) 30.33% 2 Eliminated
4 Allegro “Grande Amore” 21.72% 3 Eliminated

Final (2 February). The final took place on 2 February 2023. The 8 remaining artists performed one after the other, with no eliminations. The singer with the most votes from the public wins the talent show and will represent Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Final  – 2 February 2023
Order Artist Song Coach Televote Place
1 Tako Kakalashvili “Stand Up” Dato 10.09% 7
2 Lika Siradze “Heroes” Sopo 13.73% 4
3 Giorgi Datiashvili “Gethsemane” Evgena 15.72% 2
4 Likuna Tutisani “A Song for You” Stephane 13.76% 3
5 Tina Datikashvili “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” Sopo 10.34% 6
6 Kakha Aslamazishvili “Love You to Death” Evgena 2.92% 8
7 Anka Tatarashvili “7 Rings” / “Thank U, Next” Stephane 11.56% 5
8 Iru Khechanovi “Euphoria” Dato 21.88% 1

Song selection. Khechanovi’s competing song for the contest was internally selected by GPB. Titled “Echo”, it was released on 16 March 2023.

3.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Georgia has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Georgia was set to perform in position 11, following the entry from Slovenia and before the entry from San Marino.

At the end of the show, Georgia was not among the ten countries announced as qualifiers for the final. This was the sixth consecutive time that Georgia failed to advance from the semi-finals.

3.1.Voting.

3.1.1.Points awarded to Georgia.

Points awarded to Georgia (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Armenia
10 points
8 points
7 points  Greece
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
  •  Lithuania
  •  San Marino
2 points
  •  Romania
  •  Ukraine
1 point
  •  Albania
  •  Estonia
  •  Poland
  •  Rest of the World

3.1.2.Points awarded by Georgia.

Points awarded by Georgia (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Armenia
10 points  Lithuania
8 points  Poland
7 points  Australia
6 points  Iceland
5 points  Cyprus
4 points  Austria
3 points  Belgium
2 points  Estonia
1 point  Slovenia
Points awarded by Georgia (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Armenia  Belgium
10 points  Ukraine  Armenia
8 points  Finland  Italy
7 points  Sweden  Israel
6 points  Israel  Lithuania
5 points  Italy  Estonia
4 points  Lithuania  Sweden
3 points  Moldova  Cyprus
2 points  Norway  Australia
1 point  Croatia  Finland

3.1.4.Detailed final results. The following members comprised the Georgian jury:

  • David Tsintsadze
  • Giorgi Toradze
  • Anri Jokhadze
  • Lana Kutateladze
  • Sophiko Khalvashi
Detailed voting results from Georgia (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 25 24 23 7 19 16 14
02  Portugal 26 23 22 21 20 25 24
03  Switzerland 12 21 19 20 18 20 25
04  Poland 24 22 24 19 24 26 19
05  Serbia 22 14 20 25 17 22 20
06  France 13 9 18 15 16 13 12
07  Cyprus 8 5 6 10 10 8 3 18
08  Spain 16 16 15 17 13 18 15
09  Sweden 4 3 7 16 14 7 4 4 7
10  Albania 23 25 21 12 26 23 26
11  Italy 9 1 8 3 5 3 8 6 5
12  Estonia 3 10 4 6 9 6 5 22
13  Finland 15 12 5 8 12 10 1 3 8
14  Czech Republic 18 13 14 24 15 19 11
15  Australia 6 6 9 23 11 9 2 17
16  Belgium 2 2 1 2 1 1 12 21
17  Armenia 1 4 2 1 3 2 10 1 12
18  Moldova 17 19 12 9 21 15 8 3
19  Ukraine 11 7 11 11 8 11 2 10
20  Norway 10 18 17 13 22 17 9 2
21  Germany 21 20 25 14 25 24 16
22  Lithuania 5 11 10 4 2 5 6 7 4
23  Israel 7 8 3 5 4 4 7 5 6
24  Slovenia 20 26 16 18 7 14 13
25  Croatia 14 15 26 26 6 12 10 1
26  United Kingdom 19 17 13 22 23 21 23

• Country: 🇸🇲 San Marino

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Una Voce Per San Marino 2023 (A voice for San Marino)
  • Selection date(s): Selections: 28 ottobre-4 novembre 2022, 5-12 dicembre 2022, 20-29 gennaio 2023, 15-16 febbraio 2023 Ι Semifinals: 20 February 2023, 21 February 2023, 22 February 2023, 23 February 2023 Ι Second chance: 24 February 2023 Ι Final: 25 febbraio 2023
  • Host venue: Semi-finals: Teatro Titano, Città di San Marino, San Marino Ι Final: Teatro Nuovo, Dogana, San Marino
  • Presenter(s): SF (Ilenia De Sena), FI (Jonathan Kashanian, Senhit)
  • Host broadcaster: SMRTV
  • Participants – Number of entries: –
  • Voting system: 100% jury
  • Selection entrant: Piqued Jacks (Andrea Lazzeretti, Francesco Bini, Tommaso Oliveri and Marco Sgaramella)
  • Selection song: “Like an Animal”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Andrea Lazzeretti, Francesco Bini, Marco Sgaramella, Tommaso Oliveri

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 12º SF 2: Failed to qualify (16th, 0 punti)
  • Final result: –

San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song “Like an Animal” performed by Piqued Jacks. The Sammarinese broadcaster San Marino RTV (SMRTV) organised the national final concept entitled Una voce per San Marino (“A voice for San Marino”) to decide their representative. The event consisted of over 1000 emerging and 32 established artists competing over a five-month period from October 2022 through February 2023 for the opportunity to represent the nation at the contest. The winning entry “Like an Animal” was written by Andrea Lazzeretti, Francesco Bini, Marco Sgaramella, and Tommaso Oliveri.

Promotion of the entry consisted of the release of a music video as well as a tour of a selection of nations participating in the contest, including England, Israel, Poland, Spain, and the Netherlands. San Marino was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the contest, which took place on 11 May 2023. Performing during the show at position 12 in the running order, “Like an Animal” did not qualify to compete in the final and placed last out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final, with no points having been awarded to the nation for the first time in its Eurovision history.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, San Marino had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 12 times since its first entry in 2008. The nation’s debut entry in the 2008 contest, “Complice” performed by Miodio, failed to qualify for the final and placed last in the semi-final it competed in. San Marino subsequently did not participate in both the 2009 and 2010 contests, citing financial difficulties. It returned in 2011 with Italian singer Senit performing “Stand By”, which also failed to take the nation to the final. From 2012 to 2014, San Marino sent Valentina Monetta to the contest on three consecutive occasions. Monetta’s first two entries failed to qualify San Marino to the final, however in 2014, she managed to bring the nation to the final for the first time with “Maybe”, placing 24th. Following four consecutive non-qualifying years, San Marino qualified for the final for its second time in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, where Serhat represented the nation for his second time and finished in 19th place with “Say Na Na Na”. For the 2020 contest, Senhit and her song “Freaky!” were to represent the nation, though following its cancellation, San Marino re-selected Senhit for 2021. Her 2021 song, “Adrenalina“, which she performed alongside American rapper Flo Rida, qualified for the final, eventually placing 22nd out of the 26 entries. For the 2022 contest, a competition titled Una voce per San Marino (“A voice for San Marino”) was held to select the country’s entry. Its selected entrant Achille Lauro and the song “Stripper” failed to qualify for the final. In February 2022, SMRTV confirmed the return of the selection event for the 2023 contest.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Una voce per San Marino. Una voce per San Marino returned for a second edition to select the Sammarinese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. This marked the third time that the nation had opted to select their entry with a national final format, the first time being in 2018 with 1in360.

Auditions for Una voce per San Marino were held between October 2022 and February 2023. Interested artists could apply to partake in the event through the official Una voce per San Marino website. There were no restrictions on the nationality of the performer nor the language of the song, though all artists and songs had to comply with the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest as set by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Artists who proceeded to the next round attended an academy in the Teatro Titano in the City of San Marino from 28 October 2022 and 16 February 2023, acting as preliminary castings. From 20 to 24 February 2022, a series of semi-finals decided the 22 acts that moved on to the final. Established artists were directly invited to the semi-final stage by Media Evolution SRL. As the end of the auditions period approached, a special in-depth show narrated by Maria Letizia Camparsi and focused on introducing and recapping Una voce per San Marino was aired on RTV on 24 January 2023.

Emerging acts auditions. A submission period was opened by SMRTV on 20 August 2022 for emerging artists and composers to submit their entries. By 14 October 2022, the broadcaster announced it had received over 400 applications, particularly from Spain, Germany and Norway, but also from other European countries, Canada, the United States and Australia.[14] Near the close of the submission period, SMRTV reported that they had received over 1,000 applications overall from 31 different countries, out of which 299 were selected to take part in the emerging acts round. The emerging acts auditions took place during scheduled dates between 28 October 2022 and 27 January 2023.

As the only Sammarinese acts in the selection, Kida and Simone De Biagi were granted a direct pass to the final. The 104 international emerging acts, including both auditionees and established artists who got automatic passes to participate in the semi-finals following their auditions, and their country of origin were as follows:

Emerging artists

  • Acousticouple (Italy)
  • Alabaster (Italy)
  • Andry (Italy)
  • Angel Dell (Finland)
  • Aria (Italy)
  • Aristea (Italy)
  • Atwood (Italy)
  • Blonde Brothers (Italy)
  • Brandon Parasole (Spain)
  • Camilla (Italy)
  • Christina (Italy)
  • Christopher (Germany)
  • Con Amore (United Kingdom)
  • Daniel Schuhmacher (Germany)
  • Daudia (Italy)
  • DƏVA (Italy)
  • Dionysian (Italy)
  • E.E.F. (Italy)
  • Edoardo Brogi (Italy)
  • Eleonora Alì (Italy)
  • Ellynora (Italy)
  • Erna Hrönn (Iceland)
  • Florin Răduță (Belgium)
  • Francesca Monte and Kevan (Italy)
  • Francesco Balasso (Italy)
  • Francesco Da Vinci (Italy)
  • FreakyBea (Italy)
  • Gelida (Italy)
  • Gisele Abramoff (Germany)
  • Ice Eye (Finland)
  • Ilenya (Italy)
  • Iole (Italy)
  • Jenny & Me (Switzerland)
  • Jenny May (Latvia)
  • Kiara D.V. feat. Pamela Ivonne Cole (United Kingdom)
  • Leonor (Italy)
  • Lodia (Italy)
  • Lola (Croatia)
  • Lost City feat Emerique (Italy)
  • Luca Minnelli (Italy)
  • Luciano Carlino (Italy)
  • Luna Palumbo (Italy)
  • Morgana (Italy)
  • Nevruz (Italy)
  • Nicole Hammett (Malta)
  • Noe (Italy)
  • Norah (Italy)
  • Only Sara (Italy)
  • Ophelio (Italy)
  • Out Offline (Italy)
  • Piqued Jacks (Italy)
  • Pjero (Italy)
  • Raim (Italy)
  • Ruggero Ricci (Italy)
  • Santo (Italy)
  • Sara (Italy)
  • Silver (Italy)
  • Sophia (Italy)
  • Surama Tsu (Italy)
  • TES – Tutti Esageratamente Stronzi (Italy)
  • Tothem (Italy)
  • Veronica Howle (Italy)
  • Verónica Romero (Spain)
  • Vian (Italy)
  • Victor Arbelo (Spain)
  • Vina Rose (United Kingdom)
  • Viviana (Italy)
  • Viviana Milioti (Germany)
  • Xada (Italy)
  • XGiove (Italy)

Established artists

  • Alessandro Coli (Italy)
  • Alfie Arcuri (Australia)
  • Camille Cabaltera (Italy)
  • Ciro De Luca (Romania)
  • Deborah Iurato (Italy)
  • Deshedus (Italy)
  • DramaLove (United Kingdom)
  • Eiffel 65 (Italy)
  • Ferrán Faba (Spain)
  • Flexx (Italy)
  • Francesco Monte (Italy)
  • Ginny Vee (Italy)
  • Kurt Cassar (Malta)
  • Laïoung feat. Marzio (Italy)
  • Le Deva (Italy)
  • Lorenzo Licitra (Italy)
  • Manuel Aspidi (Italy)
  • Massimo Di Cataldo and Andrea Agresti (Italy)
  • Mate (Italy)
  • Matilde (Italy)
  • Mayu (Switzerland)
  • MeriCler (Italy)
  • Moreno (Italy)
  • Neja and Luca Guadagnini Band (Italy)
  • Rawstrings (Italy)
  • Ronela (Albania)
  • Rouges (Italy)
  • Roy Paci (Italy)
  • Selina Albright (United States)
  • Sofia Mae (Italy)
  • Stefano d’Orazio (Italy)
  • Thomas (Italy)

2.1.1.Semi-finals. On 20 February 2023, SMRTV announced the names of the 106 acts that had been selected to progress to the semi-final stage. In each semi-final, four artists advanced immediately to the final. Further four artists in each semi-final were chosen to advance to the second chance round. In total, 22 acts were to compete in the final: 16 artists chosen from the semi-finals, four from the second chance round, and two Sammarinese artists that automatically advanced to the final. All of these events took place at the Teatro Nuovo in Dogana.

Key: * Finalist ** Second chance *** Absent

Semi-final 1 – 20 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Acousticouple “Hell Rider” Eliminated
2 Alfie Arcuri*  “Collide” Finalist
3 Alabaster “Ambrosia“ Eliminated
4 Andry “Superboom” Eliminated
5 Alessandro Coli “Afterglow” Eliminated
6 Angel Dell “Hard to Be an Angel” Eliminated
7 Aria “Una“ Eliminated
8 Aristea “Dentro una bolla“ Eliminated
9 Atwood “Dangerous” Eliminated
10 Blonde Brothers “Da che parte stai“ Eliminated
11 Brandon Parasole “Affare“ Eliminated
12 Camilla** “It’s Not You, It’s Me” Second Chance
13 Camille Cabaltera** “Mental” Second Chance
14 Christina “Complicated” Eliminated
15 Christopher Grev “Stars in the Sky” Eliminated
16 Ciro De Luca “L’amore universale“ Eliminated
17 Con Amore “Perfect Sight” Eliminated
18 Daniel Schuhmacher “Skin I’m In” Eliminated
19 Daudia** “What If” Second Chance
20 Deborah Iurato*  “Out of Space” Finalist
21 Deshedus*  “Non basterà“ Finalist
22 Dəva “Malaise” Eliminated
23 Dionysian “Steps of the Way” Eliminated
24 DramaLove “Thunder” Eliminated
25 E.E.F.*  “Something for You” Finalist
26 Edoardo Brogi** “Due punti sull’equatore“ Second Chance
Semi-final 2 – 21 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Eiffel 65*  “Movie Star” Finalist
2 Eleonora Alì “Fade Out” Eliminated
3 Ellynora*  “Mama Told Me” Finalist
4 Erna Hrönn “Your Voice” Eliminated
5 Ferrán Faba “Cita en el Metaverso“ Eliminated
6 Leonor “Una parola sola“ Eliminated
7 Flexx** “GOK (God Only Knows)” Second Chance
8 Florin Răduță** “My Mind” Second Chance
9 Francesca Monte and Kevan “Holding on to You” Eliminated
10 Francesco Balasso “Chi sono“ Eliminated
11 Francesco Da Vinci “Prumess“ Eliminated
12 Francesco Monte “Eklissi“ Eliminated
13 FreakyBea “Fiori“ Eliminated
14 Gelida “Frena“ Eliminated
15 Ginny Vee “Haunted” Eliminated
16 Gisele Abramoff “Playlist” Eliminated
17 Ice Eye “Raging Storm” Eliminated
18 Ilenya “Japan” Eliminated
19 Iole*  “Sul tetto del mondo“ Finalist
20 Jenny & Me “Portami nel cuore“ Eliminated
21 Jenny May “When the World Awakens” Eliminated
22 Kiara D.V. feat. Pamela Ivonne Cole** “My Time” Second Chance
23 Kurt Cassar “Hurdles” Eliminated
24 La Bebae** “Tocco il fondo“ Second Chance
25 Laïoung feat. Marzio “12 Hours” Eliminated
26 Le Deva*  “Fiori su Marte“ Finalist
27 Lodia “Fine del mondo“ Eliminated
Semi-final 3 – 22 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Lola “Imperio“ Eliminated
2 Lorenza Rocchiccioli “I Am Worthy” Eliminated
3 Lorenzo Licitra*  “Never Give Up” Finalist
4 Lost City feat. Emerique** “Titan” Second Chance
5 Luca Minnelli “Lucky Love” Eliminated
6 Luciano Carlino “Hiroshima’s Dreams” Eliminated
7 Luna Palumbo** “Batticuore“ Second Chance
8 Manuel Aspidi “Fading Out the Silence” Eliminated
9 Massimo Di Cataldo and Andrea Agresti “Una canzone brutta“ Eliminated
10 Mate** “Prisma“ Second Chance
11 Matilde “Come fanno i gatti“ Eliminated
12 Mayu*  “C’è qualcosa in me che non fuziona“ Finalist
13 MeriCler “Souvenirs” Eliminated
14 Moreno “Vieni via con me“ Eliminated
15 Morgana** “A Lonely Night in Shanghai” Second Chance
16 Neja and Luca Guadagnini Band “Questione di fortuna“ Eliminated
17 Nevruz*  “L’alieno“ Finalist
18 Nicole Hammett “Giochi strategici“ Eliminated
19 Noe “Sottosopra“ Eliminated
20 Only Sara “Bleach” Eliminated
21 Ophelio “Rubber” Eliminated
22 Out Offline “Endless Loop” Eliminated
23 Piqued Jacks*  “Like an Animal” Finalist
— Norah*** — Absent
Semi-final 4 – 23 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Pjero** “Spiderman” Second Chance
2 Raim** “All Alone” Second Chance
3 Rawstrings “Pardonne-moi mon enfant“ Eliminated
4 Ronela** “Salvaje“ Second Chance
5 Rouges “All’alba del mio amore“ Eliminated
6 Roy Paci** “Tromba“ Second Chance
7 Ruggero Ricci “Firework” Eliminated
8 Santo “Torna presto“ Eliminated
9 Sara “Tutto bene“ Eliminated
10 Selina Albright “Did I Ever” Eliminated
11 Silver “Get You Back” Eliminated
12 Sofia Mae “Dentro questa musica“ Eliminated
13 Sophia “Skybreaker” Eliminated
14 Stefano d’Orazio “Si fa così“ Eliminated
15 Surama Tsu “Tre tavole“ Eliminated
16 TES – Tutti Esageratamente Stronzi “Giovani di mezza età“ Eliminated
17 Thomas* “23:23” Finalist
18 Tothem* “Sacro e profano“ Finalist
19 Veronica Howle “Che“ Eliminated
20 Verónica Romero “Army of One” Eliminated
21 Vian “Wicca” Eliminated
22 Vina Rose* “Oblivious” Finalist
23 Viviana “Prigioniera nera“ Eliminated
24 Viviana Milioti “Seraphina’s Lullaby” Eliminated
25 Xada “Come nei film“ Eliminated
26 XGiove* “Fuoco e benzina“ Finalist
— Victor Arbelo*** — Absent

Second Chance. Before the second chance round, Pjero was initially confirmed among the contestants with the song “Spiderman”, but he was later disqualified from the competition as his song had already been released two years earlier on digital platforms, in conflict with the contest rules. Selina Albright was initially selected as an alternate, but dropped out due to logistical reasons; thus, TES – Tutti Esageratamente Stronzi were subsequently selected to compete.

Key: * Finalist ** Absent

Second Chance round – 24 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Camilla “It’s Not You, It’s Me” Eliminated
2 Camille Cabaltera “Mental” Eliminated
3 Daudia “What If” Eliminated
4 Edoardo Brogi* “Due punti sull’equatore“ Finalist
5 Flexx “GOK (God Only Knows)” Eliminated
6 Florin Raduța “My Mind” Eliminated
7 Kiara D.V. feat. Pamela Ivonne Cole “My Time” Eliminated
8 La Bebae “Tocco il fondo“ Eliminated
9 Lost City feat. Emerique “Titan” Eliminated
10 Luna Palumbo “Batticuore“ Eliminated
11 Mate* “Prisma“ Finalist
12 Morgana “A Lonely Night in Shanghai” Eliminated
13 Raim “All Alone” Eliminated
14 Ronela* “Salvaje” Finalist
15 Roy Paci* “Tromba” Finalist
16 TES – Tutti Esageratamente Stronzi “Giovani di mezza età“ Eliminated
— Pjero** “Spiderman” Disqualified

Final. The final took place on 25 February 2023 and was hosted by Jonathan Kashanian and Senhit. Twenty-two participants were scheduled to take part, however Simone De Biagi withdrew herself from consideration due to throat issues. Interval acts included 2022’s Sammarinese entrant Achille Lauro and 2008’s Miodio, who marked 15 years since their performance for the nation’s Eurovision debut. At the end of the event, Piqued Jacks were declared the winners with their song “Like an Animal”. The result was determined by a six-member jury panel consisting of Al Bano (jury president and Italy’s 1976 and 1985 Eurovision entrant), Charlotte Davis (British television producer), Steve Lyon (British sound engineer), Clarissa Martinelli (journalist), Antonio Rospini (musician and artistic consultant), and Dino Steward (managing director of BMG Italy). Only the placements of the top 10 acts were revealed. The band Piqued Jacks consisted of Francesco Bini (bass), Andrea Lazzeretti (vocals), Tommaso Olivieri (drums), and Marco Sgaramella (guitar).

Key: * Winner ** Second place *** Third place  **** Absent

Final – 25 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Place
1 Roy Paci “Tromba“ –
2 Vina Rose “Oblivious” 10
3 Deshedus “Non basterà“ –
4 Kida “Stessa pelle“ –
5 Thomas “23:23” –
6 Piqued Jacks* “Like an Animal” 1
7 E.E.F. “Something for You” 9
8 Iole “Sul tetto del mondo“ –
9 Deborah Iurato “Out of Space” –
10 Nevruz “L’alieno“ –
11 Eiffel 65 “Movie Star” 5
12 Le Deva** “Fiori su Marte“ 2
13 Mayu “C’è qualcosa in me che non fuziona“ 4
14 Lorenzo Licitra “Never Give Up” –
15 Mate “Prisma“ –
16 Tothem “Sacro e profano“ 8
17 Edoardo Brogi “Due punti sull’equatore“ 6
18 Ellynora “Mama Told Me” 7
19 Alfie Arcuri “Collide” –
20 Ronela “Salvaje“ –
21 XGiove*** “Fuoco e benzina“ 3
— Simone De Biagi**** “Catching Memories” –

Promotion. “Like an Animal” was the last of 2023’s Eurovision entries to be released to streaming services, with only live versions being available until its studio version release on 5 April. A music video of the song was later released on 27 April and featured the group dressed in 90s-inspired outfits with “flashmob-style choreography”.

Piqued Jacks’ first live performance of “Like an Animal” following their selection took place on 25 March at an event held in Barcelona at the Palau Sant Jordi. The occasion included past and present Eurovision winners and participants. Other promotional appearances took place in London, Tel Aviv, Madrid, Amsterdam, and Warsaw, the latter of which Piqued Jacks were joined by previous San Marino representative Senhit. The group also appeared in print media, having been interviewed about their participation and Eurovision journey by the Italian edition of Rolling Stone.

3.At Eurovision. The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 took place at the Liverpool Arena in Liverpool, United Kingdom, and consisted of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 9 and 11 May and the final on 13 May 2023. According to the Eurovision rules, all participating countries, exept the host nation and the “Big Five”, consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals to compete for the final; the top 10 countries from their respective semi-finals progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into five different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. San Marino was placed into the 11 May second semi-final, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. San Marino was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Georgia and before the entry from Austria. In San Marino, the two semi-finals and the final were broadcast on San Marino RTV and Radio San Marino with commentary by Lia Fiorio and Gigi Restivo.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. San Marino was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Georgia and before the entry from Austria.

Performances. Piqued Jacks took part in technical rehearsals in Liverpool on 2 and 5 May, and dress rehearsals on 10 May. The latter included the jury show where the professional back-up juries of each country watched and voted in a result used if any issues with public televoting occurred. Greek creative director, choreographer and dancer Nick Marianos led Piqued Jack’s creative team responsible for the group’s stage presence, having previously served in that role for San Marino in 2019 for Serhat’s “Say Na Na Na”. The group appeared on stage in all black with red details and were surrounded by red screens that at times showed lips and eyes. The group’s outfits for several promotional events as well as the contest itself were handled by Tuscan designer Noell Maggini.

At the end of the 11 May second semi-final, San Marino was not among the 10 countries announced as qualifiers for the final. It was later revealed that the nation had placed last in its semi-final, receiving no points.

3.1.Voting. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to San Marino in the second semi-final as well as by the nation in the second semi-final and final of the contest. Also included is the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows. Voting during the shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public. As San Marino shares its telephone system with Italy, televoting results from the nation were instead produced by jury votes. Each nation’s jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song’s composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country’s jury and televoting were released after the final; the individual results from each jury member were released in an anonymised form. The Sammarinese jury consisted of Francesco Stefanelli, Lewis Busignani, Luca Zucchi, Barbara Andreini, and Sabrina Minguzzi.

In the second semi-final, San Marino finished in last place out of 16 entries and did not receive any points. Romania also did not receive any points, but placed 15th according to the tie-breaking rules, placing it ahead of San Marino. This marked the first time that San Marino had received no points at Eurovision. Over the course of the contest, the nation awarded its top 12 points to Lithuania in the second semi-final and to Italy (jury) and Finland (televote) in the final. John Kennedy O’Connor served as the Sammarinese spokesperson, announcing the votes awarded by the Sammarinese jury during the final.

3.1.1.Points awarded to San Marino. In the semi-final, San Marino did not receive any points in the televote.

3.1.2.Points awarded by San Marino.

Points awarded by San Marino (Semi-final 2)
Score Jury[a]
12 points  Lithuania
10 points  Estonia
8 points  Austria
7 points  Iceland
6 points  Australia
5 points  Belgium
4 points  Armenia
3 points  Georgia
2 points  Poland
1 point  Cyprus
Points awarded by San Marino (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Finland  Italy
10 points  Israel  Estonia
8 points  Sweden  Lithuania
7 points  Italy  Belgium
6 points  Ukraine  Austria
5 points  Cyprus  Australia
4 points  Norway  Sweden
3 points  Moldova  Moldova
2 points  Lithuania  Spain
1 point  Poland  Norway

3.2.3.Detailed final results. The following members comprised the Sammarinese jury:

  • Francesco Stefanelli
  • Lewis Busignani
  • Luca Zucchi
  • Barbara Andreini
  • Sabrina Minguzzi
Detailed voting results from San Marino (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 11 13 2 5 5 5 6 17
02  Portugal 23 20 18 14 10 20 26
03  Switzerland 20 19 23 21 22 25 15
04  Poland 8 15 8 15 13 14 10 1
05  Serbia 22 26 24 19 11 21 24
06  France 25 10 20 7 17 16 11
07  Cyprus 13 9 13 9 9 13 6 5
08  Spain 14 2 14 12 19 9 2 21
09  Sweden 12 3 12 6 8 7 4 3 8
10  Albania 5 17 7 13 12 11 18
11  Italy 1 1 3 1 1 1 12 4 7
12  Estonia 2 16 6 2 2 2 10 25
13  Finland 24 25 26 24 24 26 1 12
14  Czech Republic 17 14 19 10 18 19 19
15  Australia 7 18 5 11 3 6 5 23
16  Belgium 3 8 1 16 14 4 7 14
17  Armenia 15 7 15 18 6 12 12
18  Moldova 4 4 10 17 21 8 3 8 3
19  Ukraine 19 6 22 20 16 17 5 6
20  Norway 10 21 17 4 7 10 1 7 4
21  Germany 26 22 25 22 15 24 20
22  Lithuania 6 5 4 3 4 3 8 9 2
23  Israel 9 11 21 8 20 15 2 10
24  Slovenia 16 12 9 26 25 18 22
25  Croatia 21 23 11 25 26 22 16
26  United Kingdom 18 24 16 23 23 23 13

Notes.

  • [a] ^ Due to San Marino’s inability to provide a televoting result, its backup jury votes were used.

• Country:🇦🇹Austria

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Internal selection 2023
  • Selection date(s):Artist: 31 January 2023 Ι Song: 8 March 2023
  • Host venue: –
  • Presenter(s): –
  • Host broadcaster: ÖRF
  • Participants – Number of entries: –
  • Voting system: –
  • Selection entrant: TEYA and SALENA (Teodora Špirić, Теодора Шпирић; Thea Devy and Selina-Maria Edbauer)
  • Selection song: “Who the Hell Is Edgar?”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Teodora Spirić, Selina-Maria Edbauer, Ronald Janeček, Pele Loriano

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 13º SF 2: Qualified (2nd, 137 points)
  • Final result: 15th, 120 points

Austria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, having internally selected Teya and Salena to represent the country with the song “Who the Hell Is Edgar?”. Teya and Salena were announced as the Austrian entrants to the contest on 31 January 2023, while their song was presented to the public on 8 March 2023.

In the second semi-final, Austria qualified for the final on 13 May.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-four times since its first entry in 1957. The nation has won the contest on two occasions: in 1966 with the song “Merci, Chérie” performed by Udo Jürgens and in 2014 with the song “Rise Like a Phoenix” performed by Conchita Wurst. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Austria has featured in only seven finals. Austria’s least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on eight occasions, most recently in 2012. Austria has also received nul points on four occasions; in 1962, 1988, 1991 and 2015.

The Austrian national broadcaster, Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), broadcasts the event within Austria and organises the selection process for the nation’s entry. ORF confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on 9 June 2022. From 2011 to 2013 as well as in 2015 and 2016, ORF set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Austria, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. In 2014 and since 2017, ORF has held an internal selection to choose the artist and song to represent Austria at the contest.

2.Before Eurovision. 

2.1.Internal selection. Artists were nominated by ORF’s Eurovision team, which collaborated with producer Lukas Hillebrand and music expert Eberhard Forcher who worked on the selection of the Austrian entries since 2016, to submit songs to the broadcaster. In November 2022, it was reported by Austrian media that 15 artists, including singers Julian le Play and Slomo, were involved in the selection and that the Austrian entry would be selected by a panel of ORF entertainment editors together with the broadcaster’s programme director Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz and entertainment director Alexander Hofer, after several entries had been shortlisted by a previous panel of 25 local and international music industry and Eurovision experts as well as Eurovision fans following a live casting round which took place on 30 October 2022.

On 31 January 2023, ORF announced during the radio show Ö3-Wecker, aired on Ö3, that they had internally selected Teodora Špirić (Teya) and Selina-Maria Edbauer (Salena) to represent Austria in Liverpool. Teya had previously attempted to represent Serbia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2020, placing tenth in the national final Beovizija 2020 with the song “Sudnji dan“, while Salena had previously been a participant in the seventh season of The Voice of Germany in 2017, where she reached the third round as a member of Samu Haber’s team. Both singers also previously attempted to represent Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest; Teya in 2020 with an English version of “Sudnji dan” entitled “Judgement Day” and Salena in 2019 with the song “Behind the Waterfall”. The song “Who the Hell Is Edgar?”, written by Teya and Salena together with Ronald Janeček and Pele Loriano at a songwriting camp in the Czech Republic, was presented as the Austrian entry for the contest on 8 March 2023 during Ö3-Wecker.

“This song is a snapshot of the fun we had on the day we wrote it. It started with wanting to convey what it feels like when a good song is made. Sometimes creativity rushes through you as if you‘re getting possessed by a ghost. But we also wanted to put our personal experiences as female songwriters into the song. It often feels like you have to prove yourself over and over again to be taken seriously. By presenting Edgar Allan Poe as the actual writer of the song, we want to draw attention to this frustrating part of the music business. It’s satire.” — Teya and Salena about “Who the Hell Is Edgar?”.

3.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Austria has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Austria was set to perform in position 13, following the entry from San Marino and before the entry from Albania.

In Austria, all shows were broadcast on ORF 1, with commentary by Andi Knoll, with final broadcast on FM4, with commentary by Jan Böhmermann and Olli Schulz. ORF also provided additional programming alongside the live broadcast of the contest shows, with the two-part pre-recorded series “Mr. Song Contest Proudly Presents” fronted by Knoll, which aired prior to the two semi-finals, and two live broadcasts from the Tate Liverpool, “ESC – Der Countdown” and “ESC – Die Aftershow“, conducted as a joint broadcast on ORF, Germany’s ARD and Switzerland’s SRF which aired prior to and after the final and was presented by Barbara Schöneberger. The Austrian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Austrian jury during the final, was Philipp Hansa.

At the end of the show, Austria was announced as a qualifier for the final.

The semi-final 1 broadcast on 9 May reached a total of 306,000 Austrian viewers, which represented a 16.5% market share. The semi-final 2 broadcast on 11 May, which included the participation of Austria, reached 568,000 viewers (23.1% market share). The broadcast of the final on 13 May was watched by an average of 1,079,000 viewers, representing a 47% market share, with a peak viewership of 1,230,000 at a given point during the broadcast on ORF 1. This marked Austria’s best viewership figures for the contest since 2016, as well as all-time high viewing figures among the 12-49 and 12-29 target groups.

3.2.Voting.

3.2.1.Points awarded to Austria.

Points awarded to Austria (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Belgium
10 points
  •  Cyprus
  •  France
8 points
  •  Iceland
  •  Lithuania
7 points  Australia
  •  Denmark
  •  Greece
  •  Switzerland
6 points
  •  Australia
  •  Israel
  •  San Marino
  •  Serbia
5 points
4 points  Netherlands
3 points  Serbia  Slovenia
2 points  Finland
  •  Armenia
  •  Finland
  •  Germany
1 point
  •  Malta
  •  Netherlands

3.2.2.Points awarded by Austria.

Points awarded by Austria (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Belgium
10 points  Slovenia
8 points  Australia
7 points  Poland
6 points  Albania
5 points  Lithuania
4 points  Armenia
3 points  Estonia
2 points  Cyprus
1 point  Iceland
Points awarded by Austria (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Finland  Italy
10 points  Croatia  Sweden
8 points  Italy  Finland
7 points  Norway  Lithuania
6 points  Germany  Slovenia
5 points  Ukraine  Czech Republic
4 points  Sweden  Switzerland
3 points  Albania  Belgium
2 points  Switzerland  Cyprus
1 point  Israel  Armenia

3.2.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Austrian jury:

  • Christian Andreas Ude
  • Peter Schreiber
  • Thomas Traint
  • Elke Kaufmann
  • Alica Ouschan
Detailed voting results from Austria (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria
02  Portugal 16 23 10 13 10 19 23
03  Switzerland 8 11 2 6 14 7 4 9 2
04  Poland 11 24 16 8 9 18 13
05  Serbia 3 10 24 16 24 14 15
06  France 24 22 13 20 11 22 18
07  Cyprus 17 18 6 3 12 9 2 20
08  Spain 6 17 9 17 17 17 24
09  Sweden 9 1 4 5 8 2 10 7 4
10  Albania 20 25 14 10 23 21 8 3
11  Italy 19 6 5 2 1 1 12 3 8
12  Estonia 22 21 11 7 4 11 19
13  Finland 2 4 1 19 22 3 8 1 12
14  Czech Republic 1 2 19 22 19 6 5 12
15  Australia 13 5 18 11 21 15 17
16  Belgium 18 3 20 12 5 8 3 11
17  Armenia 14 8 3 14 13 10 1 22
18  Moldova 25 19 15 18 18 23 16
19  Ukraine 7 12 17 15 6 13 6 5
20  Norway 10 13 22 23 20 20 4 7
21  Germany 21 16 25 24 25 25 5 6
22  Lithuania 12 7 8 1 3 4 7 21
23  Israel 15 14 7 9 16 16 10 1
24  Slovenia 5 9 12 4 2 5 6 14
25  Croatia 4 20 23 21 7 12 2 10
26  United Kingdom 23 15 21 25 15 24 25

• Country: 🇦🇱 Albania

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Festivali i Këngës 61 (Festivali i Këngës në RTSH 2022)
  • Selection date(s):Semi-finals: 19 December 2022, 20 December 2022, 21 December 2022 (Nostalgia Night) Ι Final: 22 December 2023
  • Host venue: Palace of Congresses, Tirana, Albania
  • Presenter(s): Arbana Osmani
  • Musical director: Shpëtim Saraçi Ι Artistic director: Bojken Lako Ι Directed by: Eduart Grishaj
  • Host broadcaster:Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH)
  • Participants: 26
  • Participants – Number of entries: 26
  • Voting system: A jury determined the results of Festivali i Këngës, while the Albanian artist for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was selected by public voting among the finalists. At the end of Night 2, a jury panel eliminated 5 contestants from the “New Artists” category. Nostalgia Night: The 16 contestants from the “Big Artists” section performed covers of past songs from Festivali i Këngës together with acclaimed Albanian guest artists. Result of Festivali i Këngës: 100% jury, Eurovision 2023 representative: 100% televoting
  • Winning song: “Evita” by Elsa Lila
  • Selection entrant: Albina dhe Familja Kelmendi
  • Selection song: “Duje” (Love it)
  • Selected songwriter(s): Enis Mullaj, Eriona Rushiti

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 14º SF 2: Qualified (9th, 83 points)
  • Final result: 22nd, 76 points

Albania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with “Duje” performed by Albina and Familja Kelmendi. Its entry was selected by a separate voting during the national selection competition Festivali i Këngës, which was organised by Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) in December 2022.

In the second semi-final, Albania qualified for the final on 13 May.

1.Background. Prior to the 2023 contest, Albania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 18 times since its first entry in 2004. The nation’s highest placing in the contest, to this point, was the fifth place, which was achieved in 2012 with the song “Suus” performed by Rona Nishliu. Albania accomplished its second-highest placing when first participating in 2004, with the song “The Image of You” performed by Anjeza Shahini, finishing in seventh place. During its tenure in the contest, the nation failed to qualify for the final seven times, with the 2016 and 2017 entries being the most recent non-qualifiers. After 2017, Albania managed to qualify for the final in the three following contests. In 2022, the nation failed to qualify for the final, placing 12th and scoring 58 points with the song “Sekret” performed by Ronela Hajati, marking Albania’s eighth non-qualification.

The Albanian national broadcaster, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), broadcasts the contest within Albania and organises Festivali i Këngës as the national selection format for the contest.[1] Following the nation’s debut in 2004, RTSH has consistently selected the Albanian performers and songs through the latter event, which features a competition among artists and songs. The broadcaster confirmed Albania’s intention to participate in the 2023 contest on 3 June 2022, with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) reaffirming the nation’s participation on 20 October.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.0.Artist selection. The Albanian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was selected during the 61st edition of Festivali i Këngës, an annual music competition in Albania organised by the national broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH). A jury selected the top three of the festival and award two prizes for young and alternative groups and established artists, while a separate televoting selected Albania’s entry for Eurovision.

RTSH opened an application period for interested artists and composers to submit their applications from 3 June 2022. The provisional list of 26 artists was published on 27 October 2022. On 20 November 2022, host Arbana Osmani confirmed via social media that, unlike in recent years, when RTSH released competing songs ahead of the shows, the songs competing in the festival would not be revealed until the contest. In the first two semi-finals, all 26 artists sang their songs, for the first time. At the end of the second semi-final, five out of ten contestants of the New artists section were selected by a member jury panel, to advance to the fourth and final show of the contest. However, all 16 contestants of the Big artists section advanced to the final with no qualifications taking place beforehand.

2.1.Festivali i Këngës 61. Festivali i Këngës 2022 was the 61st edition of the annual Albanian music competition Festivali i Këngës. The contest was organised by Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana, Albania. It consisted of three semi-finals on 19, 20 and 21 December, respectively, and the final on 22 December 2022. The four live shows were hosted by Arbana Osmani. Elsa Lila with the song “Evita” resulted as the winner of the contest. The Albanian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was selected by the public, with “Duje” performed by Albina and Familja Kelmendi emerging as the representative.

2.1.0.Format. The 61st edition of Festivali i Këngës was organised by Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) and consisted of three semi-finals on 19, 20 and 21 December and the final on 22 December 2022.[1] The four live shows were hosted by Albanian presenter Arbana Osmani and held at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana, Albania. Osmani directed the contest along with Bojken Lako, Eduart Grishaj, Eraldo Rexho and Shpëtim Saraçi.

2.1.0.0. Jury:

  • Jury: Alma Bektashi, Zhani Ciko, Elton Deda, Rita Petro, Genc Salihu.
  • Jury Media – Newcomers: Alida Cenaj, Luela Myftari, Jerida Sakaj, Xhani Shqerra.

2.1.0.1.Eurovision entry selection. The edition marks significant changes to the voting system of the festival. Since 2017, the winner of the festival, and simultaneously the Albanian Eurovision representative, had been selected solely by a jury vote. The 100% jury system proved to be controversial, with the organizers being accused of nepotism and corruption. In early September 2022 it was reported that RTSH had decided to select the winner of the festival using a system containing a public vote. On 28 October 2022, the voting system of Festivali i Këngës was confirmed: the top 3 and two prizes would be, as usual, selected by the jury, but the winner of the festival would not receive an official invitation to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, as in the previous years. Instead, the Albanian Eurovision representative would be selected by a separate televoting system.

Voting structure.The selection process for the winner of the 61st edition of Festivali i Këngës and Albanian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 underwent a significant change. Prior to this, the winner was determined by a jury vote, which faced controversy due to allegations of nepotism and corruption. In response, the organisers of RTSH introduced a new system combining public and jury voting. While the top three and two prizes would continue to be chosen by the jury, the winner would no longer receive an invitation to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. Instead, the Albanian representative for the contest would be selected through a separate televoting process.

2.1.1.Competing entries / Contestants. RTSH initiated an application period for artists and composers interested in participating in the 61st edition of Festivali i Këngës from 3 June to 30 October 2022. Following the application process, a provisional list of 26 participants was published on 27 October, three days prior to the end of the application period.

Artist Song Songwriter(s) – Composer(s) – LYRICIST(s)
2 Farm

(Klevis Bega (Kastro Zizo), Renan Berati (Mr Shvejk), Red Mazi)

 “Atomike”

Klevis Bega (Kastro Zizo), Renan Berati, Redvis Mazi –  Klevis Bega (Kastro Zizo), Renan Berati, Redvis Mazi
Alban Kondi & Lorela Karoshi “Melodi”

Alban Kondi –  Alban Kondi
Albina & Familja Kelmendi (Albina Kelmendi) “Duje”

Enis Mulla – Eriona Rushiti
Anduel Kovaçi “Malli”

Irkenc Hyka – Irkenc Hyka
Arsi Bako “Sonte dua të jem me ty”

Osman Mula – Evis Mula
Melodajna Mancaku “Gjysma e zemrës sime”

Wendi Mancaku – Melodajn Mancaku
Elsa Lila “Evita”

Elsa Lila – Elsa Lila
Enxhi Nasufi “Burrë”

Enxhi Nasufi, Andrei “Alandy” Vornicu – Enxhi Nasufi, Andrei “Alandy” Vornicu
Erma Mici “Kozmosi i dashurisë”

Erma Mici, Andi Lazaj – Erma Mici
Evi Reçi “Ma kthe”

Ervin Gonxhi – Vojsava Alla
Fabian Basha “Një gotë”

Alban Kondi, Fabian Basha – Alban Kondi
Fifi

(Filloreta Raçi)

 “Stop”

Filloreta “Fifi” Raçi, Fatjo Miftaraj – Filoreta “Fifi” Raçi
Franc Koruni “Në pritje”

Franc Koruni – Franc Koruni
Genti Hoxha

(Gent Hoxha)

 “Ajër”

Jeris Kaso – Elio Shuli
Gjerg Kaçinari “Dje”

Gjerg Kaçinari – Gjerg Kaçinari
Luna Çausholli “Jetën ta fal”

Endri Shani – Pandi Laço
LYNX (Aurel Gjini, Endrik Beba, Eno Gjoni, Renato Rexha) “Nëse ke besim”

Lynx – Lynx
Manjola Nallbani “Dua”

Kledi Bahiti – Manjola Nallbani
Permit of Stay (Ergys Meta, Aulon Kreshpaj, Herton Meta) “Fobia”

Ergys Meta – Ergys Meta
Petrit Çarkaxhiu “Emri yt mirësi”

Petrit Çarkaxhiu – Petrit Çarkaxhiu
Rezarta Smaja “N’Eden”

Eriona Rushiti – Eriona Rushiti
Rovena Dilo “Motit”

Aldo Shqalshi – Rovena Dilo
Sara Kapo “Para teje”

Sara Kapo
Serxhio Hajdini “Vështirë”

Serxhio Hajdini – Serxhio Hajdini
Urban Band (Andi Tanko, Jurgen Cara, Dritan Hekurani, Sajmir Tatushi) “Në çdo hap”

Klodian Rexhepaj – Florian “Kelly” Carkanji
Vanesa Sono “Aroma jonë”

Vanesa Sono – Alban Kondi

Shows.

3.Semi-finals. The semi-finals of Festivali i Këngës took place on 19 December and 20 December 2022 and were broadcast live at 21:00 (CET) on the respective dates. Albanian actress Margarita Xhepa was the special guest of the first semi-final, performing a monologue to raise awareness about domestic violence against women and sharing her own experiences. Following the conclusion of the second semi-final, five out of ten contestants from the New artists were selected by a jury to advance to the final, while all 16 contestants from the Big artists automatically qualified for the final.

Semi-final 1 – 19 December 2022
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Enxhi Nasufi “Burrë” Automatic Qualifier
2 Erma Mici “Kozmosi i dashurisë” Qualifier
3 Fabian Basha “Një gotë” Automatic Qualifier
4 Anduel Kovaçi “Malli” Non-Qualifier
5 Fifi “Stop” Automatic Qualifier
6 Urban Band “Në çdo hap” Qualifier
7 2 Farm “Atomike” Automatic Qualifier
8 Sara Kapo “Para teje” Non-Qualifier
9 Rezarta Smaja “N’Eden” Automatic Qualifier
10 Albina and Familja Kelmendi “Duje“ Automatic Qualifier
11 Sergio Hajdini “Vështirë” Automatic Qualifier
12 Luna Çausholli “Jetën ta fal” Non-Qualifier
13 Rovena Dilo “Motit” Automatic Qualifier

–

Semi-final 2 – 20 December 2022
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Melodajn Mancaku “Gjysma e zemrës sime” Qualifier
2 Permit of Stay “Fobia” Non-Qualifier
3 Arsi Bako “Sonte dua të jem me ty” Non-Qualifier
4 Gjergj Kaçinari “Dje” Automatic Qualifier
5 Franc Koruni “Në pritje” Automatic Qualifier
6 Petrit Çarkaxhiu “Emri yt mirësi” Automatic Qualifier
7 Elsa Lila “Evita” Automatic Qualifier
8 Gent Hoxha “Ajër” Qualifier
9 Evi Reçi “Ma kthe” Automatic Qualifier
10 Manjola Nallbani “Duaj” Automatic Qualifier
11 Lynx “Nëse ke besim” Automatic Qualifier
12 Alban Kondi and Lore “Melodi” Automatic Qualifier
13 Vanesa Sono “Aroma jonë” Qualifier

3.3.Semi-final 3 (Nostalgia night). The nostalgia night of Festivali i Këngës took place on 21 December 2022 at 21:00 (CET). During the show, prominent Albanian singers accompanied the Big artists in performing renditions of historic songs from previous editions of Festivali i Këngës.

Nostalgia night – 21 December 2022
Draw Artist(s) Song Year performed [Refers to the year the song was performed at Festivali i Këngës]– ARTIST(S)
1 Lynx and Aleksandër Gjoka “Ecën në shi” 1993 Aleksandër Gjoka
2 Enxhi Nasufi and Edea Demaliaj “Mos qaj” 1997 Djemtë e detit
3 Evi Reçi and Rosela Gjylbegu “Të kërkoj në ëndërrime” 1998 Eranda and Irma Libohova
4 Petrit Çarkaxhiu and Bojken Lako “Asgjë e larget” 1999 Bojken Lako
5 Rezarta Smaja and Luan Zhegu “A do vish” 1987 Luan Zhegu
6 Sergio Hajdini and Kamela Islamaj “Ne ishtim tre” 1965 Fiqrete Kapo and Qemal Kërtusha
7 Elsa Lila and Capital T “Pyes lotin” 1996 Elsa Lila
8 Fabian Basha and Eranda Libohova “Kthehu për vehte për mua” 1996 Eranda Libohova
9 Rovena Dilo and Soni Malaj “Ante i tokës sime” 2000 Rovena Dilo
10 Franc Koruni and Altin Goci “Endërroj” 1991 Ritfolk
11 Fifi and Flori Mumajesi “Larg u largova” 1993 Haxhi Dauti
12 Albina Kelmendi and Josif Gjipali “Na lini të jetojmë” 1991 Tingulli i zjarrtë
13 Manjola Nallbani and Eneda Tarifa “Kur e humba një dashuri” 1993 Manjola Nallbani
14 2 Farm and Redon Makashi “Dikur luaja me ndjenjën e saj” 1994 Redon Makashi
15 Alban Kondi, Lore and West Side Family “Jehonë” 2008 West Side Family
16 Gjergj Kaçinari and Elhaida Dani “Natën vonë” 1972 Vaçe Zela

4.Final. The final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 22 December 2022 at 21:00 (CET). Albanian-Belgian singer Gala Dragot and Ukrainian group Kalush, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, were the interval acts of the final. The jury, consisting of Alma Bektashi, Elton Deda, Genc Salihu, Jeani Ciko and Rita Petro, determined Elsa Lila with the song “Evita” as the winner of the contest. The Albanian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was selected by televoting, with Albina and Familja Kelmendi with the song “Duje” being named as the country’s chosen representatives. Erma Mici received the award for the Best New Artist, while Rovena Dilo was awarded the Career Award.

Final – 22 December 2022
Draw Artist Song Jury Eurovision
selection
1 2 Farm “Atomike” 3 —
2 Sergio Hajdini “Vështirë” — —
3 Gjergj Kaçinari “Dje” — —
4 Alban Kondi and Lore “Melodi” — —
5 Vanesa Sono “Aroma jonë” — —
6 Elsa Lila “Evita” 1 —
7 Erma Mici “Kozmosi i dashurisë” — —
8 Franc Koruni “Në pritje” — —
9 Gent Hoxha “Ajër” — —
10 Petrit Çarkaxhiu “Emri yt mirësi” — —
11 Melodajn Mancaku “Gjysma e zemrës sime” — —
12 Manjola Nallbani “Duaj” — —
13 Urban Band “Në çdo hap” — —
14 Enxhi Nasufi “Burrë” — —
15 Rovena Dilo “Motit” — —
16 Fifi “Stop” — —
17 Rezarta Smaja “N’Eden” — —
18 Evi Reçi “Ma kthe” — —
19 Fabian Basha “Një gotë” — —
21 Albina and Familja Kelmendi “Duje” 2 Selected
21 Lynx “Nëse ke besim” — —

4.1.Awards.

  • Winner of Festivali i Këngës 61: Elsa Lila (“Evita”)
  • Runner-up of Festivali i Këngës 61: Albina and Familja Kelmendi (“Duje”)
  • Third place of Festivali i Këngës 61: 2 Farm (“Atomike”)
  • Eurovision representative selection: Albina and Familja Kelmendi (“Duje”)
  • Young and Alternative Group Award: Erma Mici (“Kozmosi i dashurisë”)
  • Career Award: Rovena Dilo (“Motit”)

Broadcasts.The four live shows of Festivali i Këngës were broadcast live from 19 December to 22 December 2022 on RTSH in Albania and Radio Televizioni i Kosovës (RTK) in Kosovo. RTSH further provided international live streaming of the shows through their official website, without any accompanying commentary.

Broadcasters
Country Show(s) Broadcaster(s) –
Albania All shows Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH)
–
Kosovo Radio Televizioni i Kosovës (RTK)

5.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Albania has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Albania was set to perform in position 14, following the entry from Austria and before the entry from Lithuania.

At the end of the show, Albania was announced as a qualifier for the final. Soon after, it was announced that Albania would be performing in position 10 in the grand final, succeeding Sweden and preceding Italy.

5.1.Voting. For semi-finals, each country + rest of the world award from 1-8, 10 and 12 points from televoting. For the final, each country award two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation’s jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with a diversity in gender and age represented. The judges assess each entry based on the performances during the second Dress Rehearsal of each show, which takes place the night before each live show, against a set of criteria including vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song’s composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. Jury members may only take part in panel once every three years, and are obliged to confirm that they are not connected to any of the participating acts in a way that would impact their ability to vote impartially. Jury members should also vote independently, with no discussion of their vote permitted with other jury members. The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country’s jury and televoting were released after the grand final; the individual results from each jury member will also be released in an anonymised form.

The tables below visualise a breakdown of points awarded to Albania in the second semi-final and final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, as well as by the nation on both occasions. In the semi-final, Albania finished in 9th place, being awarded a total of 83 points, including 12 by the televoters from Slovenia and Rest of the World. In the final, Albania reached 22nd place with 76 points, including 12 by the televoters from Switzerland.

The nation’s televoters awarded its 12 points to Australia in the semi-final and to Italy in the final. It’s juries awarded it’s 12 points to the winner, Sweden in final.

5.1.1.Points awarded to Albania.

Points awarded to Albania (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points
  •  Rest of the World
  •  Slovenia
10 points  Greece
8 points
  •  Belgium
  •  Romania
7 points  Armenia
6 points  Austria
5 points  United Kingdom
4 points  Poland
3 points
  •  Australia
  •  Denmark
2 points
  •  Iceland
  •  Spain
1 point  Cyprus
Points awarded to Albania (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Switzerland
10 points
8 points  Germany  Azerbaijan
7 points
  •  Italy
  •  Slovenia
6 points
  •  Croatia
  •  Rest of the World
5 points  Romania
4 points  Greece
3 points
  •  Austria
  •  Belgium
  •  Malta
  Greece
2 points
1 point  Moldova

5.1.2.Points awarded by Albania.

Points awarded by Albania (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Australia
10 points  Austria
8 points  Armenia
7 points  Poland
6 points  Cyprus
5 points  Lithuania
4 points  Slovenia
3 points  Belgium
2 points  Estonia
1 point  Iceland
Points awarded by Albania (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Italy  Sweden
10 points  Sweden  Armenia
8 points  Croatia  Estonia
7 points  Cyprus  Switzerland
6 points  Finland  Israel
5 points  Israel  Belgium
4 points  Norway  Cyprus
3 points  France  Australia
2 points  Slovenia  Italy
1 point  Poland  Spain

5.1.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Albanian jury:

  • Haig Zacharian
  • Josif Gjipali
  • Sokol Marsi
  • Eneda Tarifa
  • Sonila Djepaxhia
Detailed voting results from Albania (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 24 25 21 15 14 25 20
02  Portugal 8 14 20 16 22 18 25
03  Switzerland 2 3 2 10 17 4 7 18
04  Poland 23 15 11 17 18 19 10 1
05  Serbia 15 16 23 18 19 24 21
06  France 11 4 10 21 20 14 8 3
07  Cyprus 16 5 3 11 16 7 4 4 7
08  Spain 10 6 4 22 23 10 1 19
09  Sweden 1 1 12 1 1 1 12 2 10
10  Albania
11  Italy 4 17 6 12 9 9 2 1 12
12  Estonia 3 19 5 2 3 3 8 14
13  Finland 25 18 24 14 12 22 5 6
14  Czech Republic 5 21 13 13 8 13 15
15  Australia 6 20 14 4 7 8 3 24
16  Belgium 9 7 15 5 6 6 5 17
17  Armenia 17 11 1 3 2 2 10 12
18  Moldova 22 12 17 19 15 21 16
19  Ukraine 18 22 16 20 4 16 11
20  Norway 12 23 22 25 13 23 7 4
21  Germany 21 24 18 7 11 17 22
22  Lithuania 19 10 9 8 10 15 23
23  Israel 13 8 8 6 5 5 6 6 5
24  Slovenia 14 2 25 23 21 12 9 2
25  Croatia 20 9 19 24 25 20 3 8
26  United Kingdom 7 13 7 9 24 11 13

• Country: 🇱🇹 Lithuania

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Pabandom iš naujo! 2023
  • Selection date(s): Heats: 21 January 2023, 28 January 2023 Ι Semi-finals: 4 February 2023, 11 February 2023 Ι Final: 18 February 2023 
  • Host venue: LRT studios, Vilnius
  • Presenter(s): Giedrius Masalskis, Augustė Nombeko, Richardas Jonaitis
  • Host broadcaster: LRT
  • Participants – Number of entries: –
  • Voting system: 50% jury, 50% televoting
  • Selection entrant: Monika Linkytė
  • Selection song: “Stay” (Pasilik)
  • Selected songwriter(s): Monika Linkytė, Krists Indrišonoks, Jānis Jačmenkins

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 15º SF 2: Qualified (4th, 110 points)
  • Final result: 11th, 127 points

Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with “Stay” performed by Monika Linkytė. The Lithuanian broadcaster, Lietuvos radijas ir televizija (LRT), used the national selection Pabandom iš naujo! 2023 to select their representative.

In the second semi-final, Lithuania qualified for the final on 13 May.

1.Background. Prior to 2023, Lithuania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-two times since its first entry in 1994. Their best placing was achieved in 2006, with “We Are the Winners”, performed by LT United, finishing in sixth place in the final. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Lithuania has managed to qualify to the final eleven times. Lithuania was represented in 2022 by the song “Sentimentai”, performed by Monika Liu, who qualified for the final and ended 14th overall with 128 points. LRT confirmed its participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in mid-July 2022. On 11 October 2022, the broadcaster announced that Pabandom iš naujo! had been confirmed for the fourth time in a row as the national final format used to select Lithuania’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Pabandom iš naujo!2023. Pabandom iš naujo! 2023 (“Let’s try again! 2023”) was the national final format developed by LRT in order to select Lithuania’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The competition involved a five-week-long process that commenced on 21 January 2023 and concluded with a final on 18 February 2023. All shows took place at the LRT Studios in Vilnius. The shows were hosted by Giedrius Masalskis, Augustė Nombeko and Richardas Jonaitis, and broadcast on LRT televizija, LRT Lituanica and LRT Radijas as well as online via the broadcaster’s website lrt.lt.

2.1.1.Format. For the 2023 competition, two heats consisting of fifteen entries each were held on 21 and 28, January where five entries from each heat were eliminated, while the remaining twenty entries participated in the competition’s two semi-finals, taking place on 4 and 11 February. In each semi-final, ten entries participated and the top five proceeded to the final. In the final, the winner will be selected from the remaining ten entries. The results of each of the six shows were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting. 

The ranking developed by both streams of voting was converted to points from 1-8, 10 and 12 and assigned based on the number of competing songs in the respective show. During the first four shows, the jury votes were determined by a five-member panel. In the final, a nine-member panel will vote. The public could cast their votes through telephone and SMS voting, which were monitored by independent observers from auditor Grand Thornton Baltic, with a maximum of ten votes cast from one device. Ties in all shows were decided in favour of the entry that was awarded the most points by the jury. The composer of the winning song will receive a €5,000 cash prize.

2.1.2.Competing entries. On 11 October 2022, LRT opened a submission form for artists to apply with one song, with the deadline set for 12 December 2022. The broadcaster will allocate a budget of up to 1,500 euros to each participant, which the participants can use to prepare for the selection. On 20 December 2022, the list of the 30 participating artists and the titles of the songs was released by LRT.] On 23 December 2022, Lina Štalytė was disqualified from the competition due to the song being previously published in 2020, and was replaced by the band The Pixls.

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Agnè “New Start” Agnė Buškevičiūtė-Tumalavičienė, Vilius Tumalavičius
Aistė Pilvelytė (Aistė Pilvelytė-Motiekienė) “We’re Not Running” Justine Eltakchi, Aidan O’Connor
Alen Chicco (Tomas Alenčikas) “Do You” Tomas Alenčikas
Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio dantys (Martynas Enčius, Juozas Baužys, Danielius Juodis, Karolis Steponavičius, Tautvydas Jurkša, Antanas Ruzgas) “Sėdi ir važiuoji“ Martynas Enčius, Karolis Steponavičius
Baiba (Baiba Skurstene-Serdiukė) “When the Lights Go Out” Baiba Skurstene, Andrius Kairys
Beatrich (Beatričė Pundžiūtė) “Like a Movie” Marc Dowding, Beatričė Pundžiūtė
Donata (Donata Januševičiūtė) “Dreamer” Ylva Persson, Linda Persson, Janne Hyöty, Christopher Wortley
Gabrielius Vagelis “Šauksmas“ Kim Wennerström, Gabrielius Vagelis
Gebrasy (Audrius Petrauskas) “Saw Your Ghost” Faustas Venckus, Audrius Petrauskas
IL SENSO (Indrė Anankaitė, Ieva Barbora Juozapaitytė, Laimonas Bendaravičius, Kasparas Damulis ) “Sparnai“ Merūnas Vitulskis
I.T. “Žinau, tai tu“ Ingrida Toleikytė-Mikalauskienė
Joseph June “Vacuum” Vytautas Gumbelevičius
Justa Rubežiūtė “When I’ll Find” Algirdas Veževičius, Justinas Stanislovaitis
Justė Kraujelytė “Need More Fun” Justė Kraujelytė, Edgaras Žaltauskas, Kasparas Meginis
Justin 3 feat.  (Justin 3 (Justinas Stanislovaitis, , feat. Dj AugustYno ()) “Not Giving Up” Algirdas Veževičius, Justinas Stanislovaitis
Lina Štalytė “My Body” Lina Štalytė
Luknė “Paradise” Rob Price
Mario Junes “Do What You Do” Marius Kijauskas, Faustas Venckus
Matt Len “Midnight Train” Matas Lenktis
Melona “Song of Whispers” Algirdas Veževičius, Illona Podrabinkína, Justinas Stanislovaitis
Monika Linkytė “Stay” Monika Linkytė, Krists Indrišonoks
MoonBee “Rumor” Austėja Pukelytė, Gytis Valickas
Multiks “London” Paulius Burba
Noy “Destiny’s Child” Nojus Žebrauskas, Viktorija Raibužytė, Rita Dmitrijenko, Dominykas Zalieckas
Paulina Paukštaitytė “Let Me Think About Me” Paulina Paukštaitytė, Krists Indrišonoks, Jānis Jačmenkins
Petunija “Love of My Life” Agnė Šiaulytė, Diana Anisko, Morta Grigaliūnaitė, Egidija Mačiulytė
Rūta MUR (Rūta Murinaitė) “So Low” Rūta Murinaitė
The Pixls “Šaukt“ Mantvydas Sabaitis, Kęstutis Vaitkevičius, The Pixls
Viktorija Faith “If You Ever Miss Me” Viktorija Faith
Voldemars Petersons “Things” Voldemars Petersons
W.I “You Can Not” Viktoras Olechnovičius, Ieva Lapinskaitė

2.1.3.Shows.

2.1.3.1.Heat 1. The first heat of the competition aired on 21 January 2023 and featured fifteen of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 17 January 2023. 10 of the competing acts qualified to the semi-finals. The jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Ieva Narkutė (singer), Jievaras Jasinskis (composer and musician), Leonas Somovas (producer and composer) and Giedrė Kilčiauskienė (soloist, formerly member of an electronic band Pieno lazeriai).

Heat 1 – 21 January 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Public Total Place
Televote Points
1 Aistė Pilvelytė “We’re Not Running” 2 207 0 2 11
2 Joseph June “Vacuum” 2 414 4 6 8
3 Il Senso “Sparnai” 2 466 6 8 7
4 W.I “You Can Not” 0 162 0 0 15
5 Multiks “London” 0 279 1 1 13
6 Luknė “Paradise” 3 201 0 3 10
7 Gabrielius Vagelis “Šauksmas” 6 865 10 16 2
8 Alen Chicco “Do You” 8 467 7 15 3
9 Rūta Mur “So Low” 12 973 12 24 1
10 Justin 3 feat. Dj AugustYno “Not Giving Up” 0 164 0 0 14
11 Baiba “When the Lights Go Out” 5 227 0 5 9
12 Justa Rubežiūtė “When I’ll Find” 0 313 2 2 12
13 Noy “Destiny’s Child” 4 559 8 12 6
14 Paulina Paukštaitytė “Let Me Think About Me” 7 431 5 12 5
15 Justė Kraujelytė “Need More Fun” 10 367 3 13 4

2.1.3.2.Heat 2. The second heat of the competition aired on 28 January 2023 and featured fifteen of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 23 January 2023. 10 of the competing acts qualified to the semi-finals. The jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Ieva Narkutė (singer), Vytautas Bikus (composer), Stanislavas Stavickis-Stano (singer-songwriter) and Giedrė Kilčiauskienė (soloist, formerly member of an electronic band Pieno lazeriai)

Heat 2 – 28 January 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Votes Points
1 Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio dantys “Sėdi ir važiuoji“ 2 527 3 5 10
2 I.T. “Žinau, tai tu” 0 651 4 4 11
3 Donata “Dreamer” 4 466 1 5 9
4 Matt Len “Midnight Train” 5 780 7 12 4
5 Melona “Song of Whispers” 0 306 0 0 13
6 Monika Linkytė “Stay” 10 851 8 18 2
7 The Pixls “Šaukt” 0 147 0 0 15
8 Viktorija Faith “If You Ever Miss Me” 1 133 0 1 12
9 Agnė “New Start” 0 918 10 10 6
10 Gebrasy “Saw Your Ghost” 6 349 0 6 8
11 MoonBee “Rumor” 3 698 5 8 7
12 Voldemars Petersons “Things” 0 210 0 0 14
13 Petunija “Love of My Life” 8 467 2 10 5
14 Beatrich “Like a Movie” 12 955 12 24 1
15 Mario Junes “Do What You Do” 7 744 6 13 3

2.1.3.4.Semi-final 1. The first semi-final took place on 4 February 2023 and featured ten of the qualified artists. The show was filmed on 31 January 2023. Five of the competing acts qualified to the final. The jury consisted of Vytautas Bikus (composer and music producer), Ieva Narkutė (singer-songwriter), Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Stanislavas Stavickis-Stano (singer-songwriter and music producer), and Leonas Somovas (music producer).

Semi-final 1 – 4 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Votes Points
1 Il Senso “Sparnai“ 5 1,876 12 17 3
2 Alen Chicco “Do You” 6 364 2 8 6
3 Baiba “When the Lights Go Out” 4 211 1 5 10
4 Joseph June “Vacuum” 4 420 4 8 7
5 Noy “Destiny’s Child” 1 584 6 7 9
6 Petunija “Love of My Life” 12 936 7 19 2
7 Justė Kraujelytė “Need More Fun” 8 396 3 11 5
8 Gabrielius Vagelis “Šauksmas“ 7 1,342 8 15 4
9 Rūta Mur “So Low” 10 1,440 10 20 1
10 Donata “Dreamer” 2 461 5 7 8

2.1.3.5.Semi-final 2. The second semi-final took place on 11 February 2023 and featured ten of the qualified artists. Five of the competing acts qualified to the final. The jury consisted of Duncan Laurence (winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2019), Vaidotas Valiukevičius (singer of The Roop, representative of Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 and 2021), Monika Liu (representative of Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022), Ieva Narkutė (singer-songwriter), and Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer).

Semi-final 2 – 11 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Votes Points
1 Paulina Paukštaitytė “Let Me Think About Me” 8 1,383 10 18 2
2 Agnė “New Start” 3 765 3 6 9
3 Matt Len “Midnight Train” 4 772 4 8 7
4 Luknė “Paradise” 2 109 1 3 10
5 Monika Linkytė “Stay” 10 1,328 7 17 3
6 Gebrasy “Saw Your Ghost” 6 380 2 8 6
7 MoonBee “Rumor” 5 2,457 12 17 4
8 Beatrich “Like a Movie” 12 1,342 8 20 1
9 Mario Junes “Do What You Do” 7 852 5 12 5
10 Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio dantys “Sėdi ir važiuoji“ 1 964 6 7 8

2.1.3.6.Final. The final took place on 18 February 2023 and featured the ten qualified artists. The jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Monika Liu (representative of Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022), Raminta Naujalytė-Bjelle (singer), Ieva Narkutė (singer-songwriter), Vytautas Bikus (composer and music producer), Jievaras Jasinskis (member of InCulto, representative of Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010), Vaidotas Valiukevičius (singer of The Roop, representative of Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 and 2021), Stanislavas Stavickis-Stano (singer-songwriter and music producer), and Gerūta Griniūtė (TV and radio host). In addition to the competing entries, Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Ukrainian representatives Tvorchi appeared as guests, and Eurovision Song Contest 2019 winner Duncan Laurence and Monika Liu performed as interval acts.

Final – 18 February 2023
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Votes Points
1 Mario Junes “Do What You Do” 3 1,102 2 5 9
2 MoonBee “Rumor” 1 3,780 7 8 7
3 Justė Kraujelytė “Need More Fun” 5 606 1 6 8
4 Paulina Paukštaitytė “Let Me Think About Me” 6 2,910 5 11 5
5 Beatrich “Like a Movie” 8 9,392 8 16 3
6 Rūta Mur “So Low” 10 12,822 12 22 2
7 Il Senso “Sparnai“ 2 2,090 3 5 10
8 Petunija “Love of My Life” 7 2,501 4 11 4
9 Gabrielius Vagelis “Šauksmas“ 4 3,085 6 10 6
10 Monika Linkytė “Stay” 12 12,675 10 22 1
Detailed Jury Votes
Draw Song Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Juror 6 Juror 7 Juror 8 Juror 9 Total
1 “Do What You Do” 2 5 2 3 2 3 5 3 3 30
2 “Rumor” 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 1 14
3 “Need More Fun” 3 7 5 4 5 7 3 4 5 43
4 “Let Me Think About Me” 6 4 3 7 6 5 6 6 6 49
5 “Like a Movie” 10 8 12 10 3 10 8 10 7 78
6 “So Low” 12 10 8 8 12 8 10 8 12 88
7 “Sparnai“ 4 1 4 1 4 1 1 1 2 19
8 “Love of My Life” 8 6 7 6 7 6 7 7 8 62
9 “Šauksmas“ 5 3 6 5 8 4 4 3 4 42
10 “Stay” 7 12 10 12 10 12 12 12 10 97

2.1.4.Ratings.

Viewing figures by show
Show Air date Viewing figures
Nominal Share
Heat 1 21 January 2023 236,000 23.5%
Heat 2 28 January 2023 213,000 21.7%
Semi-final 1 4 February 2023 191,600 18.8%
Semi-final 2 11 February 2023 199,400 19.8%
Final 18 February 2023 310,900 28.8%

3.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Lithuania has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Lithuania was set to perform in position 15, following the entry from Albania and before the entry from Australia. 

At the end of the show, Lithuania was announced as a qualifier for the final.

3.3.Voting.

3.3.1.Points awarded to Lithuania.

Points awarded to Lithuania (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points
  •  San Marino
  •  United Kingdom
10 points
  •  Estonia
  •  Georgia
  •  Ukraine
8 points  Cyprus
7 points
6 points
  •  Australia
  •  Poland
5 points
  •  Albania
  •  Austria
  •  Belgium
  •  Denmark
  •  Spain
4 points
  •  Iceland
  •  Rest of the World
3 points
2 points  Slovenia
1 point  Romania

3.3.2.Points awarded by Lithuania.

Points awarded by Lithuania (Semi-final)
Score Televote
12 points  Poland
10 points  Estonia
8 points  Australia
7 points  Slovenia
6 points  Austria
5 points  Belgium
4 points  Cyprus
3 points  Georgia
2 points  Iceland
1 point  Armenia
Points awarded by Lithuania (Final)
Score Televote Jury
12 points  Finland  Sweden
10 points  Ukraine  Israel
8 points  Poland  Austria
7 points  Sweden  Belgium
6 points  Italy  France
5 points  Estonia  Estonia
4 points  Croatia  Australia
3 points  Israel  Finland
2 points  Moldova  Ukraine
1 point  France  Cyprus

3.3.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Lithuanian jury:

  • Jonas Nainys
  • Julijus Grickevičius
  • Vaidotas Valiukevičius
  • Eglė Juozapaitienė
  • Nombeko Augustė Khotseng
Detailed voting results from Lithuania (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 5 12 8 3 2 3 8 18
02  Portugal 23 10 13 21 17 19 23
03  Switzerland 16 11 19 20 5 15 20
04  Poland 10 7 18 7 12 13 3 8
05  Serbia 25 21 23 13 24 24 19
06  France 12 2 11 4 16 5 6 10 1
07  Cyprus 19 18 5 16 3 10 1 17
08  Spain 9 22 21 19 20 21 24
09  Sweden 2 1 2 1 1 1 12 4 7
10  Albania 22 25 15 25 25 25 25
11  Italy 15 4 22 12 7 12 5 6
12  Estonia 7 9 3 18 9 6 5 6 5
13  Finland 13 3 9 8 13 8 3 1 12
14  Czech Republic 14 23 16 23 21 23 16
15  Australia 3 19 10 11 6 7 4 11
16  Belgium 4 6 7 5 4 4 7 14
17  Armenia 8 17 6 14 18 14 21
18  Moldova 21 8 17 15 19 18 9 2
19  Ukraine 17 16 1 10 15 9 2 2 10
20  Norway 11 24 12 22 22 20 13
21  Germany 18 20 14 9 8 16 15
22  Lithuania
23  Israel 1 5 4 6 14 2 10 8 3
24  Slovenia 20 15 24 17 11 22 12
25  Croatia 6 14 25 24 23 17 7 4
26  United Kingdom 24 13 20 2 10 11 22

• Country: 🇦🇺 Australia

• National selection:

  • Selection process: Internal selection 2023
  • Selection date(s): 21 February 2023
  • Host venue: –
  • Presenter(s): –
  • Host broadcaster: SBS
  • Participants – Number of entries: –
  • Voting system: –
  • Selection entrant: Voyager
  • Selection song: “Promise”
  • Selected songwriter(s): Alex Canion, Ashley Doodkorte, Daniel Estrin, Scott Kay, Simone Dow

• Final performance: 

  • Semi-final result: 16º SF 2: Qualified (1st, 149 points)
  • Final result: 9th, 151 points

Australia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song “Promise”, written by Alex Canion, Ashley Doodkorte, Daniel Estrin, Scott Kay, and Simone Dow. The song is performed by Voyager. The Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) selected the Australian entry for the contest. The song and artist were officially revealed by SBS as the Australian entrant on 21 February 2023.

Australia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 by invitation from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as a “one-off” special guest to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Eurovision. On 17 November 2015, the EBU announced that SBS had been invited to participate in the 2016 contest and that Australia would once again take part. In 2015, Australia was guaranteed a spot in the final of the contest and was allowed to vote during both semi-finals and the final; however, from the 2016 contest and onwards, Australia would have to qualify to the final from one of two semi-finals and could only vote in the semi-final in which the nation was allocated to compete.

Australia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2023.

In the second semi-final, Australia qualified for the final on 13 May.

1.Background. Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest since 1983, and the contest has gained a cult following over that time, primarily due to the country’s strong political and cultural ties with Europe. Paying tribute to this, the 2014 contest semi-finals included an interval act featuring Australian singer Jessica Mauboy. Australian singers have also participated at Eurovision as representatives of other countries, including Olivia Newton-John (1974, United Kingdom), two-time winner Johnny Logan (1980 and 1987, Ireland), Gina G (1996, United Kingdom), and Jane Comerford as lead singer of Texas Lightning (2006, Germany).

Tying in with the goal of Eurovision – to showcase “the importance of bringing countries together to celebrate diversity, music and culture”, the 2015 theme of “Building Bridges”, and arguing that they could not hold “the world’s biggest party” to celebrate the 60th edition of Eurovision without inviting Australia, the EBU announced on 10 February 2015 that the country would compete at that year’s edition as a special guest participant. Along with the “Big 5” (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the host country of Austria, Australia was given automatic entry into the final to “not reduce the chances” of the semi-final participants. On 17 November 2015, the EBU announced that SBS had been invited to participate in the 2016 contest and that Australia would once again take part, however they would have to qualify for the final from one of two semi-finals and could only vote in the semi-final in which the nation was competing. On 12 February 2019, SBS signed a contract securing Australia’s spot at the contest until 2023. In 2022, Australia was represented by Sheldon Riley and the song “Not the Same”. The country ended in fifteenth place in the final with 125 points. On 20 October 2022, SBS confirmed Australia’s participation in the 2023 contest.

2.Before Eurovision.

2.1.Internal selection. SBS announced in November 2022 that the Australian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 would be selected internally, foregoing the use of the national final Eurovision – Australia Decides which had been held since 2019, with SBS stating, “Over the past few months, we have been exploring ways we could deliver the event to Australian audiences next year. However, a variety of factors contributed to us coming to this decision.”

Australia’s creative director, Paul Clarke, mentioned during an interview: “Australia Decides” comes together as a result of different layers of funding. Some of those changed and we just fell a bit short. Unfortunately, we ran out of runway.”

On 21 February 2023, SBS revealed that the band Voyager was selected as the Australian entrant for the 2023 contest with their song “Promise”. The band had finished runner-up in Eurovision – Australia Decides the year prior with the song “Dreamer”

3.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 31 January 2023, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, and determined which half of the show they would perform in. Australia has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows’ producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Australia was set to perform last in position 16, following the entry from Lithuania.

At the end of the show, Australia was announced as a qualifier for the final, winning the semi – final with 149 points in total. 

All three shows were broadcast on SBS with commentary by Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey. In addition to the three shows being broadcast live in Australia at 05:00 AEST, SBS also provided repeat broadcasts at prime time on 12, 13 and 14 May at 19:30 AEST (09:30 UTC).

The prime time repeat of the first semi-final on 12 May reached a total of 191,000 viewers, while the repeat airing of the second semi-final on 13 May, which featured the participation of Australia, gained 236,000 viewers. The live broadcast of the grand final on the morning of 14 May Australia time gained an audience of 202,000 viewers, with the winner’s announcement at approximately 09:00 AEST reaching 299,000 viewers. The prime time repeat of the final that evening reached a total of 181,000 viewers.

3.1.Voting.

3.1.1.Points awarded to Australia.

3.1.2.Points awarded by Australia.

3.1.3.Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Australian jury:

  • Andrew Farriss
  • Eddie Perfect
  • Latifa Shabaz Tasipale (Latifa Tee)
  • Toni Pearen
  • Brihony Dawson
Detailed voting results from Australia (Final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Juror 5 Rank Points Rank Points
01  Austria 7 3 4 7 6 5 6 4 7
02  Portugal 16 18 7 4 13 9 2 19
03  Switzerland 20 16 18 12 19 21 22
04  Poland 17 14 16 11 12 17 24
05  Serbia 24 25 23 17 23 25 18
06  France 10 19 22 5 17 12 9 2
07  Cyprus 19 9 11 6 4 8 3 3 8
08  Spain 4 24 5 16 7 7 4 21
09  Sweden 11 4 3 15 1 4 7 2 10
10  Albania 15 10 13 13 18 16 25
11  Italy 6 11 15 9 20 10 1 13
12  Estonia 2 13 2 1 8 3 8 20
13  Finland 5 5 6 8 10 6 5 1 12
14  Czech Republic 13 20 17 19 22 23 12
15  Australia
16  Belgium 1 1 1 3 2 1 12 8 3
17  Armenia 14 17 10 22 15 20 23
18  Moldova 25 15 21 18 25 24 17
19  Ukraine 18 22 20 21 5 15 16
20  Norway 23 23 12 20 14 22 5 6
21  Germany 12 8 25 23 24 18 11
22  Lithuania 3 2 8 2 3 2 10 15
23  Israel 21 7 9 25 9 11 6 5
24  Slovenia 22 6 14 24 11 13 10 1
25  Croatia 9 12 24 10 16 14 7 4
26  United Kingdom 8 21 19 14 21 19 14