Leeds City Council will meet this upcoming Monday to approve the submission of the city’s supporting information for their Eurovision 2023 hosting bid.
Leeds City Council has revealed that the city’s executive board will meet on Monday 5th September to discuss the next phase in Leeds’ Eurovision 2023 hosting bid. The next stage of the process is to “provide detailed information setting out why they should be chosen as hosts”, according to the Council.
The leader of Leeds City Council, Councillor James Lewis, said:
“It was a hugely-exciting moment for Leeds when we were confirmed as one of the seven cities in the running to host 2023’s Eurovision Song Contest.
“Since that announcement, we have been working flat out to fine-tune the details of our bid so it makes the best possible case for our city to be given the honour of holding the competition on behalf of our friends in Ukraine.
“We already know that Leeds, with its long tradition of inclusivity, creativity and cultural excellence, would be a perfect location for Eurovision and everything that comes with it. Now we have to show the competition’s organisers exactly why that is. With the support of the local Ukrainian community and other key partners, we are determined to rise to the challenge.
“More than anything, we wish Ukraine was in a position to stage the competition. The tragedy that has unfolded there in recent months has been awful to see and, if successful, we will put our heart and soul into delivering a Eurovision that does the Ukrainian nation proud.”
Leeds is among seven cities that have been shortlisted to host the 2023 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in conjunction with last year’s winners Ukraine.
How will the host city for Eurovision 2023 be selected?
The cities in the running to host Eurovision 2023 next May are:
The decision regarding where the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will be held is expected to be made this autumn when the bidding process is completed. According to the BBC, the UK government may be consulted beforehand, but it will be the BBC and the EBU who will determine the host city.
The 2023 contest will be the first contest since 1979 in which the winning nation was unable to host the following contest. It is the sixth occasion overall on which a different country has hosted after the original host nation was unable to, following the Netherlands in 1960, France in 1963, Monaco in 1972, Luxembourg in 1974, Israel in 1980 and Ukraine in 2023. The 2023 contest will also extend the United Kingdom’s record of hosting Eurovision to nine times.
Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song “Stefania”. It was Ukraine’s third victory in the contest’s history.
Source: Leeds City Council | Image source: ASM Global
