Eurovision Song Contest 2019

The 64th Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Tel Aviv Convention Center in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv from 14 to 18 May 2019, after Netta won the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal with the song Toy for Israel. This marked the third time the country has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest after 1979 and 1999.

The competition was won with 498 points for the Netherlands by Duncan Laurence with the pop song Arcade written by himself, Joel Sjöö and Wouter Hardy. It was the first Dutch entry since 1975 to take the win. Overall, it was the fifth win for the country at the competition. As was the case last time in 2016, the winning song in the final failed to win either the televoting or the jury voting. For Norway, the group KEiiNO scored the most audience points with the title Spirit in the Sky with 291 points. The singer Tamara Todevska scored the most jury points with the title Proud for North Macedonia with 247 points.

After fourth place last year, Germany, represented by the duo S!sters, had to settle for a second-to-last place and 24 points, all of which came from the international juries. In contrast, Switzerland, represented by singer Luca Hänni, reached the final for the first time in five years, finishing fourth with 364 points. He thus achieved the best Swiss result since 1993. Austria was eliminated in the second semi-final for the first time since 2013 in penultimate place with singer Pænda.

Second and third place went to the entries from Italy and Russia. Northern Macedonia, which participated under this name for the first time, and San Marino achieved their best result this year.

On 22 May 2019, the EBU corrected the final results of the competition. Due to a human error, in the jury result of Belarus, instead of the first ten ranks, the last ten ranks received the points. Overall, the jury vote was not won by Sweden as announced on the final evening, but by Northern Macedonia. There were also changes in the rankings and the scores of the finalists.

Venue

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 (Israel)

(29° 33′ 0″ N, 34° 57′ 0″O)

Eilat

(32° 48′ 0″ N, 35° 0′ 0″O)

Haifa

(31° 48′ 0″ N, 35° 12′ 0″O)

Jerusalem

(32° 5′ 0″ N, 34° 48′ 0″O)

Tel Aviv

(31° 15′ 4,18″ N, 34° 47′ 16,05″O)

Be'er Sheva

(32° 5′ 1″ N, 34° 53′ 0″O)

Petah Tikva

(31° 18′ 55,06″ N, 35° 21′ 13,49″O)

Masada

Candidate Cities:
Successful application,
Unsuccessful applicant cities

On July 10, 2018, Israeli television presented a list of requirements for the potential host city:

  • The arena hosting the event should have room for 8,000 to 12,000 spectators.
  • At least 3,000 hotel rooms must be available in the vicinity of the venue for the duration of the event.
  • A press centre for at least 1,500 journalists should be available on the site.
  • The venue must be available between March and May 2019.

Following Israel's victory on May 12, 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on his official Instagram account that the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest would be held in Jerusalem. However, this information was not officially confirmed by the hosting broadcaster IPBC (KAN) or the EBU. Nevertheless, Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kachlon announced in an interview that Jerusalem would be the venue and that the event would cost 120 million shekels (about 24 million euros). In addition, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said that the Pais Arena Jerusalem as well as the Teddy Stadium could be possible venues. However, it has already been confirmed by the Jerusalem Municipality that the event will definitely not take place in the venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 and 1999, the International Convention Center Jerusalem.

On May 13, 2018, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai announced that he ruled out hosting his city and the Menora Mivtachim Arena. However, this decision was revised on 11 June 2018.

On May 16, 2018, the mayor of the city of Petach Tikva announced that it too would like to host the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. Even though the city does not have a suitable arena, the mayor argued that Azerbaijan had managed to build an entire arena in five months. Accordingly, Petah Tikva should be able to do the same.

During a meeting of the EBU with the organizing television company KAN, Israel was confirmed as the official host country, after there had been rumors beforehand about a change of venue to Austria. In addition to the EBU, three former host countries (Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom) and the Portuguese broadcaster RTP were present. A debriefing of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 took place with them, organised by RTP.

KAN opened the official venue application process on June 24, 2018.

July 24, 2018 was the deadline for potential venues to apply. Eilat, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv submitted an application. In addition, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv published more specific details about their application. For example, Jerusalem is applying with the Pais Arena rather than the favored Teddy Stadium. Tel Aviv selected Pavilion 2, a convention center on the grounds of the Tel Aviv Convention Center, as a potential venue. The city thus decided against the Menora Mivtachim Arena, which resembled the venues of past Eurovision Song Contests. Contrary to all expectations, the cities of Haifa and Masada did not submit official bids.

After the publication of the criteria for a potential venue, Tel Aviv was considered the favored venue. Ultra-Orthodox parties announced they would vote against rehearsals taking place in Jerusalem during the Sabbath. However, the EBU's official rules require two rehearsals on the Friday before the final. Tel Aviv announced it would allow rehearsals during the Sabbath.

KAN, the broadcaster hosting the event, had to deposit a guarantee of 12 million euros with the EBU by 14 August 2018. According to the broadcaster, it was unable to raise the required sum on its own and had to rely on payments from the Israeli government. Benjamin Netanyahu was most recently convinced that the broadcaster could pay the amount itself from the 750 million euros at its disposal. If no agreement had been reached, up to 200 positions at KAN would have had to be eliminated or the station's own programming would have had to be cut. The EBU reserved the right to withdraw the hosting rights from the broadcaster and to entrust another broadcaster with the hosting. On 14 August 2018, KAN finally paid the requested amount of 12 million euros, thus securing the broadcast in Israel.

At the end of August 2018, Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand visited the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem together with the EBU to get an impression of the conditions there. The city of Eilat presented its application during the visit. However, the EBU had to turn down the city's application because the planned venue did not meet the EBU's requirements. Thus, the decision was made for the venue between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

On 13 September 2018, the EBU and Kan announced the Tel Aviv Convention Center as the venue. With 7,500 seats, the venue is the smallest since Israel last hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1999.

City

Venue

Maximum capacity
(for concerts)

Comments

Official applications

Jerusalemירושלים

Pais Arena Jerusalem

15.654

The semi-finals and the Grand Final will take place at the Tel Aviv Convention Center.

Tel Avivתל
אביב-יפו

Tel Aviv Convention Center, Pavilion 2

7.500

Eliminated applications

Be'er Shevaבאר
שבע

Turner Stadium

16.126

The venues would have had to be covered with a temporary roof if the bid had been accepted.

Haifaחיפה

Sammy Ofer Stadium

30.870

Jerusalemירושלים

Teddy Stadium

31.733

Eilatאילת

The cities do not have a suitable venue. If the respective city had won the bid to host the event, a new building or at least a temporary building would have been necessary.

Masadaמצדה

Petach Tikvaפתח
תקווה

Tel Avivתל
אביב-יפו

Menorah Mivtachim Arena

11.200

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Eurovision Village

The Eurovision Village is located in Tel Aviv's Charles Clore Park and is the official Eurovision song contest fan and sponsor area during the event. In addition to free admission, all visitors can watch various artists and the ESC live there. Besides concerts, DJs, sports, yoga and Israeli food, souvenirs will also be available there. In total, the village will last for nine days.

The Charles Clore Park in Tel AvivZoom
The Charles Clore Park in Tel Aviv

Format

Motto and logo

On 28 October 2018, the EBU unveiled the theme of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. It is Dare To Dream! (Eng: Dare to dream!).

The associated logo was released on January 8, 2019. It consists of three triangles that together form a star, symbolic of cohesion. In addition, there will be two other variations of the logo, which will also be seen in the show. However, the main logo will mainly be present during the three shows.

Stage design

At the end of September 2018, KAN opened the application process for the 2019 stage design, with the broadcaster sending invitations to all stage designers in Israel, though international designers could also apply. KAN also set some conditions for the 2019 stage design, saying it should be iconic, unique, innovative and groundbreaking. Also mentioned is the Greenroom, which will be in a different location for the first time since the 2013 ESC. In addition, there are the criteria that the Greenroom must match the design and that the different spaces should not be very noticeable to the viewer. Video installations, which were not used in Portugal in 2018, are also mentioned in KAN's criteria. Tamir Dayan, CEO of EXPO in Tel Aviv, said that the production team will visit a number of broadcasters who have already hosted the ESC to learn about their experiences with the production in order to create the best possible Eurovision Song Contest.

As in the previous year, the stage design was conceived by Florian Wieder. He also created the stage design for the German preliminary round. The design consists of triangles, which are supposed to remind of the Star of David.

On 27 December 2018, the EBU unveiled the stage design of the ESC.

Moderation

On January 25, 2019, KAN unveiled the four presenters of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. Bar Refaeli, Erez Tal, Assi Azar and Lucy Ayoub will host, marking the first time two women and two men will host the event after only one gender hosted in 2015, 2017 and 2018 respectively. Israel was a pioneer back in 1999, when two women and one man hosted for the first time. Previously, IPBC had offered Gal Gadot to host, however she cancelled due to time constraints.

National juries

The national juries award half of all points at the Eurovision Song Contest. For this, the members of a country will meet and watch the dress rehearsal of the shows together. Each member will then rank all the entries of the evening based on voice, composition and originality of the song. In doing so, each is to do this independently of the others. As soon as all lists are finished, they will be checked by the EBU and converted into points. In the German speaking countries the following jurors sit on the jury:

Belgium

Country

Members

Known as

Belgium BelgienBelgium

Hakima Darhmouch

Journalist

Alex Germys

Singer

Joëlle Morane

Choreographer

Pierre Bertinchamps

Journalist

Olivier Biron

Music Manager

 

Germany

Country

Members

Known as

Germany DeutschlandGermany

Michael Schulte

Singer, participant 2018

Annett Louisan

Singer

Nico Santos

Singer

Nicola Rost

Singer

Joe Chialo

Music Manager

Austria

Country

Members

Known as

AustriaÖsterreich Austria

Peter Vieweger

Musician

Miss May

Singer

Bettina Ruprechter

Music Coach

Mathea

Singer

Julian le Play

Singer

 

Switzerland

Country

Members

Known as

Switzerland SchweizSwitzerland

Cyrill Camenzind

Music producer

Leticia Ribeiro De Carvalho

Singer

Eliane

Singer

Rocco Casella

Musician

Willy Dezelu

Music Program Director

Questions and Answers

Q: What is the Eurovision Song Contest?


A: The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual international music competition where select countries from Europe (and sometimes outside of Europe) compete against each other.

Q: How many editions of the Eurovision Song Contest have taken place so far?


A: As of 2021, there have been 65 editions of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Q: Which country won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019?


A: Duncan Laurence from the Netherlands won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019.

Q: Where did the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 take place?


A: The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 took place in Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel.

Q: Who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2018?


A: Netta won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2018 for her country, Israel.

Q: Has the Eurovision Song Contest ever been held outside of Europe?


A: Yes, the Eurovision Song Contest has been held outside of Europe a few times. For example, in 2015, it was held in Australia.

Q: How are the winners of the Eurovision Song Contest determined?


A: The winners of the Eurovision Song Contest are determined by a combination of professional judges from each participating country and public televoting.

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