Wonderful Song Contest 48

Wonderful Song Contest 48 will be the forty-eight edition of the Wonderful Song Contest. The contest took place in Kyiv after the Ukrainian victory in the 47th edition. A total of 38 countries competed in Wonderful Song Contest 47. The 47th edition was win by and their song "Nestrymna" by KLER, which got a total of 154  points. Prequalified countries for this edition are:, , , , , , , ,  , , and. They are directly qualified to the final, while the other competing countries are split into semi-final. ,is returning for this edition, while have debuted and, , ,  and  are withdrawing from the contest. The Semi Final allocation draw took place on 27 October 2020 at the WBU headquarters in Prague.

Information


On 27 Ocotber 2020 it was announced that Kyiv will serve as the host city of the Wonderful Song Contest 48.

Host City
Plovdiv (Bulgarian: Пловдив, pronounced [ˈpɫɔvdif]) is the second-largest city of Bulgaria, located in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 as of 2018 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the culture capital of Bulgaria. It is an important economic, transport, cultural, and educational center. There is evidence of habitation in Plovdiv dating back to the 6th millennium BCE, when the first Neolithic settlements were established.

During most of its recorded history, Plovdiv was known in the West by the name Philippopolis (Greek: Φιλιππούπολη; Turkish: Filibe; "Philip's Town") after Philip II of Macedon conquered the city in the 4th century BCE. The city was originally a Thracian settlement and subsequently was invaded by Persians, Greeks, Celts, Romans, Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Slavs, Rus people, Crusaders, and Turks. On 4 January 1878, at the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Plovdiv was taken away from Ottoman rule by the Russian army. It remained within the borders of Bulgaria until July of the same year, when it became the capital of the autonomous Ottoman region of Eastern Rumelia. In 1885, Plovdiv and Eastern Rumelia joined Bulgaria.

Plovdiv is situated in a fertile region of south-central Bulgaria on the two banks of the Maritsa River. The city has historically developed on seven syenite hills, some of which are 250 metres (820 feet) high. Because of these hills, Plovdiv is often referred to in Bulgaria as "The City of the Seven Hills".

Plovdiv is host to a huge variety of cultural events such as the International Fair Plovdiv, the international theatrical festival "A stage on a crossroad", the TV festival "The golden chest", and many more novel festivals, such as Night/Plovdiv in September, Kapana Fest, and Opera Open. There are many preserved ruins such as the ancient Plovdiv Roman theatre, a Roman odeon, a Roman aqueduct, the Plovdiv Roman Stadium, the archaeological complex Eirene, and others.

The oldest American educational institution outside the United States, the American College of Sofia, was founded in Plovdiv in 1860 and later moved to Sofia.

On 5 September 2014, Plovdiv was selected as the Bulgarian host of the European Capital of Culture 2019 alongside the Italian city of Matera. This happened with the help of the Municipal Foundation "Plovdiv 2019″, a non-government organization, which was established in 2011 by Plovdiv's City Council whose main objectives were to develop and to prepare Plovdiv's bid book for European Capital of Culture in 2019.

Bidding phase
Only one main venue was announced as possible venue for the competition to be held. It has a capacity of 20,000 and several big concerts and sport events take place here.
 * The host city had to be near a major airport.
 * The venue must be available for at least six weeks before the contest and one week after the conclusion of the contest
 * The venue must not be open-air, but an air-conditioned building with a capacity of at least 10,000 and a minimum ceiling height of 15 metres (49 ft), insulated for sound and light.
 * The green room must be located as close to the arena as possible (or within it), with a capacity of 300.

Presenter
On 27 October 2020 it was announced that KAZKA will be host Wonderful Song Contest 48.

Mihaela Marinova (Bulgarian: Михаела Маринова; born 7 May 1998) is a Bulgarian singer and songwriter mostly known from her participation in the 2014 season of the Bulgarian X Factor, where she finished in third place. Later in 2015 her debut single became the most played song on Bulgarian radio and television.

Mihaela participated in the 2nd season of the show and make it to the judge's houses where her menthor Zaki decided to choose between her or Ana-Maria Yanakieva since they both were 15 years old and the show have limit of 16 years. Zaki decided to give chance to Ana-Maria, but gave Mihaela a special "golden ticket" which allowed her to start from judges houses in the next season of the show. Later Ana Maria finished as runner-up in the show.