🇬🇧 Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Season Commences

It’s September 1st which means that any song released from today is eligible to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in the United Kingdom.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 season commences today, with songs commercially released from today eligible to compete next May in the United Kingdom. The long process of whittling thousands of songs down to one Eurovision winner commences.

The rules of the Eurovision Song Contest state that for a song to be eligible to compete:

The songs (lyrics and music compositions) submitted to represent the country of each Participating Broadcaster’s country in the ESC must be original and must not have been released and/or publicly performed in part or in full before the Release Date (see the Event Schedule).

In case the song submitted has been made available to the public, for example, but not limited to, on online video platforms, social networks or (semi-) publicly accessible databanks and/or performed publicly, for example but not limited to during concerts, prior to the Release Date the Participating Broadcaster must inform the ESC Executive Supervisor, who shall have authority to evaluate whether the song remains eligible for participation in the Contest. 

In particular, the ESC Executive Supervisor shall assess whether such disclosure prior to the Release Date is likely to give to the song an advantage in the Contest vis-à-vis the other participating songs. 

The ESC Executive Supervisor shall have authority to authorise or deny participation of a song which may have been available to the public as described above. The ESC Executive Supervisor shall consult the Reference Group in case of doubt.

Songs that have been performed prior to September 1st have made it to the Eurovision Song Contest before. “1944”, the winner of Eurovision 2016 had been performed 4 months before the 1st September deadline. While “Reqiuem” which represented France in 2017 was performed 18 months before that year’s cut-off date.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2023

The host city of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 is yet to be announced, but countries across Europe have confirmed participation and selections have commenced across the continent.

To date the following selections have been announced:

• Albania – Festivali i Këngës
• Finland – UMK
• France – Eurovision France: c’est vous qui décidez
• Georgia – The Voice
• Iceland – Söngvakeppnin
• Italy – Festival de Sanremo
• Norway – Melodi Grand Prix
• San Marino – Una voce per San Marino
• Spain – Benidorm Fest
• Sweden – Melodifestivalen
• Ukraine – Vidbir

The following countries have announced plans for selections:

• Belgium – Selection announced, details to be revealed

The following countries have announced plans for internal selections:

• Cyprus
• Greece
• Israel – Noa Kirel selected
• Netherlands
• Switzerland

The remaining countries have stated they will be participating:

• Austria
• Denmark
• Estonia
• France
• Germany
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Poland
• Romania
• United Kingdom

However, the following nations have ruled out a return to the competition:

• Andorra – No reason stated
• Belarus – Currently expelled from the EBU and not due to be eligible to return to the EBU until 2024
• Liechtenstein – Broadcaster no longer aiming to join the EBU
• Luxembourg – No reason stated
• Monaco – Lacks a suitable broadcaster
• Russia – Currently expelled from the EBU
• Slovakia – No reason stated

Image Source: EBU / Corinne Cumming