Happy New Year: 10 things to look forward to in 2019
01 January 2019 at 09:46 CET
1. Allocation Draw
At the end of this month, the Semi-Final Allocation Draw will take place. The draw will happen in Host City Tel Aviv and determine which country will participate in which Semi-Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest.
The running order of the first and second Semi-Final will be determined at a later stage by the contest's producers.
2. The hosts
The announcement has yet to be made, but historically we've seen very different compositions of hosting teams. For example, last year we saw a quartet of female hosts: Catarina Furtado, Daniela Ruah, Filomena Cautela and Sílvia Alberto. In 2017, an all-male trio hosted the contest in Kyiv: Oleksandr Skichko, Volodymyr Ostapchuk and Timur Miroshnychenko.
Israel mixed it up in Jerusalem at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest with duo Yardena Arazi and Daniel Peer. The 1999 Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem was hosted by Yigal Ravid, Dafna Dekel and Sigal Shahamon.
3. Full stage design
In due time, the full stage design for the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv will be shared. At the end of last year, we were able to share a small preview of what will be the shining centre of attention on 14, 16 and 18 May.
4. Artwork
We will soon release the full artwork that will accompany this year's slogan Dare to Dream, which is about inclusion, diversity and unity.
5. Ticket sales
Tickets for the three live shows of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest have yet to go on sale. We will update the ticket page with relevant information once there is news to share.
6. National selections
Some countries select their participant through an internal process, and others traditionally host a televised national selection show (which the EBU strongly encourages).
Two dozen selections
In the coming months, at least the following countries will be airing live shows during which the audience gets to vote for their favourites: Australia, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
Calendar
Head to our National Selection Calendar for the broadcast dates of the various public national selections taking place between now and March.
7. Knowing all 42 acts
By Sunday 10 March, all 42 participating artists and their entries will have been submitted. This day marks the regulatory deadline to file artists and songs with the EBU.
Already announced artists
At the time of publishing, three acts have already been announced: Albania chose Jonida Maliqi, Armenia has picked Srbuk and Cyprus gave Tamta a ticket to Tel Aviv. The only song announced so far is Ktheju tokës by Albania's Jonida Maliqi.
Returning acts
Every year we see artists returning to the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2018, Alexander Rybak from Norway and Waylon from The Netherlands returned to the contest, and SuRie (United Kingdom) took the main stage for the first time after providing backing vocals for Belgium twice.
So far Il Volo has been confirmed for Sanremo, and therefore have a shot at a ticket to Tel Aviv. The Italian trio fared well in their year, ranking third in the Grand Final of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. In Sweden, Anna Bergendahl returns to Melodifestivalen; she represented her country in Oslo in 2010. MIHAI will perform in the semi-final of the Romanian national selection, hoping to repeat his Eurovision success of 2006.
And who knows, we might just see Valentina Monetta return for a 5th time for San Marino!
8. The three live shows
Save the dates: The first Semi-Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest will take place on Tuesday 14 May, the second Semi-Final will take place on Thursday 16 May and the Grand Final will kick off on Saturday the 18th of May.
9. A new Eurovision winner
On the 18th of May, a new Eurovision winner will be announced. The question is: which country will take home the trophy this year?
Who will win Eurovision 2019?
- Will Host Country Israel win on home turf, and tie their number of wins with France, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom?
- Will Ireland continue their rise, after qualifying for the Grand Final again last year (which, before 2018, last happened in 2013) and add an 8th win to their record?
- Will Sweden, the most successful country at the Eurovision Song Contest in recent years, win and tie with all-time Eurovision favourite Ireland?
- Will France bring home the trophy for a 6th time, tying their number of wins with Sweden?
Countries that have never won
Or will we have a plot twist this year, with a country winning that has never managed to snatch the trophy before? Countries yet to win the Eurovision Song Contest include: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Belarus, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, San Marino and Slovenia.
10. Junior Eurovision 2019
While Poland may not have won the Eurovision Song Contest yet, in November 2018 they did win the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. Roksana Węgiel brought home the trophy with her winning entry Anyone I Want To Be.
Following their win, Poland decided that they also want to host the contest for the first time. A decision on the Host City for the 2019 Junior Eurovision Song Contest has not yet been made, so keep an eye on junioreurovision.tv.