Eurovision Song Contest 2017

"Eurovision 2017" redirects here. For the Junior Contest, see Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017.

Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Celebrate Diversity
Dates
Semi-final 1	9 May 2017 (2017-05-09)
Semi-final 2	11 May 2017 (2017-05-11)
Final	13 May 2017 (2017-05-13)
Host
Venue	International Exhibition Centre, Kiev, Ukraine
Presenter(s)	Oleksandr Skichko Volodymyr Ostapchuk Timur Miroshnychenko
Directed by	Ola Melzig
Executive supervisor	Jon Ola Sand
Executive producer	Pavlo Hrytsak
Host broadcaster	National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/kyiv-2017
Participants
Number of entries	42
Debuting countries	None
Returning countries	Portugal Romania
Non-returning countries	Bosnia and Herzegovina Russia
Participation map      Participating countries     Did not qualify from the semi-final     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2017
Vote
Voting system	Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 is the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It is taking place in the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, following Ukraine's victory at the 2016 contest in Stockholm with the song "1944", written and performed by Jamala. This is the second time the contest takes place in Kiev, after 2005, as well as the fourth Eurovision event, after the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2009 and 2013. The contest consists of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and the final on 13 May 2017, with all three live shows to be hosted by Oleksandr Skichko, Volodymyr Ostapchuk and Timur Miroshnychenko.

Forty-two countries are participating in the contest. Portugal and Romania return to the contest after a year's absence, while Bosnia and Herzegovina have withdrawn on financial grounds. Russia had originally planned to participate, but announced their withdrawal on 13 April 2017, after their representative, Yulia Samoylova, was banned from entering Ukraine by virtue of having travelled directly from Russia to Crimea in 2015, a region that was annexed by Russia in 2014, to give a performance, which is illegal under Ukrainian law.

Location

Further information on the host country: Ukraine

The venue of the contest, International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine

Venue

The contest takes place in the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, following Ukraine's victory at the 2016 contest with the song "1944", written and performed by Jamala. The International Exhibition Centre has a capacity of approximately 11,000 attendees and is the largest exhibition centre in Kiev. Located in the western part of the Livoberezhna microdistrict, the centre was opened in October 2002, and its head since its construction was Anatoly Tkachenko.

Bidding phase

Dnipro

Kharkiv

Kherson

Lviv

Odessa

Kiev

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Locations of the candidate cities: the eliminated cities are marked in red, with the shortlisted cities in green and the chosen host city in blue.

The Deputy Chief of host broadcaster National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC) and Head of Delegation for Ukraine, Viktoria Romanova, stated on 18 May 2016 that the first organisational meeting for the contest would take place before 8 June, during which the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and UA:PBC would go through the technical requirements for the contest, as well as any training required for the contest to take place in Ukraine. Romanova also announced that the venue for the contest would be announced over the summer.

UA:PBC and the Ukrainian Government formally launched the bidding process for interested cities to apply to host the contest on 23 June. The selection of the host city was scheduled to be conducted in four stages:

• 24 June – 8 July: Interested cities were formally invited to submit their bids.
• 8–15 July: A working group within UA:PBC and a government-appointed Local Organisational Committee (LOC) headed by Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman reviewed submitted bids prior to their formal presentation.
• 18–22 July: Candidate cities formally presented their bids to the LOC. The bids of three cities were shortlisted and handed over to the EBU.
• 22 July – 1 August: The three shortlisted cities were inspected by representatives from the EBU and LOC to explore their infrastructure and implementation of their bids. A press conference was initially planned to be held during this period to announce the selection results and the host city.

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

• The venue must be covered with a capacity of at least 7,000 but ideally up to 10,000 attendees.
• An international press centre must be able to accommodate no less than 1,550 journalists.
• Venues must also be provided for the opening and closing ceremonies of at least 3,000 attendees.
• The host city must have fairly priced hotel rooms to European standards, that are located in close proximity to the venue and the city centre. At least 2,000 hotel rooms must be provided: 1,000 for participating delegations and 1,000 for accredited media and fans.
• The host city must be able to guarantee the safety and security of participants, members of delegations and guests.
• The host city must have modern transport infrastructure: an international airport and readily available transport between the airport, the city and hotels, in addition to convenient traffic in the city and the opportunity to provide additional transport routes.
• The host city must provide a social program alongside their bid, showcasing the hospitality, originality, cultural values and identity of both the city and Ukraine.

Six cities submitted applications by the deadline of 8 July: Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kiev, Lviv and Odessa. Prior to the opening of the bidding process, the cities of Cherkasy, Irpin, Uzhhorod and Vinnytsia had declared their interest in hosting the contest, but did not submit a formal bid. Ukrainian Culture Minister Yevhen Nyshchuk stated on 30 June that an appropriate venue for the contest does not exist in Ukraine, suggesting that the construction of a new venue in Kiev or Lviv should be considered.

The six candidate cities were officially presented to the LOC on 20 July in a two-hour live discussion show titled City Battle, broadcast from the UA:Pershyi studios in Kiev and moderated by Timur Miroshnychenko, with radio commentary from Olena Zelinchenko. The show was broadcast on UA:Pershyi, Radio Ukraine and the UA:Pershyi YouTube channel with commentary in English and Ukrainian. During the show, a representative from each candidate city presented its bid in front of a live studio audience:

• Dnipro: Borys Filatov (City Mayor)
• Kharkiv: Ihor Terekhov (Deputy City Mayor)
• Kherson: Volodymyr Mykolaienko (City Mayor)
• Kiev: Oleksii Reznikov (Deputy Head of City State Administration)
• Lviv: Andrii Moskalenko (Deputy City Mayor)
• Odessa: Pavlo Vugelman (Deputy City Mayor)

Members of the LOC, media representatives, Ukrainian musical experts and fans also participated in the discussion.

Host selection

UA:PBC announced on 22 July that the bids from Dnipro, Kiev and Odessa had been shortlisted for further consideration.

The EBU announced on 30 July that the host city would be announced "in due course", rather than on the previously stated date of 1 August, with Executive Supervisor of the contest Jon Ola Sand stating that the EBU "really want to take the time it takes to come up with the right decision". The Deputy General Director of UA:PBC, Oleksandr Kharebin, stated on 10 August that the host city would be announced on Ukrainian Independence Day, 24 August. The announcement was later scheduled to take place on 25 August; however, it was postponed at 14:00 EEST, one hour before it was due to take place, with NTU citing the need to further consider some fine details regarding the decision.

After several delays in announcing the host city, UA:PBC announced on 8 September that they would be meeting with the Ukrainian Government and the LOC on 9 September and that a press conference to announce the host city was scheduled to take place at 13:00 EEST on the same day from the Government Press Centre in Kiev. Kiev was announced as the host city for the contest with the International Exhibition Centre selected as the venue.

Key  †   Host venue  ‡   Shortlisted

City	Venue	Capacity	Notes
Dnipro ‡	DniproEuroArena	9,500	Proposal included the complete reconstruction of the Meteor Stadium and Sports Complex Meteor, which would have been completed by March 2017. Withdrew after the host city announcement being postponed for a fourth time.
Kharkiv	Metalist Oblast Sports Complex	40,003	Hosted three group stage matches of UEFA Euro 2012. Would have required significant construction including the addition of a roof.
Kherson	Concert Hall "Yubileyniy"	1,600	Proposal included expansion and reconstruction of the venue, which would have taken approximately 7–8 months.
Kiev †
	Palace of Sports ‡	10,000	Hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 and the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009. May have conflicted with contest preparations as the venue will host part of the 2017 IIHF World Championship Division I ice hockey tournament between 22–28 April 2017.
	International Exhibition Centre	10,073	Venue was initially submitted as a reserve. Kiev later announced on 24 August 2016 that this was their preferred venue for staging the contest.
Lviv	Arena Lviv	34,915	Hosted three of the group-stage games for UEFA Euro 2012. The arena required the construction of a roof.
	Unfinished venue	N/A	An unfinished venue originally planned for EuroBasket 2015 that was 25% complete when construction halted.
Odessa ‡	Chornomorets Stadium	34,000	Proposal included plans for reconstruction of the venue and options for providing a covered roof.

Format

The preliminary dates for the contest were announced on 14 March 2016 at a meeting of Heads of Delegation in Stockholm, with the semi-finals expected to take place on 16 and 18 May and the final on 20 May 2017. These preliminary dates were chosen by the EBU to avoid the contest coinciding with any major television and sporting events scheduled to take place around that time.

However, the EBU announced on 24 June that the preliminary dates for the contest had been brought forward a week, with the semi-finals scheduled for 9 and 11 May and the final on 13 May. This was reportedly due to a request from UA:PBC, as the initial preliminary dates coincided with the Remembrance Day for the victims of the Deportation of the Crimean Tatars on 18 May. However, the current dates coincide with the second leg of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League semi-finals.

Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place at Column Hall on 31 January 2017, hosted by Timur Miroshnychenko and Nika Konstantinova. The thirty-seven semi-finalists had been allocated into six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called "bloc voting" and increase suspense in the semi-finals.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
Albania Croatia Macedonia Montenegro Serbia Slovenia Switzerland1	Denmark Estonia Finland Iceland Norway Sweden	Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Georgia Israel Russia2	Bulgaria Cyprus Greece Hungary Moldova Romania	Australia Austria Czech Republic Malta Portugal San Marino	Belgium Ireland Latvia Lithuania Netherlands Poland

Visual design

The theme for the contest, Celebrate Diversity, was unveiled on 30 January. Executive Supervisor for the contest, Jon Ola Sand, explained that "[t]he notion of celebrating diversity is at the heart of Eurovision values: it is all-inclusive and all about countries around Europe, and beyond, joining together to celebrate both our common ground and our unique differences, as well as some great music." The logo and visual design of the contest incorporates imagery of stylized beads, with the main logo using the beads to form a traditional neck amulet.

Presenters

It was announced on 27 February that the presenters for the contest would be Oleksandr Skichko and Volodymyr Ostapchuk, with Timur Miroshnychenko hosting the green room. It will be the first time that the contest will be presented by a male trio, and the second time that the contest does not feature a female presenter, after 1956. Miroshnychenko has previously co-hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2009 and 2013.

Promotional emojis

File:Eurovision Emojis.png

The three emoji exclusively created by Eurovision and Twitter.

It was announced on 30 April that the creative teams from both the Eurovision network and Twitter had worked together to create three emoji that would accompany specific promotional hashtags for the duration of the contest. The heart emoji would appear alongside #ESC2017 and #Eurovision, while the winners' trophy emoji would be used for #12Points and #douzepoints. The final emoji is the logo for the contest, which would appear alongside the hashtag #CelebrateDiversity, the theme for the contest.

Opening and interval acts

The EBU released details regarding the opening and interval acts for each of the live shows on 20 April. As the interval act of the first semi-final, Jamala performed a revamped version of "1944" as well as "Zamanyly", while during the interval of the final she will perform "I Believe in U". The second semi-final was opened with a medley of Eurovision songs by two of the presenters, Oleksandr Skichko and Volodymyr Ostapchuk, while the interval of the semi-final was a dance performance by Apache CREW called "The Children's Courtyard".

Participating countries

  Participating countries in the first semi-final

  Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in the first semi-final

  Participating countries in the second semi-final

  Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in the second semi-final

The European Broadcasting Union announced on 31 October 2016 that forty-three countries would participate in the contest, equalling the record set in 2008 and 2011. Portugal and Romania will return after a year's absence, while Bosnia and Herzegovina will withdraw on financial grounds. Russia had originally planned to participate, but announced their withdrawal on 13 April 2017, after their representative, Yulia Samoylova, was banned from entering Ukraine by virtue of travelling directly from Russia to Crimea, a region that was annexed by Russia in 2014, to give a performance, which is illegal under Ukrainian law. This subsequently reduced the number of participating countries to forty-two.

Returning artists

O'G3NE will return to a Eurovision event having previously represented the Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 as Lisa, Amy and Shelley, with the song "Adem in, Adem Uit". Imri Ziv will return to represent Israel, having been a backing vocalist for Nadav Guedj in 2015 and Hovi Star in 2016.

Omar Naber returned after previously representing Slovenia in 2005, finishing 12th in the semi-final with the song "Stop". The SunStroke Project will return after previously representing Moldova in 2010 alongside Olia Tira, finishing 22nd in the final with the song "Run Away". Tijana Bogićević will return to represent Serbia, having been a backing vocalist for Nina in 2011.

Koit Toome and Laura Põldvere, who performed as a duo representing Estonia, have both represented their country in different years: Toome in 1998 as a solo artist, finishing 12th place in the final with the song "Mere lapsed", and Põldvere in 2005 as part of Suntribe, finishing 20th in the semi-final with the song "Let's Get Loud". Valentina Monetta returned to sing for San Marino. She previously represented the country in three consecutive editions of the contest: 2012, 2013, and 2014; she performed in a duet this time, accompanied by Jimmie Wilson.

Semi-final 1

Eighteen countries participated in the first semi-final. Italy, Spain and United Kingdom voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Language
01	Sweden	Robin Bengtsson	"I Can't Go On"	English
02	Georgia	Tamara Gachechiladze	"Keep the Faith"	English
03	Australia	Isaiah	"Don't Come Easy"	English
04	Albania	Lindita	"World"	English
05	Belgium	Blanche	"City Lights"	English
06	Montenegro	Slavko Kalezić	"Space"	English
07	Finland	Norma John	"Blackbird"	English
08	Azerbaijan	Dihaj	"Skeletons"	English
09	Portugal	Salvador Sobral	"Amar Pelos Dois"	Portuguese
10	Greece	Demy	"This Is Love"	English
11	Poland	Kasia Moś	"Flashlight"	English
12	Moldova	Sunstroke Project	"Hey, Mamma!"	English
13	Iceland	Svala	"Paper"	English
14	Czech Republic	Martina Bárta	"My Turn"	English
15	Cyprus	Hovig	"Gravity"	English
16	Armenia	Artsvik	"Fly with Me"	English
17	Slovenia	Omar Naber	"On My Way"	English
18	Latvia	Triana Park	"Line"	English

Semi-final 2

Eighteen countries participated in the second semi-final. France, Germany and Ukraine voted in this semi-final. Russia was originally planned to perform in position three, but withdrew from the contest after the artist they selected was banned from entering Ukraine, resulting in countries originally planned to perform fourth and later, to do so one place earlier. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Language
01	Serbia	Tijana Bogićević	"In Too Deep"	English
02	Austria	Nathan Trent	"Running on Air"	English
03	Macedonia	Jana Burčeska	"Dance Alone"	English
04	Malta	Claudia Faniello	"Breathlessly"	English
05	Romania	Ilinca and Alex Florea	"Yodel It!"	English
06	Netherlands	O'G3NE	"Lights and Shadows"	English
07	Hungary	Joci Pápai	"Origo"	Hungarian3
08	Denmark	Anja	"Where I Am"	English
09	Ireland	Brendan Murray	"Dying to Try"	English
10	San Marino	Valentina Monetta and Jimmie Wilson	"Spirit of the Night"	English
11	Croatia	Jacques Houdek	"My Friend"	English, Italian
12	Norway	JOWST5	"Grab the Moment"	English
13	Switzerland	Timebelle	"Apollo"	English
14	Belarus	Naviband	"Story of My Life"	Belarusian4
15	Bulgaria	Kristian Kostov	"Beautiful Mess"	English
16	Lithuania	Fusedmarc	"Rain of Revolution"	English
17	Estonia	Koit Toome and Laura	"Verona"	English
18	Israel	IMRI	"I Feel Alive"	English

Final

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Language	Place	Jury Votes	Televote Points	Total Points
01	Israel	IMRI	"I Feel Alive"	English
02	Poland	Kasia Moś	"Flashlight"	English
03	Belarus	Naviband	"Story of My Life"	Belarusian4
04	Austria	Nathan Trent	"Running on Air"	English
05	Armenia	Artsvik	"Fly with Me"	English
06	Netherlands	O'G3NE	"Lights and Shadows"	English
07	Moldova	Sunstroke Project	"Hey, Mamma!"	English
08	Hungary	Joci Pápai	"Origo"	Hungarian3
09	Italy	Francesco Gabbani	"Occidentali's Karma"	Italian6
10	Denmark	Anja	"Where I Am"	English
11	Portugal	Salvador Sobral	"Amar Pelos Dois"	Portuguese
12	Azerbaijan	Dihaj	"Skeletons"	English
13	Croatia	Jacques Houdek	"My Friend"	English, Italian
14	Australia	Isaiah	"Don't Come Easy"	English
15	Greece	Demy	"This Is Love"	English
16	Spain	Manel Navarro	"Do It for Your Lover"	Spanish, English
17	Norway	JOWST5	"Grab the Moment"	English
18	United Kingdom	Lucie Jones	"Never Give Up on You"	English
19	Cyprus	Hovig	"Gravity"	English
20	Romania	Ilinca and Alex Florea	"Yodel It!"	English
21	Germany	Levina	"Perfect Life"	English
22	Ukraine	O.Torvald	"Time"	English
23	Belgium	Blanche	"City Lights"	English
24	Sweden	Robin Bengtsson	"I Can't Go On"	English
25	Bulgaria	Kristian Kostov	"Beautiful Mess"	English
26	France	Alma	"Requiem"	French, English

Other countries

Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest

To be eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, national broadcasters must be active EBU members with the ability to broadcast the contest via the Eurovision network.

The EBU issued an invitation to all 56 active members, as well as to associate member Australia, to participate in the contest and 43 countries confirmed their acceptance.

Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and five other countries declined the invitation without publishing their reasons for doing so. The following countries also declined to participate, stating their reasons as shown below:

Active EBU members

• Andorra – Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA) announced on 19 May 2016 that Andorra would not participate in the contest.
• Bosnia and Herzegovina – Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT) announced on 28 September 2016 that Bosnia and Herzegovina would not participate in the countest due to their inability to secure stable funding and sponsorship for participation. BHRT was also suffering from financial difficulties due to insufficient legislation that would ensure its continued operation. The EBU had threatened to withdraw BHRT from all member services in May 2016, due to non-payment of debts totalling 6 million Swiss francs (€5.4 million). Recent news sources have revealed that the EBU have now begun to impose sanctions on BHRT as a result of outstanding debts.
• Luxembourg – While RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg (RTL) announced on 25 May 2016 that they would not participate in the contest, the Petitions Committee of the Luxembourgish Government announced on 21 June that they had received a petition calling on RTL to return to the contest. The Luxembourgish Government have decided to debate the proposals set out in the petition, and the possibility of Luxembourg returning to the contest in future. RTL reiterated its intention not to participate on 22 August.
• Monaco – Télé Monte Carlo (TMC) announced on 19 August 2016 that Monaco would not participate in the contest.
• Russia – Russia had originally planned to participate in the contest with the song "Flame Is Burning", performed by Yulia Samoylova. However, Channel One Russia withdrew from the contest on 13 April 2017, after Samoylova was issued a three-year travel ban by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) from entering Ukraine on 22 March, by virtue of illegally travelling directly from Russia to Crimea, a region that was annexed by Russia in 2014, in 2015 to give a performance.
• Slovakia – Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) explained on 12 April 2016 that Slovakia's absence from the contest since 2012 was due to the "cost involved in participation". RTVS' PR manager, Juraj Kadáš, stated that while participating in the contest is an attractive project, RTVS has a programming strategy that gives priority to financing domestic television production. RTVS announced on 6 September that they have yet to make a decision, but announced on 24 October that they would not participate in the contest.
• Turkey – Despite speculation surrounding their participation, the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) issued a written statement to the EBU on 12 May 2016 stating their participation in the contest. Turkey withdrew after last participating in 2012, due to their discontent at the introduction of a mixed voting system to the contest and the automatic qualification of the Big Five for the final. Turkish media reported on 28 September that a decision would be made in early October, with various news sources reporting that several non-governmental organizations were cooperating to persuade TRT to return to the contest in 2017. However, it was reported on 23 October that the Director General of NTU, Zurab Alasania had stated that TRT had refused an invitation of participation. This information was confirmed on 24 October.

Associate EBU members

• Kazakhstan – Khabar Agency became an associate member of the EBU on 1 January 2016, opening up the possibility of a future participation. However, the EBU announced on 28 September that while Khabar Agency were unable to debut in the 2016 contest because they did not have active membership, they are reviewing the rules for the 2017 contest, which may include opening up the possibility of Khabar Agency making its début in the contest. However, Kazakhstan was not on the final list of participating countries announced by the EBU on 31 October 2016.

EBU non-members

• Kosovo – Albanian news portal Koha reported on 6 April 2016 that the Director General of Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), Mentor Shala, had announced at a press conference that Kosovo, had been invited to participate, with a decision on whether or not to pursue the invitation to be made later in 2016. However, this was confirmed to be untrue, after Shala stated on 7 April that his comments were misinterpreted by Koha, and what he actually meant was that "RTK was invited to [the] Eurovision Committee and Kosovo’s acceptance or not in the Eurovision depends on them". This was backed-up by a statement from the EBU. Kosovo is not recognised by 15 states in Europe and does not have a national broadcaster with active EBU membership.
• Liechtenstein – While 1 Fürstentum Liechtenstein Television (1FLTV) announced on 21 September 2016 that they would not be making their début at the contest, 1FLTV have stated their intention to debut in a future contest, on receipt of financial support from the Liechtenstein Government towards active EBU membership and the costs associated with a potential participation.
• United States – After the interval performance of Justin Timberlake during the final of the 2016 contest, it has been speculated that the United States may participate in a future contest, similar to the interval performance of Jessica Mauboy during the second semi-final of the 2014 contest and Australia's subsequent debut the following year. While Logo TV broadcast the final of the 2016 contest, the channel does not have associate EBU membership.

International broadcasts and voting

Voting and spokespersons

The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order:

1. Sweden – Wiktoria
2. Azerbaijan – Tural Asadov
3. San Marino – Lia Fiorio and Gigi Restivo
4. Latvia – Aminata (Latvian representative in 2015)
5. Israel – Ofer Nachshon
6. Montenegro – Tijana Mišković
7. Albania – Andri Xhahu
8. Malta – Martha Fenech
9. Macedonia – Ilija Grujoski
10. Denmark – Ulla Essendrop
11. Austria – Kristina Inhof
12. Norway – Marcus & Martinus
13. Spain – Nieves Álvarez Garcia
14. Finland – Jenni Vartiainen
15. France – Élodie Gossuin
16. Greece – Constantinos Christoforou (Cypriot representative in 1996, 2002 and 2005 contests)
17. Lithuania – Eglė Daugėlaitė
18. Estonia – Jüri Pootsmann (Estonian representative in 2016)
19. Moldova – Gloria Gorceag
20. Armenia – Iveta Mukuchyan (Armenian representative in 2016)
21. Bulgaria – Boryana Gramatikova
22. Iceland – Bo Halldórsson (Icelandic representative in 1995)
23. Serbia – Sanja Vučić (Serbian representative in 2016)
24. Australia – Lee Lin Chin
25. Italy – Giulia Valentina Palermo
26. Germany – Barbara Schöneberger
27. Portugal – Filomena Cautela
28. Switzerland – Luca Hänni
29. Netherlands – Douwe Bob (Dutch representative in 2016)
30. Ireland – Nicky Byrne (Irish representative in 2016)
31. Georgia – Nika Kocharov (Georgian representative in 2016)
32. Cyprus – John Karayiannis (Cypriot representative in 2015)
33. Belarus – Alyona Lanskaya (Belarusian representative in 2013)
34. Romania – Sonia Argint-Ionescu
35. Hungary – Csilla Tatár
36. Slovenia – Katarina Čas
37. Belgium – Fanny Gillard
38. Poland – Anna Popek
39. United Kingdom – Katrina Leskanich (winner of the 1997 contest as part of Katrina and the Waves)
40. Croatia – Uršula Tolj
41. Czech Republic – Radka Rosická
42. Ukraine – Zlata Ognevich (Ukrainian representative in 2013)

Commentators

Most countries sent commentators to Kiev or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, the provision of voting information. The EBU announced on 9 May, that all three shows would also be streamed live via YouTube.

• Albania – Andri Xhahu (TVSH, RTSH HD, RTSH Muzikë and Radio Tirana, all shows)
• Armenia – Avet Barseghyan and Gohar Gasparyan (Armenia 1 and Public Radio of Armenia, first semi-final); Avet Barseghyan (Armenia 1 and Public Radio of Armenia, second semi-final)
• Australia – Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey (SBS, all shows)
• Austria – Andi Knoll (ORF eins, all shows)
• Azerbaijan – TBC (İTV, all shows)
• Belarus – Evgeny Perlin (Belarus-1 and Belarus 24, all shows)
• Belgium – French: Maureen Louys and Jean-Louis Lahaye (La Une, all shows), Olivier Gilain (VivaCité, first semi-final and final); Dutch: Peter Van de Veire (één and Radio 2, all shows)
• Bulgaria – Elena Rosberg and Georgi Kushvaliev (BNT 1, all shows)
• Croatia – Duško Čurlić (HRT 1, all shows), Zlatko Turkalj Turki (HR 2, all shows)
• Cyprus – Tasos Tryfonos and Christiana Artemiou (RIK 1, RIK SAT, RIK HD and Trito Programma, all shows)
• Czech Republic – Libor Bouček (ČT2, semi-finals; ČT1, final)
• Denmark – Ole Tøpholm (DR1, all shows)
• Estonia – Marko Reikop (ETV, all shows)
• Finland – Finnish: Mikko Silvennoinen. Swedish: Eva Franz and Johan Lindroos (Yle TV1, first semi-final; Yle TV2, second semi-final and final)
• France – Marianne James, Stéphane Bern and Amir Haddad (France 2, final), Marianne James and Jarry (France 4, semi finals).
• Georgia – TBC (GPB First Channel, all shows)
• Germany – Peter Urban (One, all shows; NDR Fernsehen, second semi-final; Das Erste, final)
• Greece  – Giorgos Kapoutzidis and Maria Kozakou (ERT1, ERT HD, ERT World, ERA 1, Voice of Greece, all shows)
• Hungary – Krisztina Rátonyi and Freddie (Duna, all shows)
• Iceland – TBC (RÚV and Rás 2, all shows)
• Ireland – Marty Whelan (RTÉ2, semi-finals; RTÉ One, final), Neil Doherty and Zbyszek Zalinski (RTÉ Radio 1, second semi-final and final)
• Israel – No commentary (IBA); Kobi Menora, Dori Ben Ze’ev and Alon Amir (88FM, all shows)
• Italy – Andrea Delogu and Diego Passoni (Rai 4, semi-finals); Flavio Insinna and Federico Russo (Rai 1, final)
• Latvia – Valters Frīdenbergs (LTV1, all shows); Toms Grēviņš (LTV1, final)
• Lithuania – Darius Užkuraitis and Gerūta Griniūtė (LRT, LRT HD and LRT Radijas, all shows)
• Macedonia – Karolina Petkovska (MRT 1, all shows)
• Malta – TBC (TVM, all shows)
• Moldova – Gloria Gorceag (Moldova 1, Radio Moldova, Radio Moldova Muzical and Radio Moldova Tineret, all shows)
• Montenegro – Dražen Bauković and Tijana Mišković (TVCG 1 and TVCG SAT, all shows)
• Netherlands – Cornald Maas and Jan Smit (NPO 1 and BVN, all shows)
• Norway – Olav Viksmo-Slettan (NRK1, all shows); Ronny Brede Aase, Silje Nordnes and Markus Neby (NRK3, final); Ole Christian Øen (NRK P1, second semi-final and final)
• Poland – Artur Orzech (TVP 1 and TVP Polonia (live); TVP Rozrywka (one-day delay), all shows)
• Portugal – José Carlos Malato and Nuno Galopim (RTP1 and RTP Internacional, all shows)
• Romania – Liana Stanciu and Radu Andrei Tudor (TVR1 and TVR HD, all shows)
• San Marino – Lia Fiorio and Gigi Restivo (SMtv San Marino and Radio San Marino, all shows)
• Serbia – Silvana Grujić and Olga Kapor (RTS 1, RTS HD and RTS Sat, first semi-final); Duška Vučinić (RTS 1, RTS HD and RTS Sat, second semi-final and final)
• Slovenia – Andrej Hofer (RTV SLO2, semi-finals; RTV SLO1, final; Radio Val 202, second semi-final and final; Radio Maribor, all shows)
• Spain – José María Íñigo and Julia Varela (La 2, semi-finals; La 1, final)
• Sweden – Måns Zelmerlöw and Edward af Sillén (SVT1, all shows), Carolina Norén, Björn Kjellman and Ola Gäverth (SR P4, all shows)
• Switzerland – German: Sven Epiney (SRF zwei, semi-finals and SRF 1, final); Italian: Clarissa Tami and Sebalter (RSI La 2, semi-finals and RSI La 1, final); French: Jean-Marc Richard and Nicolas Tanner (RTS Deux, semi-finals and RTS Un, final)
• Ukraine – Tetiana Terekhova and Andriy Horodyskyi (UA:First, all shows); Olena Zelinchenko and Roman Kolyada (Radio Ukraine, all shows)
• United Kingdom – Mel Giedroyc and Scott Mills (BBC Four, semi-finals), Graham Norton (BBC One, final), Ken Bruce (BBC Radio 2, final)

Non-participating countries

• China – Lee Wei Song and Lee Shih Shiong (Hunan TV, all shows)
• Greenland – Ole Tøpholm (KNR, final)
• Kazakhstan – Kaldybek Zhaysanbaev and Diana Snegina (Khabar Agency, all shows)
• Kosovo  – TBA (RTK, all shows)
• United States  – Michelle Visage and Ross Mathews (Logo TV, final)

International sign language broadcast

• Norway  – NRK Tegnspråk (final)

Incidents

French song submission

France 2 announced on 9 February 2017 that they would participate at the contest with the song "Requiem", performed by Alma. However, it was discovered during the week of 17 February "Requiem" had been recorded and performed prior to 1 September 2016, the submission deadline set by the EBU, potentially violating the rules of the contest. Further investigation shows that "Requiem" had been performed at the end of January 2015. While France 2 had claimed not to be in breach of the rules of the contest, no ultimate decision had been made regarding their potential disqualification. It was reported on 21 February 2017 that Alma and her production team were producing a bilingual version of "Requiem" — the two languages being French and English — which implies that France 2 have not been disqualified from the contest.

Russian withdrawal

Further information: Russia–Ukraine relations in the Eurovision Song Contest

Channel One Russia (C1R) announced on 12 March 2017 that they would participate at the contest with "Flame Is Burning", performed by Julia Samoylova. However, Samoylova was issued a three-year travel ban on entering Ukraine by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on 22 March, by virtue of illegally travelling directly from Russia to Crimea, a region that was annexed by Russia in 2014, in 2015 to give a performance. Entry to Crimea by non-Ukrainian citizens via Russia is illegal under Ukrainian law, however Samoylova had confirmed that she performed in Crimea in 2015.

The EBU responded by stating its commitment to ensuring that all participating countries would be able to perform in Kiev, while expressing their disappointment at the lack of compromise from C1R and UA:PBC. C1R were offered the opportunity to allow Samoylova to perform via satellite from a venue of their choice, but such a compromise was rejected by both C1R and the Ukrainian Government.

The Director General of the EBU, Ingrid Deltenre, condemned Ukraine's actions, describing them as "abusing the Contest for political reasons" and "absolutely unacceptable" C1R announced their withdrawal from the contest on 13 April, stating that they also may not broadcast the contest. C1R had not organised accommodation before their artist announcement, as is typically the case, and refused to attend the meeting of Heads of Delegation. By announcing their artist just before the deadline for entry submission to the contest, it was speculated that C1R had not intended to go due to audiences booing Russian artists in previous contests.

As part of the Russian Victory Day celebrations on 9 May, Samoylova gave another performance in Crimea, including the song which was intended to represent Russia at the contest.

Israeli broadcaster compromise

Under a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) is currently being reorganised into two separate entities: the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC), with responsibility for "general programming" such as entertainment, and another with responsibility for news and current affairs programming. The IPBC would also be branded as "KAN" (Hebrew: כאן, lit. 'Here'). The EBU informed the IPBC executive board on 7 April that such a compromise would render them unable to remain a member without an outlet for news and current events programming. It has been reported that the IBA may cease to be a member of the EBU. The IBA was expected to close down on 15 May 2017 before the IPBC was expected to launch. However on 9 May 2017 the IBA was unexpectedly closed down after the final broadcast of their regular nightly news programme. All regular programming on television and radio will be discontinued while the television stations of the IBA will display an informational slide while all radio stations will play music. The second semi-final and final of this Contest will be the last programmes to be transmitted by the IBA where minimal staff of twenty people will remain to ensure a smooth transmission on Channel 1 for television and 88FM for radio.

Argument for the abolition of live vocals

Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) had discussions with the EBU regarding the abolition of the rule prohibiting pre-recorded vocals during live performances at the contest. Such a rule is intended to guarantee the authenticity of live performances. The discussion stems from when Norwegian representative JOWST stated his displeasure at the rule in an interview on 24 March, in reference to pre-recorded vocals in his song "Grab the Moment" which cannot be attributed in the live performance.

Such discussions were also in place in 1999, when pre-recorded vocals during the Croatian entry, "Marija Magdalena", performed by Doris Dragović, led to objections by the Norwegian delegation — led at the time by Jon Ola Sand. Such objections led the EBU to consider deducting a third of Croatia's final score, reducing it from 118 points to 79. However, such a deduction never occurred. The possible abolition of the rule, alongside the abolition of the live orchestra in 1999, has led some fans and critics of the contest to argue that the contest has become too commercialised and the authenticity of live performances has been compromised.

After discussing the matter with the EBU, NRK were granted an exception to the rule. JOWST stated that "[the Norwegian delegation] have now been allowed to use the recorded vocal tracks, [...]. But [they] have also practiced a plan B with the backing vocalists, if there are big protests from others in Kiev." Both JOWST and Aleksander Walmann think that had "Grab the Moment" been in the final of the 2018 contest following an abolition of the rule, they would have had an advantage. NRK stated on 2 May that JOWST are aiming to perform the song acoustically as a back-up, bringing with them two additional backing vocalists who will perform the pre-recorded vocals live using a filter applied by the sound engineering team so as not to compromise on sound quality.

Norwegian jury replacement

Norwegian jury member Per Sundnes made comments on NRK preview show Adresse Kiev on 17 April 2017 against Irish representative Brendan Murray, saying: "It's been a long time since they've gotten up and I do not think they'll do it again. They try the same formula year after year." The comments were not welcomed by the Irish delegation, who subsequently reported the matter to the EBU.

The Irish Independent reported on 8 May that Sundnes had been replaced due to an alleged breach in jury rules. Commenting on the decision, the Head of Delegation for Ireland, Michael Kealy, said: "I'm glad that the European Broadcasting Union have reacted swiftly to this situation and that all jury members are impartial. It's only fair that each song in the Eurovision Song Contest is judged on its individual merits on the night." Sundnes was subsequently replaced by Erland Bakke.

Sundnes stated in an interview with Verdens Gang on 9 May: "I do not know anything about the jury stuff, just that I'm not [in it]. It was not really surprising. The same thing happened in Sweden last year with the Swedish professional jury."

NRK admits that they made a mistake by letting Sundnes sit in both the professional jury and the judging panel of Adresse Kiev. However, when they were informed by the EBU that this was against the rules, they rectified the situation quickly. Project manager for Melodi Grand Prix, Stig Karlsen, stated: "We have received some concerns from several teams that Per has been in the jury, while at the same time he has been meaningful in the program. Therefore, we took a new assessment.".

Estonian technical issues

On 11 May 2017, during the transmission of the second semi-final, the microphone of the Estonian representative seemed to have malfunctioned as singer Laura Põldvere could not be heard for approximately two seconds by viewers at home. It was later revealed that the Estonian delegation considered appealing to the EBU to allow Laura & Koit Toome to perform their entry "Verona" again as a result of the error, but later decided against it. Mart Normet, the Head of Delegation for Estonia, explained "If there has been such a powerful performance for three minutes and given an absolute maximum, then this energy again does not come back when you go on stage again". The EBU responded to the situation, reportedly describing the error as purely technical, as the microphone was supposed to automatically come on. Instead, a sound technician was forced to respond by manually switching on the microphone via the sound desk. The country ultimately failed to reach the grand final, with Põldvere expressing her annoyance, however stating "I do not think it’s so tremendously influenced when a few words remain unheard".

Salvador Sobral's political message

See also: European migrant crisis

After Portugal's representative, Salvador Sobral, wore a jumper with the title "S.O.S Refugees" printed on it at the First Semi-Final Winners press conference, the EBU ordered a ban so that he could not wear it for the remainder of the contest. At the conference, Sobral explained the message behind the jumper was to encourage Italy, Greece, and Turkey to open their borders for refugees. The EBU explained that Sobral's jumper was used as a means of "political message," which violates the rules of the contest.

Other awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, the OGAE voting poll and the Barbara Dex Awards are awards that will be contested by the entries competing at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, in addition to the main winner's trophy.

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Further information: Marcel Bezençon Awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia, honouring the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman (Sweden's representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 and the current Head of Delegation for Sweden) and Richard Herrey (a member of the Herreys and the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 winner from Sweden), the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. The awards are divided into three categories: Press Award, Artistic Award, and Composer Award.

OGAE

Further information: OGAE

Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision (more commonly known as OGAE) is an international organisation that was founded in 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jari-Pekka Koikkalainen. The organisation consists of a network of over 40 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, and is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profit company. In what has become an annual tradition for the OGAE fan clubs, a voting poll will run prior to the main Eurovision Song Contest allowing members from over 40 clubs to vote for their favourite songs of the contest. The OGAE Poll 2017 ran from 1 to 30 April 2017, and published daily by the official OGAE International website. Italy won the poll receiving a total of four-hundred and ninety-seven points, from forty-four OGAE member clubs.

Country	Performer(s)	Song	OGAE result
Italy	Francesco Gabbani	"Occidentali's Karma"	497
Belgium	Blanche	"City Lights"	335
Sweden	Robin Bengtsson	"I Can't Go On"	308
France	Alma	"Requiem"	277
Estonia	Koit Toome & Laura	"Verona"	242

*Table reflects the 2017 voting results from all forty-four OGAE member clubs.

Barbara Dex Award

Further information: Barbara Dex Award

The Barbara Dex Award is a fan award originally awarded by House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016, and since 2017 by songfestival.be. This is a humorous award given to the worst dressed artist each year in the contest, and was named after the Belgian artist, Barbara Dex, who came last in the 1993, in which she wore her own self designed dress. This was the first year that songfestival.be awarded the Barbara Dex Award.

Official album

Untitled

Eurovision Song Contest: Kyiv 2017 is the official compilation album of the contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and was released by Universal Music Group digitally on 21 April and physically on 28 April 2017. The album features all 42 participating entries, including the semi-finalists that fail to qualify for the final, and the Russian entry which withdrew from the contest on 13 April 2017.

CD 1

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"World" (Albania)	Lindita	2:56
2.	"Fly with Me" (Armenia)	Artsvik	2:59
3.	"Don't Come Easy" (Australia)	Isaiah	3:04
4.	"Running on Air" (Austria)	Nathan Trent	2:47
5.	"Skeletons" (Azerbaijan)	Dihaj	2:59
6.	"City Lights" (Belgium)	Blanche	2:54
7.	"Beautiful Mess" (Bulgaria)	Kristian Kostov	3:00
8.	"Story of My Life" (Belarus)	Naviband	3:00
9.	"Apollo" (Switzerland)	Timebelle	2:59
10.	"Gravity" (Cyprus)	Hovig	2:59
11.	"My Turn" (Czech Republic)	Martina Bárta	2:58
12.	"Perfect Life" (Germany)	Levina	3:00
13.	"Where I Am" (Denmark)	Anja Nissen	2:59
14.	"Do It for Your Lover" (Spain)	Manel Navarro	3:00
15.	"Verona" (Estonia)	Koit Toome and Laura	3:02
16.	"Blackbird" (Finland)	Norma John	3:06
17.	"Requiem" (France)	Alma	3:00
18.	"Never Give Up on You" (United Kingdom)	Lucie Jones	3:00
19.	"Keep the Faith" (Georgia)	Tamara Gachechiladze	2:58
20.	"This Is Love" (Greece)	Demy	3:01
21.	"My Friend" (Croatia)	Jacques Houdek	3:00
22.	"Origo" (Hungary)	Joci Pápai	3:03
Total length:			65:44

CD 2

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Dying to Try" (Ireland)	Brendan Murray	3:00
2.	"Paper" (Iceland)	Svala	2:59
3.	"I Feel Alive" (Israel)	Imri	3:00
4.	"Occidentali's Karma" (Italy)	Francesco Gabbani	3:03
5.	"Rain of Revolution" (Lithuania)	Fusedmarc	3:05
6.	"Line" (Latvia)	Triana Park	3:08
7.	"Hey Mamma" (Moldova)	SunStroke Project	2:59
8.	"Dance Alone" (Macedonia)	Jana Burčeska	3:06
9.	"Breathlessly" (Malta)	Claudia Faniello	3:00
10.	"Space" (Montenegro)	Slavko Kalezić	2:59
11.	"Lights and Shadows" (Netherlands)	OG3NE	3:00
12.	"Grab the Moment" (Norway)	JOWST	2:55
13.	"Flashlight" (Poland)	Kasia Moś	3:00
14.	"Amar pelos dois" (Portugal)	Salvador Sobral	3:00
15.	"Yodel It!" (Romania)	Ilinca and Alex Florea	2:56
16.	"Flame Is Burning" (Russia)	Julia Samoylova	3:02
17.	"Spirit of the Night" (San Marino)	Valentina Monetta and Jimmie Wilson	3:05
18.	"In Too Deep" (Serbia)	Tijana Bogićević	3:07
19.	"On My Way" (Slovenia)	Omar Naber	3:00
20.	"I Can't Go On" (Sweden)	Robin Bengtsson	3:03
21.	"Time" (Ukraine)	O.Torvald	3:04
Total length:			63:31

Charts

Chart (2017)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)	37
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)	3
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)	37
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	3
UK Compilation Albums (OCC)	14

See also

• ABU International Dance Festival 2017
• Bala Turkvision Song Contest 2017
• Eurovision Choir of the Year 2017
• Eurovision Young Dancers 2017
• Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017
• Turkvision Song Contest 2017

Notes

1. ^ Switzerland, who had been allocated to pot one, were pre-allocated to compete in the second semi-final at the request of Swiss broadcaster SRF.
2. ^ Russia withdrew approximately three months after the semi-final allocation draw.
3. ^ The title is in Latin, but the song is in Hungarian.
4. ^ Whilst the song has an English title, the lyrics are entirely in Belarusian.
5. ^ "Grab the Moment" features unaccredited vocals from Norwegian singer Aleksander Walmann.
6. ^ Contains some words in Ancient Greek, English and Sanskrit.

External links

• Official website