Eurovision 2023: What We Know So Far (as of October 2022)

Another edition of this blog, which will cover both ESC2023 and JESC2022. As usual, I'll first go through the general facts, and then go into each country that has confirmed participation, or at least the ones where we have a considerable degree of knowledge regarding their next participation. Most of the irrelevant details have been truncated, and you can read about them on my September blog.

Eurovision 2023

Host Country: United Kingdom

The EBU has confirmed that Ukraine, the winner of Eurovision 2022, cannot fulfil required safety standards for hosting the contest, thus the runner-up, being the United Kingdom, will be hosting the contest instead, with the BBC taking over most of the hosting operations and UA:PBC, the Ukrainian broadcaster, will work with the BBC to implement Ukrainian elements in the live show.

On the 13th, the BBC and UA:PBC signed a Memorandum of Cooperation. It stipulates that they will cooperate on: 1. design and music, 2. use of Ukrainian locations in postcards and show programming, 3. use of Ukrainian cultural elements, and 4. selection of hosts. That second point would strongly imply that green screen technology will once again be used for 2023 postcards, but there is yet to be confirmation of this.

Host City: Liverpool (Liverpool Arena / M&S Bank Arena)

From the start, most people pinned it down to a two-horse race between Glasgow and Manchester. This much was also reflected in the odds, occasionally interrupted by Birmingham who hosted a successful Commonwealth Games. But eagle-eyed viewers noticed that Liverpool was getting abnormal amounts of coverage from the BBC whenever it came to Eurovision. Hell, I was watching the BBC Breakfast show for the initial 7-city shortlist, and half the coverage was just Sonia (UK 1993, comes from Liverpool). And I'll get to why I think Liverpool got the bid in the end, but first the honourable mentions:

1. Birmingham (shortlisted) - spent somewhere around 1700 pounds on their initial bid, turns out the roof of the Resorts World Arena was not fit to EBU standards. Whoops.

2. Bristol - spent, get this, 70 pounds on their bid. The idea was to convert a hangar into an arena, à la Copenhagen 2014.

3. Cardiff - huge stadium with like 70000 capacity (and is technically indoor), but turns out there were Wheelchair Rugby Championships among other things around May 2023.

4. Glasgow (final two) - solid bid, many Eurofans wanted it because its exterior appeared in the Eurovision movie. I covered a few of their advantages in my Scotland video. But they just kinda went quiet from what I saw, after the announcement of the final two. Earlier today (7/10) there was a scare when someone dug up a fake image of Glasgow 2023 (which was edited using SSE Hydro rather than OVO Hydro), but then people figured out that it was fake.

5. Leeds (shortlisted) - how did they get on the shortlist?

6. London - I think a lot of Brits instinctively knew it wasn't going to be the capital, since BBC have in recent years put a lot of stress on moving things up north. Case in point: BBC Eurovision being in Salford, Greater Manchester. Plus London's already had 4 contests, c'mon, give others a chance.

7. Manchester (shortlisted) - was my personal favourite out of the initial 7. Unfortunately it seems they don't have space for a press centre, and the arena is set to undergo renovation quite soon. They're constructing a new arena which is set to be the largest indoor arena IN EUROPE, so perhaps when/if the UK wins Eurovision in the near future we could go there?

8. Newcastle (shortlisted) - refer to Leeds.

9. Sheffield (shortlisted) - refer to Leeds.

So finally let's get to our prestigious host city, Liverpool. Many were surprised by this, but I think that they always had a solid chance. The M&S Bank Arena (which for Eurovision purposes is simply known as the Liverpool Arena) is part of the ACC Liverpool event campus, which provides ready-made spaces for accommodating a press centre. I think someone also mentioned that M&S would provide catering for the staff and volunteers and such. It stands just on the bank of the Mersey, which provides picturesque views. It maybe doesn't have the largest capacity (only around 11000), but it still fulfills the EBU required minimum capacity. And I'm sure I don't need to parrot all the stuff about the Beatles.

As for what made them WIN the bid over Glasgow? Well, I think part of it is just proactiveness. Some time before the announcement, they published part of their plans for their bid, which included, among other things, Ukrainian-style painted eggs and, uh, Sonia cutouts around the city. Furthermore, they're twinned with Odessa - obviously a major Ukrainian city - and in their promotional video even got I believe was the mayor of Odessa to say that they supported Liverpool's bid. Meanwhile, like I wrote earlier, it was kinda just crickets from Glasgow, which made the continued Eurofan hype around them all the more confusing to me.

But of course, the ultimate thing the BBC cannot go without: money. We don't yet know how much exactly Glasgow spent on their bid, but it might be a wise guess to say less than that of Liverpool.

Quick diversion to talk about the logo (as shown above): it's the Ukrainian Eurovision heart to reflect that they won Eurovision the year before, but with "United Kingdom" written below it to reflect that they are doing the hosting. I think that's really clever and gets around the graphical headache of trying to merge the two flags either in terms of colour or directly cutting half from each. Don't know whether Liverpool came up with this or the BBC, but it's clever, that's for sure.

Eurovillage Location: Pier Head

The above was revealed to The Guide Liverpool by the Executive Director of the M&S Bank Arena, Faye Dyer. The location is very close to the arena, and is also located on the riverfront. The location for the Euroclub is as yet unknown.

Hosts: unknown

Many have floated Graham Norton, the resident BBC Eurovision commentator, but he said on BBC Breakfast that he does not yet know the role he will fill in the upcoming contest, but he also does not want to give up commentating.

Others have named Timur Mirošnyčenko, the resident Ukrainian commentator, and co-host of JESC2009, JESC2013, ESC2017, and most recently the Ukrainian selection for Junior Eurovision 2022. In fact, on the 13th, he presented an award for the National Television Awards for the British ITV, and gave a passionate speech in front of the audience. So speculations are rife.

Of course the BBC semi-final commentators, Rylan and Scott Mills are also possible. But nothing concrete at this stage.

Show Dates: 9 May (SF1), 11 May (SF2), 13 May (Grand Final)

I was thinking they would continue the trend of even-number dates that they had started in 2018, but I was wrong. First odd-number dates Eurovision since 2017 then, which incidentally was hosted on the exact same days as 2023.

Rule Changes: none specifically

Controversially, backing vocals are still permitted to be put on the backing track rather than having live singers provide said vocals, although the latter is still permitted as always. Lead vocals must still be sung live, as in the previous two contests. That said, the EBU has this time specified that it is forbidden to lip sync to vocals.

Tickets: not available yet

Unlikely to be available by the end of 2022, but may be earlier than April 2023 as last year's ticket rollout was hampered due to Covid considerations. Not only is the M&S Bank Arena on the smaller side in terms of recent Eurovision arenas, but there are also rumours of prioritizing tickets and seats for Ukrainians. All these combined may make the procurement of tickets particularly difficult this year.

Administrative Directors: Rachel Ashdown (Lead Commissioner), Martin Green CBE (Managing Director), Andrew Cartmell (Executive Producer, head of BBC Studios), Lee Smithurst (Head of Show), Twan van de Nieuwehuizen (Head of Contest), James O'Brien (Executive in Charge of Production)

On the 28th of September, Ashdown was appointed as Lead Commissioner of the Eurovision Song Contest by the BBC. She was briefly the HOD for the UK and formerly a member of the Reference Group, and she will "work with a variety of Product Companies to work on developing new content and the BBC’s hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023".

The BBC sought a production company to deliver the coverage of the Insignia Handover and Allocation Draw. Submissions closed at 7pm UK time on 29/9.

On the 17th, Green was announced as the Managing Director of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. He was, among other things, the Chief Creative Officer of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and CCO of Unboxed 2022; CEO of Hull UK City of Culture in 2017; and Head of Ceremonies for the 2012 Olympics in London. He will lead the team responsible for overseeing all aspects of Eurovision 2023.

Andrew Cartmell was also appointed the Executive Producer of the show. This post is usually given to the host country's head of delegation, which is the case for Cartmell. He will head the BBC Studio team, and will take overall responsibility for the semi-finals and grand final. He has also worked on a number of other projects for BBC Studios, such as the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.

Lee Smithurst has been appointed Head of Show for Eurovision 2023. He will be responsible for editorial content and "take the creative lead" for the three live shows. Smithurst was assistant HOD in Turin, and will be the UK HOD for Junior Eurovision in Yerevan in December. He played a vital role in the "revival" of the UK at Eurovision, as much of the discussions between the BBC and TaP Music as well as Parlophone, Sam Ryder's label, was conducted by him and a few colleagues, as revealed in an exclusive interview with the Euro Trip podcast.

Twan van de Nieuwehuizen returns as the Head of Contest for 2023, after fulfilling that role in 2021 and 2022. He will have specific responsibility working with the national delegations to deliver their creative on-stage ambitions. Given this role, it should come as little surprise that he was the one who said to "keep an eye on the UK" earlier this year in Turin with regards to staging, and also revealed that Maneskin's staging document was *88 pages long*. He was also chiefly responsible for putting together the running order for both the grand final and the semi-finals, and will most likely reprise that role this year.

James O'Brien, not to be confused with the LBC political commentator, has worked on large events such as the 2012 London Olympics and the 2022 Commonwealth Games. His team will be responsible for the technical delivery for the live shows as well as the broadcast, and all other technical elements within the venue.

Pre-parties:

• Barcelona Eurovision Party (23rd - 25th March, Sant Jordi Club, Barcelona, Spain)

Featuring names such as Barei, Dami Im, Destiny, Efendi, Poli Genova, Ronela Hajati, Suzy and WRS.

• PrePartyES (7th - 8th April, Sala La Riviera, Madrid, Spain)

50 acts have been promised and around 16 hours of concerts.

• Eurovision in Concert (15th April, AFAS Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands)

No exact lineup yet, but as per tradition a mix of old Eurovision acts and upcoming 2023 acts are expected.

Non-participating Countries: Andorra, Belarus, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, Slovakia

You can read their reasoning on the Wikipedia page. It largely revolves around disinterest and/or financial inability. Notably, Montenegro becomes the first country so far to withdraw from the contest after having participated in 2022. Shortly afterwards, North Macedonia also announces their withdrawal publicly in this tweet:

BNT also confirms to OGAE Greece that they will not participate in the upcoming contest either, as the program "does not present an interest for the broadcaster any longer".

BNT have now also confirmed to several *Bulgarian* media outlets such as 24Chasa and OFFNews that they are officially not participating in Eurovision 2023. This is due to financial issues, according to 24Chasa.

I should also point out that during a press conference on the 5th, Khabar Agency (Kazakh EBU broadcaster) officials said that there is "every chance" that they can participate in Eurovision next year. Furthermore, the distinct dialing prefix for Kazakhstan, +997, will come into effect apparently starting in late 2022 according to the Kazakh Minister of Digital Development. The fact that Kazakhstan has the same dialing prefix as Russia (+7) is currently regarded as one of the bigger hurdles preventing Kazakhstan from entering the adult Eurovision Song Contest. Timezone is one concern - the show would start at 2am and end at 5am for locals - but the main concern is the dialing prefix, because using +7 people from Russia could partake in the Kazakh televote, but with +997 that's not possible. But we'll have to see what happens.

Also Enisa (New York, American Song Contest 2022) tweets that she was allegedly supposed to represent Montenegro in Eurovision 2023, but the broadcaster could not find a way to finance it. (Apparently her parents are of Albanian origin but from Montenegro.) Go figure. Update: a day later, she tweets that "maybe there's a chance". Whether that's for Montenegro, San Marino, or even Albania, is as yet unknown.

Turkish politicians are also calling for the return of Turkey to Eurovision. Upon the recent death of longtime Turkish Eurovision commentator, Bülend Özveren, some politicians have called for Turkey to return to Eurovision. However, this is unlikely to materialize as most of these politicians are of the opposition party, and TRT receives much of its funding from the Turkish government, which appears not to be interested in Eurovision.

Now, onto countries that have confirmed participation. These were announced in a special video on the 20th.

Participating Countries: 37 countries, which is the lowest number of participants since 2014 which also had 37, as did 2006. The previous lowest number before that was 2004, with 36 participating countries. For 2022, the 37 countries are as follows:

• Albania

Returning to Festivali I Këngës for their selection, specifically the 61st edition. No exact dates for FIK61 yet, but December 2022 is expected and indeed confirmed by RTSH. They have also confirmed that the presenter will be Arbana Osmani, while Flori Mumajesi will be the artistic director, and Eduart Grishaj (husband of Arbana Osmani) will be the stage director.

Crucially, there will be two winners: one being the jury-picked winner, where the top 3 will be announced one by one as usual; but there will now also be a public winner, which will be determined by SMS voting during the festival. The Albanian representative to Eurovision will be the public winner, rather than the jury winner. In other words, as far as Eurovision is concerned, FIK is now 100% televote. Last year (and many years before that), the winner was simply the jury-chosen winner, which opened up the festival to rigging accusations.

RTSH also announced that they had received over 148 songs for FIK61, which is apparently almost DOUBLE that for FIK60.

On the 27th, RTSH quietly revealed the 26-long participant list. Despite the initial rumours of the show being rigged for Noizy and Eugent Bushpepa, neither were to be found on the list, nor Dhurata Dora. No Elvana Gjata or Mirud as expected, but we do have the return of Rezarta Smaja, Evi Reçi, Gjergj Kaçinari, Urban Band, as well as Kastro Zizo (as part of 2 Farm) from FIK60. Apparently one big name is Elsa Lila, while Fifi is another hyped name that some speculate could win the televote.

• Armenia

No selection details nor rumoured names yet. Would usually use the national final of Depi Evrtesil, however I imagine they're pretty busy with Junior Eurovision preparations at the moment. Someone did notice however that Athena Manoukian had started following members of the Dream Team, a group of Greek songwriters and staging personnel. Whether she wants to participate in Eurovision for her heritage country, Armenia, or her actual country of birth, Greece, is unknown.

• Australia

Does not need to confirm participation, as the EBU's invitation for SBS to participate in Eurovision goes until 2023 inclusive.

Some are speculating now that Dami Im (Australia 2016) might be involved with Australian Eurovision participation this year. You can read the reasoning on the blog post from last month.

There are also rumours now that SBS are planning to opt for an internal selection this year, instead of using the usual national final named Eurovision: Australia Decides. These rumours also allege that Jaguar Jonze, Voyager and some others have been asked to submit songs to the broadcaster. But again, nothing official has been communicated thus far.

Though some people also noticed that, on The Rocky Horror Show, of which Myf Warhurst (SBS Eurovision co-commentator, Australia Decides co-host) is a main character, the website specifically notes that Warhurst will not appear on the show between the 8th and 12th of March due to, and I quote, "a prior commitment". Whether this commitment is Eurovision-related or not, we don't know yet.

• Austria

Not much on Austria yet other than participation confirmation. Expected to use another internal selection. The artist announcement date is not yet known, though it is expected to be in 2023 rather than December or November of 2022.

• Azerbaijan

Confirmed participation to ESC Today. Earlier there were concerns that they would withdraw, owing to instability on the Armenia situation and "poor results", but this was later refuted by an official from Ictimai, the Azerbaijani broadcaster. Likely to continue with internal selections.

• Belgium

It's VRT's turn this year. Returning to their national final Eurosong for the first time since 2016. The host is set to be Peter van De Veire, the VRT commentator on Eurovision as well as previous (co-)host of previous Eurosongs. The show is set to last five to seven weeks.

Many rumoured names, some of which Songfestival.be has been asking about:

1. Negative reaction (i.e. confirmed non-participation): Pommelien Thijs, Camille, Berre, Niels Destadsbader, Natalia, Laura Tesoro, Clouseau, Jonas Van Geel, Jelle Cleymans, Bazart, Oscar and The Wolf

2. Neutral reaction (e.g. wait and see/to be discussed): Pauline

3. Somewhat positive reaction (i.e. will participate but only under circumstances): The Starlings (incl. Tom Dice), Margriet Hermans

4. Positive reaction: 2 Fabiola (Pat Krimson, Loredana; Eurosong 2014)

Nothing from Luka Cruysberghs (ex-Hooverphonic) yet, though there is nonetheless speculation of her doing it since she has released an EP but is already working on new songs.

Songfestival.be also reported that there will not be an open submission period, due to the late decision to organize this pre-selection. Instead, the A&R (artists and repertoire) team of VRT has been contacting record labels and managers to find interested and available artists.

On the 14th, Songfestival.be reports on more details regarding the selection, some of which they obtained first hand, while others were reported by Het Laatste Nieuws. There will be 7 artists, which will each present *two* songs. The public will then vote for one of those songs from each artist to enter the final. The selection will start "in the spring" of 2023, and conclude in mid-February, in the Paleis 12 in Brussels.

• Croatia

Confirmed participation, and opened submissions for Dora 2023. These submissions will be open until the 28th of November. Between 14-28 songs will be selected, and the national final will take place in February in the city of Opatija. Sources claim that three shows are planned, and the songs will be released earlier than they were last year. Furthermore, allegedly HRT have also been attempting to contact more well-known artists to join the national final, however no big names have been directly invited just yet.

• Cyprus

Earlier in the summer, Eurovisionfun reported that in their attempt to contact Andrew Lambrou for an interview, his management replied to them that he was currently in negotiations to go to Eurovision. At the time it was not known with whom he was negotiating - perhaps he could just be considering to enter Australia Decides again - but it was announced on the 17th this month that he will indeed be representing Cyprus, much like Sandro in 2020, who was also not part of the Panik Records label, but struck a temporary deal for Eurovision.

Andrew Lambrou is an Australian singer with Cypriot ancestry. He lives and works in Sydney, and entered a song named "Electrify" into Australia Decides 2022. The song had a verse in Spanish, and ultimately he ended up 7th out of 11 entries. It is not known whether his song for Liverpool will be of a similar style to Electrify, nor the timescale of the song release.

• Czech Republic

There were scares earlier when Ahmad Halloun, the Czech Head of Press tweeted that "in the current circumstances you're asking for a VIP entry to heaven" in response to a Eurofan wanting to see ESCZ be confirmed but also televised, however as we now know, they will indeed be participating in the contest in Liverpool despite the poor results in the grand final in Turin as well as a decreased Eurovision viewing figure.

Mere seconds after the participant list was revealed, the official ESCZ Instagram account posted a group photo of the 2019-2022 Czech participants as well as delegation members (including Ahmad Halloun) and says that they are "working and thinking on (sic) how to select the next act to join [the previous Czech participants] in history and represent Czech Republic in Liverpool", and that soon they will share "all the details and rules".

No rumoured names yet, although we can already rule out Giudi because she is pregnant.

• Denmark

Confirmed participation. DR opened submissions for DMGP on the 8th of September, and submissions will remain open until the 28th of October. The final of DMGP will take place on the 11th of February in the Arena Næstved in the city of Næstved. No rumoured names just yet.

• Estonia

Confirmed participation. They will be returning to Eesti Laul for their selection. The two semi-finals will take place on the 12th and 14th of January respectively, while the final will take place on the 11th of February. The quarter-finals will NOT return, as confirmed by Eesti Laul producer Tomi Rahula on ERR Radio 2. As such, the number of songs participating in Eesti Laul 2023 is expected to be 20, as opposed to 40 this year.

Submissions opened on the 13th of September, and closed on the 20th this month. ERR reports that 217 songs were received, of which 92 are in Estonian. On the 1st and 2nd of November, the 20 artists participating in Eesti Laul 2023 will be revealed on Ringvaade, 10 per day. The selected songs are to be revealed on the 2nd of December on a special ETV broadcast.

• Finland

Returning to Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu for their national final. It is expected to take place in February. Song submissions opened on the 1st of September, and closed on the 5th. No rumoured names yet.

On the 25th, more news was revealed about UMK 2023. The show will be hosted on the 25th of February in Logomo in Turku, just like 2022, and there will be an after-party that goes on until 4am, just like 2022. There are seven finalists, just like 2022, and their songs will be revealed one-by-one on each weekday, just like 2022, from the 12th to the 20th of January. The full list of artists will be revealed on the 11th.

These 7 finalists were selected from 363 submissions. The UMK head of jury says thaat expectations are very high after the success of last year. (I assume this refers to the success of the national final, not The Rasmus at Eurovision.) The head of jury also had this to say about the 7 entries: "The seven finalists include familiar faces and new, up-and-coming talents. We have, among others, the best dance song in UMK history sung by an unbelievably strong new singer, a song that just oozes sexuality by a well-known artist, a heartbreakingly beautiful ballad by one of Finland’s biggest export hopefuls, well-known and up-and-coming bands, and one of the strongest rap bangers in UMK history." I don't know about you, but that sounds very promising to me.

• France

Confirmed participation. Eurovision France: C'est Vous Qui Decidez is expected to be the selection method, making it apparently the longest-running continuous French national final since the 1980s. No rumoured names yet, but I saw a tweet from Igit (co-composer of Voila (France 2021), as well as Les Chansons D'Amour from CVQD 2022) who wonders whether he should write a song for the French national selection. Let's see if that goes anywhere. He might be involved in CVQD for the third year in a row.

• Georgia

For the first time since 2020, Georgia is set to return to selecting their act via a talent show, though this time the show is The Voice Georgia, as opposed to Georgian Idol for 2019 and 2020. It is not yet known when The Voice Georgia will take place, but going by the first three seasons, it looks likely to start in October of 2022 and conclude in January of 2023. Submissions opened on the 23rd of August and closed on the 20th of September.

• Germany

Confirmed participation. Germany 12 Points is expected to be the selection method. No rumoured names yet.

On the 10th, ESC kompakt posted an article, where they reported on things relating to Germany at Eurovision 2023. According to them, Electric Callboy have no plans to submit a song for the 2023 selection. Furthermore, "several independent sources" have apparently stated that there will be 8-12 songs this time, up from 6 this year, in the selection which will take place in February, with a 50% vote share for the audience. It will also be broadcasted at prime time on ARD, although whether the selection will be named "Unzer Lied Für Liverpool" is still unknown. Peter Urban will also remain as the German commentator for NDR for 2023. They also report that official news from NDR can be expected in the first half of November.

• Greece

ERT returns to the internal selection for 2023. On the 26th of August, ERT opened submissions for selection, which closed on the 9th of October.

And if the routine follows what we saw last year, if all goes well, we should have a 5-person shortlist by either late November or early December, which we will know a lot about because much TV coverage was given to the shortlist in December of 2021, asking the participants various questions about Eurovision and music more generally. And finally, the selected artist is expected to be announced in mid-to-late December, just like with Amanda, while the song is expected to come later while the track is being fine-tuned and optimized.

On an Instagram livestream, Amanda Tenfjord (with whom Evangelia recently released a new collab) said that she will do whatever she can to get Evangelia to Eurovision.

After submissions closed, ERT announced that they had received 106 songs, which is more than double that of last year, which was 43. According to Eurovisionfun and OGAE Greece, some names that submitted songs include: Jimmy Sion, Melissa Mantzoukis, Antonia Kaouri, Antigoni, Klavdia, Vasilis Kourtis, Aretha Kosmidou, Mike Connaris ft. Cynthia Verazie, Panagiotis Tsakalakos, Angeliki Vrana, Victor Vernicos, Evangelia, and Leon of Athens. Notably, Kalomira, who was also planning to submit songs last year, has also decided to not submit songs this year.

• Iceland

Returning to Söngvakeppnin for their national final. The semi-finals will take place on the 18th and 25th of February, while the final will take place on the 4th of March. Submissions closed on the 4th of October, and it was later revealed that 132 songs had been received. By January, the 10 artists taking part in the national final will be revealed.

• Ireland

Participation has been confirmed by RTE. On the 31st of September, they opened submissions for the next Eurosong, to be held once again on the Late Late Show. The submissions will remain open until the 28th (which has now been extended to the 4th of November), and RTE are particularly looking for "accomplished songwriters with a proven track record of success in the music industry" and are implying that beginners should not sign up to this. The performers are also required to have "intrinsic and obvious appeal to the core youth audiences". When exactly the selection will happen is still unknown (the official statement says "early 2023"), although it is expected to happen in January or early February.

Interested names include Wild Youth, a band based in Dublin, as well as Cruachan, an Irish folk metal band who confirmed that they have written and submitted a song to RTE.

• Israel

Noa Kirel was selected by KAN in July, and she officially confirmed participation in August. Her song is set to be a pop song, and a songwriting camp reportedly hosted by Kirel's managers is set to take place to create Kirel's song for Eurovision 2023, featuring Israeli songwriters that had previously worked with her. Rumoured names include: Doron Medalie, Ron Beaton, Jordi, Nitzan Kaykov, Itay Shimoni, and Eitan Peled.

Whether multiple songs will be composed resulting in an Eden Alene-style national final is unknown, as is the release date of Kirel's song(s).

In a recent interview with local media, Noa Kirel says that her song will have "an Israeli colour", which will be expressed either in the lyrics or production, and will bring ethnic, Mediterranean(??), and Israeli directions. Furthermore, the budget for the Israeli participation in 2023 will be set at 900,000 EUR, two-thirds of which will be covered by Kirel's team and the rest by the public broadcaster KAN. Finally, she reveals that she and her team will have artistic freedom in the selection of the song. However, a potential release date range is still unknown.

• Italy

Sanremo will continue as Italy's selection method for Eurovision 2023. The event will take place between the 7th and 11th of February. Amadeus remains as the main host, although he is joined by Gianni Morandi this year, and also Chiara Ferragni for the first and last nights. Rumours are already brewing about names, and a full participant list is expected to be published in December.

What we do know however is that for the pre-selection for Sanremo, that is Sanremo Giovani, there is now ANOTHER pre-selection for that, named Area Sanremo. Or so I read on Twitter. Do correct me if I got anything wrong.

According to Adnkronos, Amadeus will announce the list of participants on either the 1st of 2nd of December.

• Latvia

Returning to Supernova for their selection, Submissions opened on the 22nd of September, and will close on the 1st of December. The selected artists and songs will be announced in January of 2023, and the final will take place in February as usual.

• Lithuania

LRT opened submissions for Pabandom Iš Naujo on the 11th, which will remain open until the 12th of December. At least 20 songs will be selected by the 20th. The selection will consist at most of 5 shows, those being 2 heats, 2 semi-finals and 1 final. The first heat will take place in early January, and although we do not yet know the time period of the final, we can assume that it will be in February.

• Malta

They will be returning to MESC, or Malta Eurovision Song Contest, for their selection method. Submissions opened on the 17th, and will close on the 31st. Rules largely remain the same, but quarter-finals have now been re-introduced into the national final, giving us a total of 40 songs and 6 shows (four QFs, one semi, one final) starting on the 13th of January, and ending on the 11th of February.

• Moldova

Confirmed participation. Selection method is unknown, although they may return to auditions and either a subsequent national final or a direct internal selection.

• Netherlands

Continuing to use an internal selection. Applications closed on the 31st of August, before which AVROTROS was seeking "an entry with preferably a contemporary, but in any case authentic sound. A song that is able to survive in a competition. By a Dutch artist who can and wants to present a personal song in a distinctive way, in any genre, and if possible a personal story." The submissions will now be looked at by the jury, which consists of Jan Smit (co-host of Eurovision 2021), Cornald Maas (fellow Dutch commentator of Eurovision alongside Jan), among others.

Maan and Lakshmi had been in the selection for 2022, and it may be possible that they will return to the selection. Another rumoured name is Blanks, who had previously won a talent show named Beste Zangers. He had expressed interest in submitting a song for Eurovision, as has a certain Dany, who won The Voice of Holland.

It is unknown when AVROTROS will announce the Dutch representative. It can range from between November and January, and last year we got S10 in December. Either way, generally said representative's song is only revealed in March. Update 4/9: in an interview, Cornald Maas says that he does not expect the number of submissions for 2023 to exceed that of 2022, and also that they hope to select the act within November. So there's a date range to look out for.

• Norway

Returning to Melodi Grand Prix for their national final.

Potential artists include Ben Adams and Gaute Ormåsen from Subwoolfer, Elsie Bay, Oda Gondrosen, Emmy, and Imerika, all of which attended the MGP songwriting camp in the summer. Regardless, the artist reveal is expected to take place in early January, while the national final is expected to conclude in mid February.

On the 5th, NRK revealed that the hosts for this year's edition of MGP will be Arianrhod "Arian" Engebø as well as Stian "Staysman" Thorbjørnsen. Arian is a regular presenter at NRK, having done an interview of TIX and Ulrikke last March, as well as most recently VG-Lista Rådhusplassen alongside Nathan Kahungu where artists such as Subwoolfer, Alan Walker, Cornelia Jakobs and Anna Of The North performed. She is known for speaking with a strong western Norwegian, possibly Bergen accent. Staysman is an artist and occasional presenter, who in the run-up to Eurovision 2022 starred as one of the "jurors" in Norway's annual Eurovision preview show, the "Adresse" series which was named "Adresse Torino" this year. He had also himself participated in MGP2015 with the song "En Godt Stekt Pizza".

On the 18th, an interview that Stig Karlsen, the Norwegian HOD, had with a Eurovision podcast was published. The key points are as follows:

• There will be the same number of songs as last year in the selection (i.e. 21), but the number of semi-finals will drop from 5 to 3. Whether this means a larger number of direct finalists or just larger semi-finals is unknown.

• Of these 21 songs, Karlsen thinks 4 of them can win Eurovision.

• Re-introducing an international jury is being looked at, however no final decision has been made yet.

Reminder that the artist reveal will take place in January.

• Poland

TVP revealed on the 19th that they will be returning to a national final for 2023, named "Krajowe Eliminacje", which was the Polish selection's name in 2010, 2011, and from 2016 to 2018. Submissions are now open, and will remain open until the 15th of January.

The selection itself will take place on the 26th of February, and will consist of 10 songs. The voting will be made up of 50% televote and 50% jury. Two rounds of voting will occur: the first one with all 10 songs, and then a second round where the top 3 most voted songs in the previous round go to a new separate vote. Ties will be broken by the jury.

Not a lot of rumoured names yet, however a Polish artist named Jann recently released a song named "Gladiator", and his response to people telling him to submit the song to the national final was positive.

• Portugal

RTP has confirmed Portugal's participation in the upcoming contest. Submissions have now been opened for their annual national final of Festival Da Canção, and closed on the 21st.

The rulebook remains largely the same, however this year instead of just having 5 songs qualify from each semi-final creating a grand final of 10 songs, there will now be a televote wildcard for each semi-final, giving us 12 songs in the final. Exact dates for the national final are not yet known but the final is generally expected to take place in early to mid-March.

On the 28th, RTP announced that 667 songs had been received through public submissions. Just 4 of those will be selected for the national final, with the other 16 being made up of songwriters invited personally by RTP.

• Romania

Returning to Selecția Națională for their selection, and is expected to take place either in February or early March. The team however is a new one, who have announced that SN2023 will be 100% televoting, instead of the 17% like 2022. Greater promotion and presence will also be given to SN and Eurovision more generally on TVR, both on television and on social networks.

Rumoured names include Olivia Addams, Roxen (yes, again), and Holy Molly.

• San Marino

Returning to Una Voce Per San Marino for their national final. However, this year there will NOT be a "big artists" group that get pre-invited to the grand final, although famous artists may still be invited to the semi-finals without going through the casting round.

There will be, as usual, two sets of auditions: the first set taking place during 2022, from 28/10 - 4/11, 6/11, 9/11 - 18/11, and the second set which will take place in the first half of January 2023. From there, approximately 60 artists will proceed to the semi-finals. The grand final will take place on the 25th of February, with 5 semi-finals (one of which acts as the second chance round) taking place also in February before the grand final which will contain 20 artists from the semi-finals.

On the 14th, SMRTV announced that so far they have received 402 submissions, over 80% of which are from Italy. The rest are made up of singers from 19 other countries, such as 16 applications from Spain, 8 from Germany, 5 from Norway and 3 from San Marino itself.

On the 17th, SMRTV posted the first auditions schedule. Among the participants was a certain CHRISTOPHER, who Twitter Eurofans might be more familiar with as Christopher Grevener, who performed Loco Loco in San Marino last year. And speaking of Loco Loco, he's back with a new original song, named Live Once. Lyrics by none other than THE Sanja Vučić. AKA black-haired girl from the former Hurricane. AKA lead vocalist for Serbia 2016. Music by Nemanja Antonić, the producer of Hurricane. Let's see how this plays out.

On the 20th, a press conference in Rome revealed that Senhit and Jonathan Kashanian are to return as hosts having already hosted the inaugural edition, while Achille Lauro will perform during the show as well. An interview also revealed that they have received over 500 submissions from 32 countries.

One interested big name is Elettra Lamborghini, who had participated in Sanremo 2020 with a song named "Musica (e il resto scompare)", which did not do so well at the festival but was rather popular otherwise. In a recent interview, she says that she has little chance of winning Sanremo, but she always has the choice of San Marino. She would also like to bring a reggaeton song. If she signs up then it is possible that she can directly skip the auditions and get put straight into a semi-final.

• Serbia

Returning to Pesma Za Evroviziju for their national final. Submissions opened on the 1st of September, and is set to end on the 15th of November. The actual national final is expected to take place in February. No rumoured names yet.

• Slovenia

Confirmed participation publicly, on the deadline of participation confirmation for EBU broadcasters. The editor-in-chief of RTVSLO entertainment programming has confirmed the selection method to be EMA, though whether there will be any format changes to either the main show or Freš is yet to be revealed. Rumoured names include Raiven, July Jones and Gaja Prestor.

• Spain

Returning to Benidorm Fest for their national final, for a second time. Submissions opened on the 1st of September, and closed on the 10th. The actual national final will take place on the 31st of January for the first semi-final, the 2nd of February for the second semi-final, and the 4th for the grand final.

The voting system remains the same, but there will now be one more participant in each semi-final, bringing the total number of participants up to 16. The president of the jury is set to be Nacho Cano, while Christer Bjorkman is set to be one of the international jury members. The main presenter of the show is set to be Monica Naranjo, and on the 14th, RTVE revealed that Inés Hernand is set to return as a co-presenter, while Máximo Huerta will be headlining a pre-show leading up to Benidorm Fest, and Alaska who was also a co-presenter in BF2022 will be hosting the Christmas gala containing the BF2023 participants.

MANY rumoured names, including Maria Jose Llergo, GuitarricaDeLaFuente, Solea Morente, Amatria, Paula Koops, Dani Fernandez, Alice Wonder, Neomak, and Ptazeta. All these come from the eurovision-spain.com "internal selection", which is basically an annual fan poll. The ones who explicitly stated that they will not submit songs have been removed from here.

In terms of names that are confirmed to have sent songs to RTVE, we have: K!NGDOM, Megara ("Arcadia"), hydn, Rakky Ripper, Celtian, Fusa Nocta, Lis Diva, Paula Vázquez ("Nunca Jamás"), Lode, Marina Galán, Lorena Elle (Destino Eurovision 2011), Siderland, Trovadorum ("No Estás Sola"), Ku Minerva ("Más"), Fran Triguero, Iris Penche, Girl's Gang, Tatiana Delalvz, Ángel Ruiz, Rafa Blas, Carantoña, and Hugo Cobo ("Ven Ya"). The names in quotations are the names of the songs that they have submitted.

There are also rumours going around in the Spanish community that a singer that was previously involved with Eurovision will return and send a very good song (or in their words, "temazo") to Benidorm Fest. Many speculations although we can rule Maria Isabel (JESC2004) out early because she's pregnant now. Others are suggesting Alfred Garcia from Amaia and Alfred in 2018, as he previously he claimed he "can't say anything" about the festival for the time being, and also cancelled a number of events for a week for a television project. Though, what we know for sure is that El Euroté revealed that Barei (Spain 2016, Say Yay) has returned, albeit only as a songwriter, for Benidorm Fest 2023. The singer of Barei's song is not yet known however.

Shortly after the closing of submissions, RTVE announced that they had received 876 submissions, 10 fewer than last year. However, there were more artists from record companies (more specifically, 394) and professionals in general. The age range of the artists also greatly varied - the youngest would only turn 16 come 2023, and the oldest is *76*. Furthermore, on the last day of submissions alone, 150 proposals were received. Some of the proposals came from familiar Eurovision faces, while some others came from TikTok singers. In fact, they also reported receiving songs from some of the artists who had already participated in Benidorm Fest 2022 (which are allegedly Marta Sango and Blanca Paloma according to rumours on Twitter).

Finally, the list of participants was released on the 26th. Initially only 16 participants were planned, however this has now been raised to 18, due to the high quality of submissions they have received. This was done last year as well - the initial planned number I believe was 12, not 14. The list is as follows:

• Agoney (Operacion Triunfo 2017)

• E'Femme

• Fusa Nocta (trap, urban Latin artist)

• Blanca Paloma (Benidorm Fest 2022)

• Aritz Aren

• Rakky Ripper ('hyperpop' artist)

• Alfred Garcia (from Amaia and Alfred, ESC2018 ESP)

• Sofia Martin

• Alice Wonder

• Famous (Operacion Triunfo 2018)

• Megara ('fucksia rock' band, "Arcadia")

• Vicco

• Twin Melody (did a collaboration with Emma Muscat)

• Jose Otero

• Karmento (folk artist)

• Sharonne (Drag Race winner)

• Meler

• Siderland (Catalan-language 'nocturne pop' band, barely missed out last year)

Names in double quotations are the already-known song names. As you can see, it contains a mix of new artists, artists in the eurovision-spain.com internal election, relatively older returning names both from Eurovision proper and the national final, and a VERY recent returning name. Rest assured that I won't mention anything other than this final list in the November edition in terms of artists.

• Sweden

Returning to Melodifestivalen for their national final.

Some rumoured names, but we can rule out Cornelia for 2023, as well as Dotter, Anna Bergendahl, and probably Alvaro Estrella.

The list of artists is expected to be revealed sometime in December. Melodifestivalen is set to tour the country over several heats, concluding in a grand final in Stockholm on the 11th of March.

On 16/9, SVT revealed that they have received 2824 songs, up almost 300 from last year (2530) and reaching the highest number of submissions since *2012*, when 3485 songs were received then. The list of the final 28 selected artists is likely to be revealed sometime in December.

SVT also held a press conference, and announced that the two hosts for Melfest 2023 will be Farah Abadi (reprising her role from 2022) and Swedish comedian Jesper Rönndahl.

On the 18th, Aftonbladet reported that Wiktoria, LouLou DeMotte (from The Mamas) and Nordman (with a song co-written by Jimmy Jansson) will take part in the next edition of Melodifestivalen. Furthermore, there are rumours of Darin, Frans and Clara Klingenström participating as well. In particular, the latter two were spotted at an SVT party, while the former has teased participation on his Instagram. Other singers/artists that Aftonbladet have since reported to be taking part in the next Melodifestivalen include: Marcus & Martinus, Theoz (2022 "Som Du Vill"), and Emil Henrohn. Keep in mind that Aftonbladet are relatively reliable on Melfest names, and only got one or two wrong last year.

• Switzerland

Continuing to use an internal selection for their Eurovision act. Submissions opened on the 25th of August, and closed on the 8th of September. The resulting song and artist will be revealed in "early 2023". Keep in mind that for 2022, this meant the 8th of March. Their selection process is VERY secretive, and we won't even get teasers until just one or two weeks before the announcement.

• Ukraine

Returning to Vidbir for their national final, although it has been pushed early, from the usual date of February to now December of 2022, specifically on the 17th. The event will be held in the Majdan Nezaležnośti metro station in Kyiv, and 10 songs will be competing.

Rumoured/interested names include Lilu45, Tayanna (Vidbir runner-up on two occasions, Ukrainian spokesperson in 2021), Roxolana from Vidbir 2022 with Girls, Christina/Khrystyna Soloviy (who was also the head juror for Junior Vidbir) as well as Artem Pivovarov. There's probably more but I can't find any at the moment.

On 28/9, MUZVAR reported on an potential longlist for Vidbir. It includes Christina Soloviy, Jerry Heil, KRUTЬ, TVORCHI, Tember Blanche, among others. The aforementioned Artem Pivovarov and Tayanna are ineligible to enter. Roxolana as yet nowhere to be seen.

Submissions closed on the 15th of October, and UA:PBC reports that 384 songs from 299 participants had been received, and the longlist of 36 participants was announced on the 27th. It includes our aforementioned Jerry Heil, KRUTЬ, TVORCHI, and Tember Blanche, but no Christina Soloviy nor Roxolana. The shortlist will be released no later than the 17th of November. Until then, live auditions will take place.

It has also been reported that the director of Vidbir this year, Pianoboy aka Dmytro Shurov, is not happy that many of the submissions were of low quality and/or copying the styles of Shum or Stefania. This has been criticized by Oleh Psiuk, lead vocalist of Kalush Orchestra.

Similarly to Junior Eurovision, UA:PBC has opened a public online vote on the "Diya" app for people to choose their 5 jurors for Eurovision 2023. Among the candidates are Tina Karol, Jamala, Kateryna Pavlenko (Go_A), Zlata Ognevich and Yulia Sanina. The vote will close on the 7th.

• United Kingdom

Confirmed participation (obviously). Selection method is internal and will once again involve TaP Music. Announcement itself may be completely inconspicuous, as was the case for Sam Ryder, where a too-long-for-Eurovision cut of Space Man had been played on BBC Radio 2 for roughly two weeks before they officially announced Sam Ryder as the British representative for Turin. Regardless, said announcement is expected sometime in February or March of 2023.

Junior Eurovision 2022

Now that we've gone through all the countries in adult Eurovision, let's take a quick look at Junior Eurovision! On the 26th, the official Junior Eurovision website posted the theme art, slogan and participant list, and they will be detailed as follows:

Host Country: Armenia

They won last year. It wasn't always the case that the winning country would host, but it has been the case since 2019. Not much to say here.

Host City: Yerevan

There wasn't really a vetting process because there (to my understanding) unfortunately aren't any other cities with an arena large enough to host the contest. So it came as little surprise when the capital city was confirmed as the host city of the next Junior contest just two days after Malena's victory.

Host Arena: Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex

Same location as in JESC2011. Note that Karen is not a female name here, and if my understanding of Armenian is correct, the stress should be placed on the last syllable, as in Kuh-REN, rather than KAE-ruhn. But I guess for Anglophone purposes that second pronunciation is fine. Soviet-era arena, and it appears they do not have any other suitable location and have not constructed one since independence in the 90s.

Slogan: Spin the Magic

The theme art as shown here features a spinning top, as does the trailer for the event. To quote the AMPTV CEO: "While developing the idea, we realised that a lot of countries have spinning tops, each of them unique. This perfectly reflects the values of Junior Eurovision - everyone is united around the idea of magic, music and joy, and at the same time presenting a different song and performance."

The article then goes on to explain that "while known the world over, this particular variety of spinning top is unique in Armenian culture; featuring traditional patterns that appear on historical architecture, carpets, and costumes across the Host City of Yerevan. These old-school wooden toys have been given a neon twist - quite literally - to reflect a modern Armenia." Furthermore, 16 spinning tops have been produced in the colours of the flags of each participating country.

Stage Design: circular design surrounded by neon lights; audiences directly standing next to stage rather than simply on the sides

That's the best description I can give from looking at the renders, which you can find here: https://junioreurovision.tv/story/exclusive-check-out-junior-eurovision-2022-stage

I don't know where they'd put the green room in this setting. Either way, David Tserunyan, the Armenian HOD, says that the stage design "offers multiple staging possibilities for all of the performers", and the "modern and technologically advanced" stage reflects their vision and "is versatile enough to fit the creative needs of the participating broadcasters".

Hosts: 1 male, 2 female

According to Armenian sources of mine, Iveta Mukuchyan (Armenia 2016, LoveWave) is nothing if not confirmed. Right when it was confirmed that Armenia will host JESC2022, Mukuchyan tagged David Tserunyan in an Instagram story and told him to reply to her WhatsApp regarding hosting the contest, and he responded with something snarky that I can't remember right now.

It was also announced that Malena will "join the Junior acts throughout their time in Armenia", although whether that entails a co-hosting role is yet to be confirmed. Tserunyan also said that one of the female hosts is already known within Eurovision. Regardless, the three presenters will be revealed in November.

Opening Ceremony: 5 December, Republic Square, Yerevan

Notably, during the ceremony, the 16 participants will turn on the Christmas tree lights in the square. This ceremony traditionally only takes place on the 25th, but has been pushed forward for the occasion. Otherwise there will be a draw for the running order positions of the opening country, the closing country, and the host country as usual.

Tickets: between 5000 and 30000 Armenian drams (13-76 euros)

Expected to go on sale next month.

Interval Acts: presentation of Malena's new song

The above was announced in the same press conference that presented Nare as the Armenian representative. Very much likely that Rosa Linn will also perform Snap, though this has not yet been confirmed.

It was also announced that all previous Junior Eurovision winners have been invited for the 20th anniversary of the event, although exactly how many have confirmed attendance is still unknown. So far we know that at least Viki Gabor (Poland 2019) will show up. Giorgi Shiolashvili (part of Bzikebi, Georgia 2008) also shared the JESC news on his Instagram story and wrote "I can't wait to sing on that stage again", so it appears Bzikebi will appear as well. Maria Isabel (Spain 2004) is currently pregnant and expecting in February, and has in fact confirmed to a Spanish Eurofan in Instagram DMs that she is unable to attend unfortunately. It is also unknown whether the previous winners from Russia and Belarus will appear either. The last time all previous winners were brought together was in 2010 in Minsk.

Non-participating Countries: Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Montenegro, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden, Wales

Some are more obvious than others. I may have missed a few but that's because the Wikipedia page removed the broadcasters that confirmed non-participation without explanation. Germany is still broadcasting the show despite their absence due to a "creative break" and travel restrictions.

Though on the 10th, RÚV (the Icelandic broadcaster) told Eurofestivales that they are still interested in the contest, and would in fact like to hold a pre-selection show (similar to Söngvakeppnin for the adult contest), but need more time (at least another year) to develop their participation. Nonetheless, Iceland is sitting out the 2022 contest, and it is as yet unknown whether they will broadcast the show on a delay, which is what they did for 2021.

Participating Countries: Albania (Kejtlin Gjata - Pakëz Diell), Armenia (Nare), France (Lissandro - Oh Maman !), Georgia (Mariam Bigvava), Ireland (Sophie Lennon), Italy, Kazakhstan (David Charlin), Malta (Gaia Gambuzza - Diamonds In The Skies), Netherlands (Luna - La Festa), North Macedonia (Lara and Irina), Poland (Laura Bączkiewicz - To The Moon), Portugal (Nicolas Alves), Serbia (Katarina Savić - World Without Borders), Spain (Carlos Higes), Ukraine (Zlata Dziunka - Nezlamna), United Kingdom

Worth noting that the UK is not only returning, but they are also broadcasting the show on *BBC One*, on which day there happens to be no World Cup match. Likewise, Italy is broadcasting the show on Rai 1. Something going on with these Big Five countries? Anyways, the UK is returning, but Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Germany and Russia are not. It had been rumoured that the EBU were seeking to have 20 countries for the 20th edition of the contest but alas it was clearly not to be.

On the confirmed representatives:

Albania: went back to Junior Fest, which was broadcasted on the 25th. On 28/9, the full participant list was revealed, and the selection was filmed on the afternoon of the 24th. Ultimately, the winner of the selection was a girl named Kejtlin Gjata, with a song named "Pakëz Diell", or 'a little bit of sun' in Albanian, written by her and Edri Muça.

Armenia: a series of auditions were conducted, where over 100 applicants were whittled down into 30 by a jury consisting of Rosa Linn, Dalita (JESC2011 "Welcome To Armenia"), David Tserunyan (the head of delegation), among others. The selected representative from the applicants was announced to be 14-year-old Nare (two syllables), full name Nare Ghazaryan. The song which will represent the host country will be revealed shortly, although judging by the presentation video, the song will be upbeat and feature choreography. The song was also composed by Tokionine, the Qami Qami composer.

France: on the 28th, France televisions announced that the French representative to Yerevan will be 13-year-old Lissandro, with the song "Oh Maman !". The song is an upbeat pop song, and some have noted its similarities with "Tic Tac" from the year prior. Lyrics once again by Barbara Pravi, who also penned Bim Bam Toi and J'Imagine. Those two songs were produced by Igit, so while it is not yet known for certain, there's a good chance he produced this as well.

Georgia: Mariam Bigvava won the usual Georgian JESC selection of Ranina, and became the first confirmed representative for the 2022 contest, although the song release date is as yet unknown. However, through a special report on Georgian news, it was reported that the songwriter is Giga Kukhianidze, who also wrote many other Georgian JESC entries, not least Let's Count The Smiles from 2021. From the little snippet shown during the segment, the song appears to be a power ballad in D minor, with motifs relating to war and peace. The song will be bilingual, in both Georgian and English.

Ireland: went back to Junior Eurovision Eire for their selection, and a new televote was added. The winner in the end was Sophie Lennon, who actually comes from Northern Ireland, and an Irish-language song will be composed for her shortly.

Kazakhstan: David Charlin was the highest-ranked eligible participant in a Kazakh song contest called "Baqytty Bala". He will represent the Central Asian nation in Yerevan, and in the same conference where Khabar stated their ambitions to enter adult Eurovision 2023, they introduced Charlin and said that the song presentation is expected at the end of October. The song will be composed by two well-known composers, one of which is Hamit Şanğaliyev, who also co-wrote Armanyñnan Qalma (KZ 2019) and Forever (KZ 2020). David is now learning the Kazakh language, as he is actually of Armenian origin but living in Almaty, and the song will feature Kazakh-language lyrics.

Netherlands: they used their usual Junior Songfestival for the selection. Ultimately, "La Festa" sung by Luna won the selection with maximum points, so Luna will be representing the Netherlands in Yerevan. The track was composed by Robert Dom.

Poland: went back to Szansa Na Sukces for their selection. The final took place one day after Junior Songfestival, and resulted in the selection of Laura Bączkiewicz with the song "To The Moon", which was composed by Monika Wydrzyńska and Jakub Sebastian Krupski.

Malta: Gaia Gambuzza appeared on the shortlist for MJESC with her song "Diamonds In The Skies", and eventually won the selection. If the MJESC performance is anything to go by, the final performance in Yerevan will have a teal motif. The song was composed by Matthew James Borg.

North Macedonia: Lara and Irina were internally selected after a series of auditions. One of them (I can't remember which) is the daughter of a famous Macedonian pianist, and has a lot of public singing experience. The other girl in stark contrast has little, if any, public singing experience. Not much else is known, including song release time range. Eurovoix had initially learned that their song had been set to be released by the end of September, but as of late October, the song still has yet to be released.

Portugal: Nicolas Alves won The Voice Kids Portugal, or rather he was the runner-up because the actual winner was too old for JESC by just over 2 weeks. He was born in England, but is not of direct Portuguese heritage but rather Brazilian, and has only been living in Portugal since 2019. Later, RTP announced that Carolina Deslandes, Alves' mentor on The Voice Kids and runner-up in FdC2021, will be composing a song for him, and that a further announcement is to be expected on the 7th of November.

Serbia: on the 10th, RTS announced that they have internally selected 13-year-old Katarina Savić as the Serbian representative in Yerevan. Her song is named "World Without Borders", and was composed by Ivana Dragićević. This song will be revealed on the 2nd of November, and will feature Katarina playing the trombone.

Spain: RTVE have selected Carlos Higes as the Spanish representative after a series of auditions. Carlos had previously appeared as a semi-finalist on La Voz Kids (the Spanish version of The Voice Kids), and had sung "Colours Of Your Dream", the Armenian JESC song for 2019. The song of course contained the Armenian language, and he pronounced it very well, which he later revealed was due to him learning the Armenian language. Furthermore, he says that he has been a Eurofan since 4 years of age. For Yerevan, he hopes to get an upbeat and catchy song, and has been recording this song on the week of the 20th alongside his backing vocalists - Roberta Fauteck, Jesús Montero and Mario Falero.

Ukraine: The favourite in Junior Vidbir among Eurofans was "Zamovliannia" by Sofia Artemenko and DJ Polinka, however "Nezlamna" by Zlata Dziunka ultimately won out by a single point, in a tiebreaker broken by Christina Soloviy, the head juror. Dziunka will now represent Ukraine in Junior Eurovision 2022. On the 12th, it was reported that Nezlamna is undergoing a revamp, although when the new version will come out is currently unknown. On the 29th, an online vote was opened for the Ukrainian public to select the 5 jurors for Yerevan. The adult group includes Barleben, KHAYAT among others as candidates, while the children group included all non-winning candidates of the 2022 Ukranian JESC selection, as well as some others. This vote ends on the 2nd of November.

With the other countries:

Nothing on Italy yet.

The United Kingdom appears to be selecting their representative internally, via CBBC, and in cooperation with an agency named Buzz Talent, which put out a post on Instagram seeking "incredible singers aged 9-14 years old that live in the UK", more specifically pop singers.

So that's all I know about Eurovision 2023 and Junior Eurovision 2022 so far! If you know anything else, tweet me @BlueRigel4 or comment on this blog. I fully anticipate making regular updates within the month of September to this post. And rest assured that I won't mention the national selections that took place this month in any great detail in the blog post for next month.