Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 Come Together
Dates
Semi-final 1 date	10 May 2016
Semi-final 2 date	12 May 2016
Final date	14 May 2016
Host
Venue	Ericsson Globe, Stockholm, Sweden
Presenter(s)	Petra Mede Måns Zelmerlöw
Director	Sven Stojanović
Executive supervisor	Jon Ola Sand
Executive producer	Johan Bernhagen Martin Österdahl
Host broadcaster	Sveriges Television (SVT)
Opening act	Semi-final 1: "Heroes" performed by Måns Zelmerlöw[1]
Participants
Number of entries	42
Debuting countries	None
Returning countries	Bosnia and Herzegovina  Bulgaria  Croatia  Ukraine
Withdrawing countries	Portugal  Romania
Participation map      Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2016
Vote
Voting system	Each country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting.
Eurovision Song Contest
◄2015 • 2016 • 2017►

The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 will be the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It will take place in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, following Sweden's victory at the 2015 contest in Vienna with the song "Heroes", performed by Måns Zelmerlöw. This will be the third time the contest has taken place in Stockholm, after 1975 and 2000, the latter also being held at the Globe. The contest will consist of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May and the final on 14 May 2016. The three live shows will be hosted by Zelmerlöw and Petra Mede.

Forty-two countries will participate. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Ukraine will return after absences from recent contests, while Australia will also return after debuting as a special guest in 2015. Portugal will withdraw, largely due to their national broadcaster's insufficient promotion of their music-based media, as well as a poorly structured selection process, while Romania had originally planned to participate, but were forcefully withdrawn due to repeated non-payment of debts by their national broadcaster to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The contest will also be the first to implement a new voting system since 1975, with each country now awarding two sets of points: one from their professional jury and another from televoting.

Location

The venue of the contest, Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden

Venue

The contest will take place in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, following Sweden's victory at the 2015 contest in Vienna with the song "Heroes", performed by Måns Zelmerlöw. The Ericsson Globe has a capacity of approximately 16,000 attendees, and this will be the second time the contest has been staged at the venue, after 2000.^[2]

Bidding phase

Stockholm

Gothenburg

Linköping

Sandviken and Gävle

Örnsköldsvik

Malmö

Locations of the six candidate cities; with the chosen host city marked in blue, and the remaining cities in red.

Host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) announced on 24 May, the day after winning the 2015 contest, that the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm was their first choice venue. However, other cities and arenas were invited to apply, and those making a bid had approximately three weeks to submit their offer to SVT.

SVT announced on 1 June the conditions under which cities and venues could announce their interest in hosting the contest:^[3]

• SVT had to have access to the venue at least 4–6 weeks before the contest to build the stage and rig up lighting and technology.
• A press centre with a specific size had to be made available at the venue.
• A specific number of hotels and hotel rooms had to be made available in the vicinity of the venue.
• The host city had to be near a major airport.

An announcement regarding the venue was expected from SVT by midsummer,^[4][5] with the Ericsson Globe announced as the venue on 8 July.^[6] A total of 10,500 spectators will be able attend each show. ^[7]

Key     Host venue

City[3]	Venue	Capacity	Notes
Gothenburg	Scandinavium	14,000	Venue of the 1985 contest.
	Ullevi	75,000	Proposal was dependent on the construction of a roof to cover the stadium. The idea was rejected due to costs.[8]
Linköping	Saab Arena	11,500	—
Malmö[9]	Malmö Arena	15,500	Venue of the 2013 contest. Withdrew its bid on 11 June 2015, citing unavailability during the rehearsal weeks of the contest.[9]
Örnsköldsvik[10]	Fjällräven Center	9,800	—
Sandviken and Gävle[11]	Göransson Arena	10,000	If this option were chosen, Sandviken would have hosted the three live shows in the Göransson Arena, while Gävle would have hosted satellite events such as smaller concerts and shows.[12]
Stockholm[13]	Annexet	4,000	—
	Ericsson Globe	16,000	Venue of the 2000 contest and the final of Melodifestivalen in 1989 and between 2002 and 2012 inclusive.
	Friends Arena	65,000	Venue of the final of Melodifestivalen since 2013. Friends Arena is the biggest football stadium and indoor venue in Sweden and the Nordic countries. However, it was reportedly not part of Stockholm's bid.[13][14]
	Hovet	9,000	—
	Tele2 Arena	45,000	SVT announced on 24 May 2015 that Tele2 Arena was their first choice venue for the contest.[4][15] However, it was not possible to use the venue due to the 4–6 week organisation requirement, which would impact on the pre-scheduled home games of Hammarby Fotboll.[14] The EBU announced on 14 March 2016 that Tele2 Arena would host Eurovision The Party, and the results of the Swedish jury vote would be announced live from the event.[16]

Format

The preliminary dates for the contest were announced on 16 March 2015 at a meeting of Heads of Delegation in Vienna, with the semi-finals taking place on 10 and 12 May and the final on 14 May 2016.^[17] These were subject to change depending on SVT,^[18] but were later confirmed when Stockholm was announced as the host city.^[6]

Discussions were held in 2014 between the EBU and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) regarding the inclusion of a guest performance from the ABU TV Song Festival at the contest. The EBU confirmed on 16 July 2015 that they are looking into the possibility of the proposal, which was discussed at the ABU General Assembly in 2014.^[19]

SVT proposed a change of start time of the contest from 21:00 CEST to 20:00 CEST on 9 September, arguing that such a change would help to promote family viewing of the contest, especially in eastern Europe when it would run late into the night.^[20] However, the EBU published the public rules of the contest on 28 October, which stated that the start time would remain at 21:00 CEST.^[21]

The EBU announced on 23 September that rather than using clips from their respective music videos, extended clips from the dress rehearsals of the six acts who qualified directly to the final (the big five and Sweden) will be shown as previews during the semi-final in which they are allocated to vote.^[22]

The core team for the contest was announced by SVT and the EBU on 26 October. Johan Bernhagen and Martin Österdahl will be Executive Producers, while Tobias Åberg will be Head of Production. The three live shows will be directed by Sven Stojanović and the contest will be produced by Christer Björkman, who is also Head of Delegation for Sweden.^[23]

New voting system

The EBU announced on 18 February 2016 that a new voting system would be implemented at the contest for the first time since 1975. The new system, inspired by the voting system of Melodifestivalen, involves each country now awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. After viewers have cast their votes, the results of each professional jury will be presented, with countries receiving 1-8 and 10 points being displayed on-screen instead of 1-7, which had been the case since 2006, and the national spokesperson only announcing the country receiving 12 points. After the results of the professional juries are presented, the televoting points from all participating countries will be combined, providing one score from each song. The results of countries finishing between 11th and 26th in the public vote will be automatically added to the scoreboard, with only the results of the top ten countries being announced by the hosts. The new voting system will also be used to determine the qualifiers from each semi-final, but as before the qualifiers will be announced in a random order.^[24][25]

As the new voting system gives equal weight to both jury and televoting results, a national televoting/jury result cannot be used as backup result for the jury/televoting. Therefore, if a country cannot deliver a valid televoting/jury result, a substitute result is calculated by the jury/televoting result of a pre-selected group of countries approved by the contest's Reference Group. The Director General of Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV), Carlo Romeo, stated on 23 February that the use of a substitute televoting result discriminated against microstates like San Marino, which only used a professional jury due to their use of the Italian phone system and would therefore have its voting representation diminished under the new system, and criticised the EBU for not contacting its members before making the decision.^[26][27]

Other Eurovision events

The EBU announced on 14 March 2016 that the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm would host a live event running alongside the final of the contest on 14 May.^[16] Eurovision The Party, hosted by Sanna Nielsen, will allow fans to watch the final on a big screen and will feature backstage material from the Ericsson Globe such as Nielsen conducting exclusive interviews and appearing with hosts Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw. The results of the Swedish jury vote will also be announced live from the event by Gina Dirawi. A pre-party and after-party will also be held and will feature performances from former contest winners Carola and Loreen as well as Danny Saucedo, Panetoz and DJ Tim Henri.^[28][29] Executive Producer of the contest Johan Bernhagen has stated that the event complements existing events being held at the Eurovision Village and the EuroClub, and it is hoped that Eurovision The Party will become an annual event in the host city of the contest.^[16]

Presenters

After his victory in the 2015 contest, Måns Zelmerlöw announced his interest in hosting the 2016 contest.^[30] His experience as a television presenter includes Melodifestivalen 2010^[31] and SVT sing-along show Allsång på Skansen.^[32] Christer Björkman told Expressen on 25 May that Gina Dirawi, Petra Mede and Sanna Nielsen were also being considered as hosts,^[33] but it was reported on 1 June that SVT was considering Zelmerlöw and Dolph Lundgren as co-hosts.^[34] Expressen reported on 19 August that Mede and Zelmerlöw were SVT's first choice of hosts,^[35] with SVT announcing at a press conference on 14 December that they would indeed co-host.^[36]

Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to determine which country will participate in which semi-final took place in Stockholm City Hall on 25 January 2016, hosted by Alexandra Pascalidou and Jovan Radomir.^[37] The first part of the draw determined which of the big five and Sweden will have to vote and perform in which semi-final. The second part of the draw decided in which half of the respective semi-finals each country will perform, with the exact running order to be determined by the producers of the show. The EBU originally announced that the running order would be revealed on 5 April,^[38] however for undisclosed reasons this was later put back to 8 April.^[39] Eighteen countries will participate in the first semi-final, while nineteen countries were planned to participate in the second semi-final, but this was reduced to eighteen on 22 April due to the forced withdrawal of Romania. From each semi-final, ten countries will join the big five and Sweden in the final, where a total of twenty-six countries will participate.

The thirty-seven semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, which were published by the EBU on 21 January, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. Drawing from different pots helps in reducing the chance of so-called neighbour voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. Sweden and Germany were pre-allocated to vote and perform in the first and second semi-final respectively for scheduling reasons.^[40][41]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
Albania  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Croatia  Macedonia  Montenegro  Serbia  Slovenia	Denmark  Estonia  Finland  Iceland  Latvia  Norway	Armenia  Azerbaijan  Belarus  Georgia  Russia  Ukraine	Australia  Belgium  Bulgaria  Cyprus  Greece  Netherlands	Czech Republic  Ireland  Lithuania  Malta  Poland  San Marino	Austria  Hungary  Israel^1  Moldova  Romania^2   Switzerland

Participating countries

  Competing in the first semi-final

  Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in the first semi-final

  Competing in the second semi-final

  Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in the second semi-final

Participating countries had until 15 September 2015 to submit their applications for participation in the contest, and until 10 October 2015 to withdraw their applications without facing financial sanctions.^[42] The EBU had initially announced on 26 November 2015 that 43 countries would participate in the contest, equalling the record number of participants set in 2008 and 2011.^[43] However, Romania were forcefully withdrawn from participation on 22 April 2016, subsequently reducing the number of participating countries to 42.^[44]

Four countries will return after absences from recent contests: Bosnia and Herzegovina after a three-year absence, Bulgaria and Croatia after two-year absences and Ukraine after a one-year absence. Australia will also return after debuting as a special guest in 2015, but by invitation of the EBU due to the associate membership status of the Special Broadcasting Service. However, instead of pre-qualifying for the final and voting in all three live shows, as was the case in 2015, Australia will enter the second semi-final and vote only in that semi-final and the final. Portugal will withdraw, largely due to their national broadcaster's insufficient promotion of their music-based media, as well as a poorly structured selection process,^[45] while Romania were forcefully withdrawn from participation on 22 April 2016 due to repeated non-payment of debts by their national broadcaster to the EBU.^[44]

Returning artists

Seven artists will return having previously participated in the contest. Deen will return after previously representing Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2004, finishing ninth in the final with the song "In The Disco".^[46] Kaliopi will return after previously representing Macedonia in 2012, finishing 13th in the final with the song "Crno i belo". She was also selected to represent Macedonia in 1996 with "Samo ti", but was eliminated in a non-televised pre-qualifying round.^[47] Poli Genova will return after previously representing Bulgaria in 2011, finishing 12th in the second semi-final with the song "Na inat".^[48] Bojan Jovović will return for Montenegro as part of Highway after previously representing Serbia and Montenegro in 2005 as part of No Name, finishing seventh in the final with the song "Zauvijek moja".^[49] Ira Losco will return after previously representing Malta in 2002, finishing in second place with the song "7th Wonder".^[50] Donny Montell will return after previously representing Lithuania in 2012, finishing 14th in the final with the song "Love Is Blind".^[51] Greta Salóme will return after previously representing Iceland in 2012 with Jónsi, finishing 20th in the final with the song "Never Forget".^[52]

Semi-final 1

Eighteen countries will participate in the first semi-final. France, Spain, and Sweden will vote and perform in this semi-final.^[41][53]

Draw[54]	Country[55]	Language	Artist[55]	Song[55]	English translation	Place	Points
01	Finland	English	Sandhja	"Sing It Away"	—
02	Greece	English, Greek^3	Argo	"Utopian Land"	—
03	Moldova	English, French	Lidia Isac	"Falling Stars"	—
04	Hungary	English	Freddie	"Pioneer"	—
05	Croatia	English	Nina Kraljić	"Lighthouse"	—
06	Netherlands	English	Douwe Bob	"Slow Down"	—
07	Armenia	English	Iveta Mukuchyan	"LoveWave"	—
08	San Marino	English	Serhat	"I Didn't Know"	—
09	Russia	English	Sergey Lazarev	"You Are the Only One"	—
10	Czech Republic	English	Gabriela Gunčíková	"I Stand"	—
11	Cyprus	English	Minus One	"Alter Ego"	—
12	Austria	French	Zoë	"Loin d'ici"	Far from here
13	Estonia	English	Jüri Pootsmann	"Play"	—
14	Azerbaijan	English	Samra	"Miracle"	—
15	Montenegro	English	Highway	"The Real Thing"	—
16	Iceland	English	Greta Salóme	"Hear Them Calling"	—
17	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnian	Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala	"Ljubav je"	Love is
18	Malta	English	Ira Losco	"Walk on Water"	—

Semi-final 2

Eighteen countries will participate in the second semi-final. Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom will vote and perform in this semi-final.^[41][53] Romania were originally planned to perform twelfth in this semi-final, but were forcefully withdrawn due to repeated non-payment of debts to the EBU, resulting in countries originally planned to perform thirteenth or later to do so one place earlier.^[44]

Draw[54]	Country[56]	Language	Artist[56]	Song[56]	English translation	Place	Points
01	Latvia	English	Justs	"Heartbeat"	—
02	Poland	English	Michał Szpak	"Color of Your Life"	—
03	Switzerland	English	Rykka	"The Last of Our Kind"	—
04	Israel	English	Hovi Star	"Made of Stars"	—
05	Belarus	English	Ivan	"Help You Fly"	—
06	Serbia	English	Sanja Vučić ZAA	"Goodbye (Shelter)"	—
07	Ireland	English	Nicky Byrne	"Sunlight"	—
08	Macedonia	Macedonian	Kaliopi	"Dona" (Дона)	—
09	Lithuania	English	Donny Montell	"I've Been Waiting for This Night"	—
10	Australia	English	Dami Im	"Sound of Silence"	—
11	Slovenia	English	ManuElla	"Blue and Red"	—
12	Bulgaria	English, Bulgarian	Poli Genova	"If Love Was a Crime"	—
13	Denmark	English	Lighthouse X	"Soldiers of Love"	—
14	Ukraine	English, Crimean Tatar	Jamala	"1944"	—
15	Norway	English	Agnete	"Icebreaker"	—
16	Georgia	English	Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz	"Midnight Gold"	—
17	Albania	English	Eneda Tarifa	"Fairytale"	—
18	Belgium	English	Laura Tesoro	"What's the Pressure"	—

Finalists

Draw	Country[57]	Language	Artist[57]	Song[57]	English translation
09[58]	Sweden	English	Frans	"If I Were Sorry"	—
	France	French, English	Amir	"J'ai cherché"	I have been looking for
	Germany	English	Jamie-Lee	"Ghost"	—
	Italy	Italian, English	Francesca Michielin	"No Degree of Separation"	—
	Spain	English	Barei	"Say Yay!"	—
	United Kingdom	English	Joe & Jake	"You're Not Alone"	—

Other countries

Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership that will be able to broadcast the contest via the Eurovision network.^[59] The EBU issued an invitation of participation in the contest to all fifty-six active members and associate member Australia, with forty-three countries confirming their participation.^[43] Morocco, Tunisia and five other countries did not publish their reasons for declining, however the following countries declined to participate, stating their reasons as shown below.

Active EBU members

•  Andorra – Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA) announced on 2 September 2015 that Andorra would not participate.^[60]
•  Lebanon – Télé Liban (TL) had not ruled out participation as of 15 October 2015, stating in an email: "We are not sure yet, however we are working on it and will keep you updated".^[61] However, Lebanon was not on the final list of participating countries announced by the EBU on 26 November.
•  Luxembourg – RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg (RTL) announced on 4 September 2015 that Luxembourg would not participate due to the financial and organisational strain of a potential participation on the channel, especially with a small financial budget.^[62]
•  Monaco – Télé Monte Carlo (TMC) announced on 21 July 2015 that Monaco would not participate.^[63]
•  Portugal – Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) had encouraged viewers to suggest changes to their selection process, assuming they had chosen to participate in the contest. Portugal has failed to qualify for the final since 2010, which the majority of the Portuguese public believe is because of RTP's current selection format, Festival da Canção.^[45] Kátia Aveiro, sister of Cristiano Ronaldo, had launched a campaign on Twitter asking fans to back her bid to represent Portugal.^[64] However, RTP announced on 7 October 2015 that Portugal would not participate, adding that they were looking forward to participating in 2017 with a restructured selection process.^[65] RTP's viewer provider, Jaime Fernandes, stated on 7 November during the television show A Voz do Cidadão that the withdrawal was due not only to shallow results in previous contests, but also RTP's rather insufficient promotion of music-related content.^[66]
•  Romania – Romania had originally confirmed their participation in the contest with the song "Moment of Silence", performed by Ovidiu Anton. However, the EBU announced on 22 April 2016 that Televiziunea Română (TVR) had failed to repeatedly pay debts totalling CHF 16 million by 20 April, the deadline set by the EBU. TVR's failure to pay their debts resulted in Romania's forced withdrawal from the contest.^[67] This has led to strong reactions against the decision.^[68]
•  Slovakia – Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska (RTVS) returned to the Eurovision Young Dancers in 2015, with RTVS explaining that the return of Slovakia to EYD supported domestic production and promoted national culture at a European level. RTVS announced on 28 September 2015 that Slovakia would not participate.^[69] RTVS' PR manager, Juraj Kadáš, explained on 12 April 2016 that Slovakia's absence from the contest since 2012 was not due to poor results, but rather the cost associated with participation.^[70]
•  Turkey – The EBU announced on 2 October 2015 that despite speculation surrounding their participation, Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT) had yet to make a final decision.^[71] However, TRT announced on 3 November that Turkey would not participate, adding their discontent at the introduction of a mixed voting system to the contest and the pre-qualification of the Big Five for the final.^[72][73]

Associate EBU members

•  Kazakhstan – The EBU announced on 18 December 2015 that Khabar Agency will have associate EBU membership from 1 January 2016. However, Kazakhstan would be unable to debut at the contest as eligibility for participation requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership.^[74]

EBU non-members

•  China – Hunan Television announced its interest in participating in the contest on 22 May 2015, with the EBU responding, saying that "we are open and are always looking for new elements in each Eurovision Song Contest".^[75] However, on 3 June, the EBU denied that China would debut at the contest as a guest or full participant.^[76]
•  Faroe Islands – Faroese publication Portal reported on 9 June 2015 that Kringvarp Føroya (KVF) had applied for active EBU membership, a requisite for participation in the contest. However, it was rejected due to the islands' membership of the Danish Realm. Faroese Education Minister Bjørn Kalsø supported participation, saying "the justification so far has been that the countries have to be acknowledged by the United Nations as independent in order to participate. But there is no doubt that we could easily overstep those barriers, if we’re absolutely determined to reach this goal ... it is completely up to Kringvarpið ... to renew the application regularly, and show the EBU that the Faroe Islands are an equal match to other countries when it comes to participation in the Eurovision Song Contest."^[77][78]
•  Kosovo – Kosovan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Petrit Selimi tweeted on 23 May 2015 that Kosovo, which is not recognised by 15 states in Europe and does not have a national broadcaster with active EBU membership, would debut at the contest. Selimi tweeted that he knew that Kosovo would participate, but did not elaborate on how it would come about.^[79] However, on 3 June, the EBU denied that Kosovo would debut at the contest, as Radio Televizioni i Kosovës (RTK) has neither active nor associate EBU membership.^[76]
•  Liechtenstein – 1 Fürstentum Liechtenstein Television (1FLTV) announced on 16 September 2015 that Liechtenstein would be unable to debut at the contest due to insufficient funding for EBU membership.^[80]

Incidents

Forced Romanian withdrawal

Romania's participation was reported to be in danger on 19 April 2016 due to repeated non-payment of debts by Televiziunea Română (TVR) to the EBU, totalling CHF 16 million (€14.56 million) dating back to January 2007.^[81][82] The EBU had requested the Romanian government to repay the debt before 20 April or face exclusion from the contest. The EBU announced on 22 April that after the Romanian government had failed to repay the debt by the deadline, TVR were forced to withdraw from the EBU, subsequently forcing the withdrawal of Romania from the contest.^[83][84] The Director General of the EBU, Ingrid Deltenre, said that "it is regrettable that we are forced to take this action [...] The continued indebtedness of TVR jeopardizes the financial stability of the EBU itself".^[85] However, because the official album of the contest has already been produced, the planned Romanian entry, "Moment of Silence", performed by Ovidiu Anton, would remain on both digital and physical copies of the album.^[44]

German artist replacement

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) announced on 19 November 2015 that Xavier Naidoo would represent Germany in the contest. However, his selection was criticised due to his history of expressing far-right political views in his actions and lyrics, including a speech made at a protest in 2014 supporting the assertion that the German Reich continues to exist within its pre-World War II borders, his propagation of conspiracy theories surrounding the September 11 attacks and the 2008 financial crisis, and a song in which he referred to Baron Rothschild as "Baron Deadschild" and a "schmuck", as well as a collaboration with Kool Savas titled "Wo sind sie jetzt?", which contained homophobic lyrics which were interpreted as associating homosexuality with paedophilia. Critics of his selection included Johannes Kahrs, who branded the decision "unspeakable and embarrassing", the Amadeu Antonio Foundation and Bild.^{[86][87][88][89]}

In light of the negative response and the need to quickly decide a new selection process, NDR withdrew its proposal to send Naidoo on 21 November. ARD co-ordinator Thomas Schreiber stated that "Xavier Naidoo is a brilliant singer who is, according to my own opinion, neither racist nor homophobe. It was clear that his nomination would polarise opinions, but we were surprised about the negative response. The Eurovision Song Contest is a fun event, in which music and the understanding between European people should be the focus. This characteristic must be kept at all costs."^[87][90]

Protests over official flag policy

In ensuring the apoliticality of the contest and the safety of attendees, the EBU released an official flag policy on 29 April 2016, including a list of flags which would be banned from the Ericsson Globe. The President of the Basque Country, Iñigo Urkullu, and the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, José Manuel García-Margallo, protested at the specific inclusion of the flag of the Basque Country alongside other flags such as those of some unrecognised nations and the Islamic State, and called on the organisers of the contest to rectify the matter.^[91][92] Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) also expressed their concern to the EBU and requested a rectification,^[93] with the EBU responding, saying that while the flag of the Basque Country is not specifically forbidden, it is an example of a banned flag, adding that only the "official national flags of the 42 participating countries, or from one of the countries that have recently taken part", "official national flags of any of the other United Nations member states", the flag of the European Union and the rainbow flag were permitted.^[94][95]

The EBU issued a statement clarifying their intention not to have published the document, acknowledging that the decision to publish a selection of flags of organisations and territories, each of which were "of a very different nature", was insensitive, and apologized for any offence caused by the publication of the original list. The EBU also called on both the Ericsson Globe and the contest's official ticketing partner AXS to remove the flag policy which specified examples of banned flags, replacing it with one which did not include examples of banned flags.^[93]

The EBU subsequently released a statement on 6 May, stating that after discussing the matter with several participating delegations, the organisers of the contest "agreed to relax the flag policy, and to allow national, regional and local flags of the participants" such as the Welsh flag (as Joe Woolford, representing the United Kingdom as part of Joe and Jake, is Welsh) and the Sami flag (as Agnete, representing Norway, is originally of Sami heritage), as well as the flags of all UN member states, the flag of the EU and the rainbow flag, as stated in the original flag policy. The EBU also proposed a more tolerant approach to other flags as long as attendees respect the apoliticality of the contest and do not attempt to deliberately obstruct the camera views. Such a proposal was approved by the contest's Reference Group.^[96][97][98]

Other awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, the OGAE voting poll and the Barbara Dex Awards are awards that were contested by the entries competing at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, in addition to the main winner’s trophy.

Marcel Bezençon Awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia, honouring the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman (Sweden's representative in the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest and the current Head of Delegation for Sweden) and Richard Herrey (a member of the Herreys and the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 winner from Sweden), the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon.^[99]

OGAE

Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision (more commonly known as OGAE) is an international organisation that was founded in 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jari-Pekka Koikkalainen.^[100] The organisation consists of a network of over 40 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, and is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profit company.^[101] In what has become an annual tradition for the OGAE fan clubs, a voting poll runs prior to the main Eurovision Song Contest allowing members from over 40 clubs to vote for their favourite songs of the 2016 contest. The 2016 OGAE Poll began on 4 April 2016 and finished on 2nd May 2016. The table below shows the top 5 results. ^[102]

Country	Performer(s)	Song	OGAE result[103]
France	Amir	"J'ai cherché"	425
Russia	Sergey Lazarev	"You Are the Only One"	392
Australia	Dami Im	"Sound of Silence"	280
Bulgaria	Poli Genova	"If Love Was a Crime"	175
Italy	Francesca Michielin	"No Degree of Separation"	170

*Table reflects the final voting result from the 45 OGAE member clubs, with two clubs (OGAE Bulgaria and OGAE Moldova) abstaining from voting in this 2016 poll.

Barbara Dex Award

The Barbara Dex Award has been annually awarded by the fan website House of Eurovision since 1997, and is a humorous award given to the worst dressed artist each year in the contest. It is named after the Belgian artist, Barbara Dex, who came last in the 1993 contest, in which she wore her own self designed dress.^[104]

International broadcasts and voting

Voting and spokespersons

•  Albania – Andri Xhahu^[105]
•  Australia – Lee Lin Chin^[106]
•  Austria – Kati Bellowitsch^[107]
•  Croatia – Nevena Rendeli^[108]
•  Czech Republic – Daniela Písařovicová^[109]
•  Denmark – Ulla Essendrop^[110]
•  Estonia – Daniel Levi Viinalass^[111]
•  Finland – Jussi-Pekka Rantanen^[112]
•  France – Élodie Gossuin^[113]
•  Georgia – Nina Sublatti (Georgian representative in the 2015 contest)^[114]
•  Germany – Barbara Schöneberger^[25]
•  Hungary – Csilla Tatár^[115]
•  Israel – Ofer Nachshon^[116]
•  Italy – Claudia Andreatti^[117]
•  Lithuania – Ugnė Galadauskaitė^[118]
•  Netherlands – Trijntje Oosterhuis (Dutch representative in the 2015 contest)^[119]
•  San Marino – Irol MC^[120]
•  Spain – Jota Abril^[121]
•  Sweden – Gina Dirawi (Presenter of the national selection in 2012, 2013 and 2016)^[122]
•   Switzerland – Sebalter (Swiss representative in the 2014 contest)^[123]

Commentators

•  Albania – Andri Xhahu (TVSH, RTSH HD, RTSH Muzikë and Radio Tirana, all shows)^[105][124]
•  Australia – Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang (SBS and SBS Radio 4, all shows)^[125][126]
•  Austria – Andi Knoll (ORF eins, all shows)^[107]
•  Belarus – Evgeny Perlin (Belarus-1 and Belarus 24, all shows)^[127][128]
•  Belgium – Dutch: Peter Van de Veire (één, all shows);^[129] French: Jean-Louis Lahaye and Maureen Louys (La Une, all shows)^[130][131]
•  Croatia – Duško Ćurlić (HRT 1, all shows); Zlatko Turkalj Turki (HR 2, all shows)^[108]
•  Cyprus – Melina Karageorgiou (RIK 1, RIK SAT, RIK HD and Trito Programma, all shows)^[132]
•  Czech Republic – Libor Bouček (ČT2, semi-finals; ČT1, final)^[133]
•  Denmark – Ole Tøpholm (DR1, all shows)^[134]
•  Estonia – Estonian: Marko Reikop (ETV, all shows);^[111] Russian: Aleksandr Hobotov (ETV+, all shows)^[135]
•  Finland – Finnish: Mikko Silvennoinen (Yle TV2 and TV Finland, all shows);^[112][136] Sanna Pirkkalainen and Jorma Hietamäki (Yle Radio Suomi, all shows);^[137] Swedish: Eva Frantz and Johan Lindroos (Yle TV2, TV Finland, Yle Radio Vega, all shows)^[138]
•  France – Marianne James and Jarry (France 4, semi-finals); Marianne James and Stéphane Bern (France 2, final)^[139]
•  Georgia – Tuta Chkheidze (GPB First Channel, all shows)^[140]
•  Germany – Peter Urban (EinsFestival and Phoenix, semi-finals; Das Erste, final)^[141][142]
•  Greece – Maria Kozakou and Giorgos Kapoutzidis (ERT1, ERT HD & ERT World, all shows)^[143]
•  Hungary – Gábor Gundel Takács (Duna, all shows)^[144]
•  Iceland – Gísli Marteinn Baldursson (RÚV, all shows)^[145]
•  Israel – Hebrew: Hebrew subtitles (Channel 1, second semi-final and final (live), first semi-final (delayed)); TBA (88 FM, second semi-final and final); Arabic: Arabic subtitles (Channel 33, second semi-final and final); TBA (Kol Yisrael Arabic, second semi-final and final)^[116]
•  Italy – Filippo Solibello and Marco Ardemagni (Rai 4, semi-finals; Rai Radio 2, all shows);^[146] Flavio Insinna and Federico Russo (Rai 1, final)^[147][148]
•  Netherlands - Jan Smit and Cornald Maas (NPO 1, all shows)^{[149][150][151]}
•  Norway – Olav Viksmo Slettan (NRK1, all shows);^[152] Ronny Brede Aase, Silje Reiten Nordnes and Markus Ekrem Neby (NRK3, final)^[153]
•  Poland – Artur Orzech (TVP 1 and TVP Polonia (live); TVP Rozrywka and TVP HD (one-day delay), all shows)^[154]
•  Russia – Dmitry Guberniev and Ernest Mackevičius (Russia-1 and Russia HD, all shows)^[155]
•  San Marino – Lia Fiorio and Gigi Restivo (SMtv San Marino and Radio San Marino, all shows)^[156]
•  Serbia – Dragan Ilić (RTS 1, RTS HD and RTS SAT, first semi-final)^[157]
•  Slovenia – Andrej Hofer (RTV SLO2, semi-finals; RTV SLO1, final; Radio Val 202, second semi-final and final; Radio Maribor, all shows)^[158]
•  Spain – José María Íñigo and Julia Varela (La 2, semi-finals; La 1, final)^[159]
•  Sweden – Lotta Bromé (SVT1, all shows);^[160] Carolina Norén and Björn Kjellman (SR P4, all shows)^[161]
•   Switzerland – German: Sven Epiney (SRF zwei, semi-finals; SRF 1, final); Peter Schneider and Gabriel Vetter (SRF 1 and Radio SRF 3, final)^[162] French: Jean-Marc Richard and Nicolas Tanner (RTS Deux, second semi-final and final);^[163] Italian: Clarissa Tami (RSI La 2, second semi-final);^[164] Clarissa Tami and Michele "Cerno" Carobbio (RSI La 1, final)^[165]
•  Ukraine – Timur Miroshnychenko (UA:Pershyi, all shows);^[166] Olena Zelinchenko (Radio Ukraine, all shows)^[167]
•  United Kingdom – Scott Mills and Mel Giedroyc (BBC Four, semi-finals); Graham Norton (BBC One, final); Ken Bruce (BBC Radio 2, final)^[168][169]

Non-participating countries

•  China  – Kubert Leung and Wu Zhoutong (Hunan TV, all shows)^[170]
•  Kazakhstan  – TBA (Khabar TV, all shows)^[171]
•  Kosovo  – TBA (RTK, all shows)^[172]
•  New Zealand  – TBA (UKTV, final)^[173]
•  Portugal  – Hélder Reis (RTP, all shows)^{[174][175][176]}
•  United States  – TBA (Logo TV, final)^[177]

Official album

Eurovision Song Contest: Stockholm 2016
Compilation album by Eurovision Song Contest
Released	15 April 2016
Genre	Pop
Length	65:26 (CD 1) 62:56 (CD 2)
Label	Universal
Eurovision Song Contest chronology
Eurovision Song Contest: Vienna 2015 (2015) Eurovision Song Contest: Stockholm 2016 (2016) Eurovision Song Contest: TBD 2017 (2017)

Eurovision Song Contest: Stockholm 2016 is the official compilation album of the contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and was released by Universal Music Group digitally on 15 April and physically on 22 April 2016.^[178] The album features all 42 participating entries, including the semi-finalists that fail to qualify for the final.^[179] The album also features the Romanian entry which was withdrawn from the contest by the EBU due to non-payment of debts.^[44]

CD 1
No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Fairytale" (Albania)	Eneda Tarifa	3:00
2.	"LoveWave" (Armenia)	Iveta Mukuchyan	2:58
3.	"Loin d'ici" (Austria)	Zoë	3:00
4.	"Sound of Silence" (Australia)	Dami Im	3:03
5.	"Miracle" (Azerbaijan)	Samra	3:00
6.	"Ljubav je" (Bosnia and Herzegovina)	Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala	3:00
7.	"What's the Pressure" (Belgium)	Laura Tesoro	2:52
8.	"If Love Was a Crime" (Bulgaria)	Poli Genova	2:59
9.	"Help You Fly" (Belarus)	Ivan	3:02
10.	"The Last of Our Kind" (Switzerland)	Rykka	3:00
11.	"Alter Ego" (Cyprus)	Minus One	3:00
12.	"I Stand" (Czech Republic)	Gabriela Gunčíková	3:00
13.	"Ghost" (Germany)	Jamie-Lee	2:55
14.	"Soldiers of Love" (Denmark)	Lighthouse X	3:00
15.	"Play" (Estonia)	Jüri Pootsmann	3:00
16.	"Say Yay!" (Spain)	Barei	2:57
17.	"Sing It Away" (Finland)	Sandhja	2:59
18.	"J'ai cherché" (France)	Amir	3:00
19.	"You're Not Alone" (United Kingdom)	Joe & Jake	2:50
20.	"Midnight Gold" (Georgia)	Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz	2:56
21.	"Utopian Land" (Greece)	Argo	2:55
22.	"Lighthouse" (Croatia)	Nina Kraljić	3:00
Total length:			65:26

CD 2
No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Pioneer" (Hungary)	Freddie	2:59
2.	"Sunlight" (Ireland)	Nicky Byrne	2:59
3.	"Made of Stars" (Israel)	Hovi Star	3:01
4.	"Hear Them Calling" (Iceland)	Greta Salóme	2:57
5.	"No Degree of Separation" (Italy)	Francesca Michielin	3:08
6.	"I've Been Waiting for This Night" (Lithuania)	Donny Montell	3:03
7.	"Heartbeat" (Latvia)	Justs	2:57
8.	"Falling Stars" (Moldova)	Lidia Isac	2:57
9.	"The Real Thing" (Montenegro)	Highway	3:01
10.	"Dona" (Macedonia)	Kaliopi	3:01
11.	"Walk on Water" (Malta)	Ira Losco	3:03
12.	"Slow Down" (Netherlands)	Douwe Bob	2:45
13.	"Icebreaker" (Norway)	Agnete	2:54
14.	"Color of Your Life" (Poland)	Michał Szpak	3:00
15.	"Moment of Silence" (Romania)	Ovidiu Anton	2:59
16.	"Goodbye (Shelter)" (Serbia)	Sanja Vučić ZAA	3:03
17.	"You Are the Only One" (Russia)	Sergey Lazarev	3:06
18.	"If I Were Sorry" (Sweden)	Frans	3:04
19.	"Blue and Red" (Slovenia)	ManuElla	2:57
20.	"I Didn't Know" (San Marino)	Serhat	3:01
21.	"1944" (Ukraine)	Jamala	3:01
Total length:			62:56

See also

• ABU Radio Song Festival 2016
• Eurovision Young Musicians 2016
• Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016
• Türkvizyon Song Contest 2016

Notes and references

Notes

1. ^ Israel, who had been allocated to pot six, were pre-allocated to compete in the second semi-final as the first semi-final coincides with Yom Hazikaron.
2. ^ Romania, who had been originally allocated to perform in the second semi-final, were forcefully withdrawn due to repeated non-payment of debts to the EBU.
3. ^ The song contains some words in Pontic Greek, a dialect of Greek spoken in Northern Greece.^[180]

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External links

• Official website