New Eurovision Song Contest 2020

The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the 2019 contest with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO), Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) and AVROTROS, the contest was held at Rotterdam Ahoy, and consisted of two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May, and a final on 16 May 2020. The three live shows were presented by Dutch television presenters and singers Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit and Dutch YouTube personality and makeup-artist Nikkie de Jager.

Forty-one countries participated in the contest. and returned after their absences from the 2019 contest, while  and  did not return after their participation in the 2019 edition.

Location
The 2020 contest was held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, following the country's victory at the 2019 edition with the song "Arcade", performed by Duncan Laurence. It was the fifth time that the Netherlands had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1958, 1970, 1976 and 1980. The selected venue was the 16,400-seat Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam Ahoy, a convention centre and multi-purpose indoor arena located on Ahoyweg, which serves as a venue for many events, including concerts, exhibitions, trade fairs, and conferences. Rotterdam Ahoy had previously hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007. The "Turquoise Carpet" event, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place at the Rotterdam Cruise Terminal on 10 May 2020.

Selection of the host city
By Eurovision tradition, the Netherlands received the right to host the Eurovision Song Contest after the country won the competition in 2019. The Dutch host broadcasters NPO, NOS and AVROTROS launched the bidding process in the same month, on 29 May, in which five cities – Arnhem, 's-Hertogenbosch, Maastricht, Rotterdam, and Utrecht – submitted their bid books during a ceremonial event held in Hilversum on 10 July 2019. On 16 July, Maastricht and Rotterdam were shortlisted, and after the NPO visited both cities, on 30 August 2019, Rotterdam was announced as the host city of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.

Key: Host venue Shortlisted venues

Production
The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was a co-production between three related Dutch television organisations – Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO), Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) and AVROTROS – of which each assumed a different role. Sietse Bakker and Astrid Dutrénit served as executive producers, while Emilie Sickinghe and Jessica Stam served as deputy executive producers. Marnix Kaart, Marc Pos and Daniel Jelinek served as directors of the three live shows, and Gerben Bakker served as head of show. Background music for the shows was composed by Eric van Tijn. Cornald Maas was the creative advisor. Jon Ola Sand, executive supervisor of the contest, kept his role as he had done since 2011, though he planned to step down following the 2020 contest.

The total budget for the shows was €22 million, of which €3.7 million was left unspent after the contest, according to the municipal executive. The additional money was allocated to contingency scenarios that were eventually discarded.

Visual design
The contest's slogan, "Open Up", was unveiled on 24 October 2019. The official logo and branding was unveiled on 28 November 2019. Designed by Clever°Franke, it is "an abstract representation of the flag colours of the 41 countries participating in 2020 by first appearance to the contest".

Presenters
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Stage design
The stage design for the 2020 contest was revealed on 2 December 2019. The design was inspired by the slogan "Open Up" and the typical Dutch flat landscape. The Eurovision stage was designed by German stage designer Florian Wieder, who also designed the stages for the contests in 2011–12, 2015, and 2017–19. Unlike the previous contest, the green room was placed inside the main performance venue.

Voting
The Spanish Head of Delegation revealed on 22 October 2019 that the EBU was consulting with delegations on potential changes to the voting system. The Greek Head of Delegation revealed on 30 October 2019 that the majority of delegations (80%) voted in favour of maintaining the current voting system.

Semi-final allocation draw
The draw to determine the participating countries' semi-finals took place on 28 January 2020 at 16:10 CET, at the Rotterdam City Hall. The thirty-five semi-finalists were divided over five pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. The purpose of drawing from different pots was to reduce the chance of "bloc voting" and to increase suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined which semi-final each of the six automatic qualifiers – host country the and "Big Five" countries, , ,  and the  – will broadcast and vote in. The ceremony was hosted by contest presenters Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit and Edsilia Rombley, and included the passing of the host city insignia from Zippi Brand Frank, deputy mayor of Tel Aviv (host city of the previous contest) to Ahmed Aboutaleb, mayor of Rotterdam.

Postcards
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Opening and interval acts
The second semi-final opened with a performance by breakdancer Redo. The final opened with the traditional flag parade, introducing all twenty-six finalists, accompanied by music produced by 15-year-old DJ Pieter Gabriel. A symphony orchestra of sixty-five young musicians from across the Netherlands, specifically formed for this occasion, had performed in the final, together with DJ Afrojack and singer Glennis Grace, the latter of whom represented the Netherlands in the 2005 contest. This interval act had also featured forty dancers and a twenty-five-piece gospel choir.

Furthermore, the final included performances from eight former Eurovision winners: Gigliola Cinquetti performed "Non ho l'età", Lenny Kuhr performed "De troubadour", Getty Kaspers (of Teach-In) performed "Ding-a-dong", Sandra Kim performed "J'aime la vie", Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan performed "Rock 'n' Roll Kids", Alexander Rybak performed "Fairytale", and Duncan Laurence performed "Arcade" once again.

Participating countries
The EBU announced on 13 November 2019 that forty-one countries will participate in the contest, with Bulgaria and Ukraine returning after their absence from the 2019 contest, with Hungary and Montenegro withdrawing mostly due to financial reasons.

Returning artists
Three artists which had previously competed as lead vocalists for the same countries had been selected to compete again. Natalia Gordienko had previously represented Moldova in 2006 with Arsenium and Connect-R; Senhit had represented San Marino in 2011; and Sanja Vučić, a member of Hurricane, had previously represented Serbia in 2016 in a solo performance.

A number of other acts had previously performed as backing vocalists in other years, but had been selected as the lead artist for the 2020 contest. Ksenija Knežević, a member of Serbia's group Hurricane, had previously served as backing vocalist in 2015 for Montenegro's entrant Knez; Destiny provided backing vocals for Malta's Michela in 2019; Vincent Bueno backed Austria's Nathan Trent in 2017; and Vasil and the Mamas were present at the 2019 contest, providing backing vocals for North Macedonia's Tamara Todevska and Sweden's John Lundvik respectively. In addition, two of the lead vocalists had previously competed in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest; Destiny won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 for Malta and Greece's Stefania had competed in the 2016 Junior contest for the Netherlands as member of the group Kisses.

Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 12 May 2020 at 21:00 (CEST). Seventeen countries participated in the first semi-final. Those countries plus, and the  had voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

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Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 14 May 2020 at 21:00 (CEST). Eighteen countries participated in the second semi-final. Those countries plus, and the  had voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final.

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Final
The final took place on 16 May 2020 at 21:00 (CEST). Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all forty-one participating countries eligible to vote.

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Semi-final 1
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Semi-final 2
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Final
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