New Eurovision Song Contest 2023

The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the 67th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lviv,, following Kalush Orchestra's win at the 2022 contest in Turin, Italy with the song "Stefania". It was the third time that the contest took place in. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC), the contest was held at the [arena], and consisted of two semi-finals on X and X May, and the final on X May 2023. The three live shows were hosted by TBA.

Forty countries participated in the contest. These were the same countries participating at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, last year.

Bidding Phase
The Deputy Chief of host broadcaster Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC) and Head of Delegation for Ukraine, Viktoria Romanova, stated on 18 May 2022 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:

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

Six cities submitted applications by the deadline of 8 July: Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, 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 Kyiv or Lviv should be considered.
 * 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.

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 Kyiv 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:

Members of the LOC, media representatives, Ukrainian musical experts and fans also participated in the discussion.
 * Dnipro: Borys Filatov (City Mayor)
 * Kharkiv: Ihor Terekhov (Deputy City Mayor)
 * Kherson: Volodymyr Mykolaienko (City Mayor)
 * Kyiv: Oleksii Reznikov (Deputy Head of City State Administration)
 * Lviv: Andrii Moskalenko (Deputy City Mayor)
 * Odessa: Pavlo Vugelman (Deputy City Mayor)

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 24 January 2023, hosted by Timur Miroshnychenko and Nika Konstantinova. The thirty-four 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.

Participating countries
The EBU announced on 20 October 2022 that 40 countries would participate in the 2023 contest. The list included all countries that participated in the 2022 contest whilst is still not allowed to rejoin due to the EBU's decision last year after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Semi-final 1
The first semi-final will take place on X May 2023 at 21:00 (CEST). Seventeen countries will participate in the first semi-final. Those countries plus, and  will vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

{{Legend|navajowhite|Qualifiers}}

Semi-final 2
The second semi-final will take place on X May 2023 at 21:00 (CEST). Seventeen countries will participate in the second semi-final. Those countries plus, and the  will vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

{{Legend|navajowhite|Qualifiers}}