The Eurovision handover, is ultimately the best way to kick off Eurovision 2023! The ceremony hosted Rylan Clark and AJ Odudu, was ultimately iconic.
The handover is a ceremonial and historic Eurovision event in which the mayor from the previous city the Eurovision was held in, (2022 being Stefano Lo Russo - Turin), hands the Eurovision key know as Insignia to the next mayor of the host city. Excitingly that was Liverpool’s mayor, Joanne Anderson. This event unofficially then marks the start of the Eurovision season.
The handover this year was held in St Georges Hall, decorated top to bottom in the new 2023 Eurovision colours and slogan; United By Music, a fitting slogan for the occasion, as we are just the host for Ukraines big party, as they victoriously won Eurovision 2022 with Kalush Orchestra’s song Stefanina.
The new Eurovision logo, is eye-catching featuring the Ukraine flag and hearts in a yellow background but with red and dark blue accents, in a beating heart fashion. This is a nod to the host country of Britain, and a nice image that is a perfect picture illustrating that we are united by music. The logo also pays homage to Liverpools musical history, as the typeface has been named Penny Lane after The Beatles.
Of course, a major part of this handover is the semi final allocation draw. In the draw Rylan and AJ Odudu, with the help of 3 schoolchildren and 2 Ukrainian refugees, picked out which semi-final each country would be in.
There are 2 semi-finals in the Eurovision, and each one will put through 9/10 of the most popular acts, these 18-20 acts will join the big 5 and host country in the grand final. Semi-final allocation is important as only the countries in that semi-final along with 2-3 of the big 5 will be allowed to vote in order to put these Countries through.
The big 5, are the countries who via their broadcasters make the largest financial contribution towards the contest, so therefore get the benefit of automatically being placed in the final. These are: France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom and Spain. Ukraine will also automatically go through as they where the previous winner.
Semi Final 1 was drawn first and the countries picked out are:
Serbia Latvia Ireland Norway Portugal Croatia Malta Sweden Moldova Switzerland Israel Netherlands Finland Azerbaijan Czech Republic
(Residents of Germany, France and Italy can also vote in this semi-final)
Semi Final 2 includes:
Armenia Cyprus Romania Denmark Belgium Iceland Greece Estonia Albania Australia Austria Lithuania San Marino Slovenia Georgia Poland
(Residents Ukraine, Spain and the United Kingdom can also vote in this semi-final)
Written by Bella Fletcher 2023
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