Worldvision Song Contest

The Worldvision Song Contest (often shortened to WSC or Worldvision or WV) is an international song competition which has been organised by the International Eurofan's Countries Organisation (IECO) annually since summer 2022. It is held in a different city each six months, however the same city can host the contest more than once.

At one time, the competition brings together Euro-fans and ordinary music lovers from all over the world. Now the geography of the curators of the competition includes Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, as well as those geographically residing in Poland and the United Arab Emirates.

As of 8 June 2022, twenty-eight countries will take part in the competition. Such world-famous performers as Adele, Imagine Dragons and OneRepublic took part in the competition.

Origins and history

The Worldvision Song Contest's founding stemmed from a desire to promote cooperation between euro-fans from different parts of the world. As in the previous edition, one of the ideas of the association was to include fans outside the post-Soviet zone. The new edition of the competition begins its countdown on March 6, 2022, when it was decided to transfer the activity of communication between the curators of the countries from VK to the Telegram platform.

Twenty-eight countries participated in the first contest, which included a rating-betting stage to eliminate the participating countries for the final. On 18 May 2022, the organizers of the competition decided to automatically admit Australia and Japan to the final. These countries were recognized as the founding countries of the competition.

Format

Original songs representing the participating countries must be released no later than one year from the first day of the month of the contest (thus, for the contest, the final of which took place on July 23, 2022, compositions must be released no earlier than July 1, 2021). However, in the first contest, the final of which took place on July 23, 2022, the contest organizers allowed the selection of songs with a release date no older than January 1, 2021. A "country" as a participant is represented by one curator, an IECO member and usually a broadcaster from that country. The number of stages in the competition is determined based on the number of countries that have submitted their applications for participation.

Selectoin

Each participating country, at its sole discretion, determines the process they may use to select their entry for the competition. Typical entry selection methods include an open national selection using public voting and an international jury; internal selection; and through a mixed format, when some decisions are made internally by the curator of the country, and the public takes part in others.

Participation

Active members (as opposed to observer members) of the IECO are eligible to participate. IECO members who wish to participate must fulfil conditions as laid down in the rules of the contest, a separate copy of which is drafted annually. A maximum of 26 countries ^{(to be specified)} can take part in any one contest.

Eighteen countries have participated at least once. These are listed here alongside the year in which they made their debut:

Hosting

The winning country traditionally hosts the following season's event. Preparations for each contest typically begin at the conclusion of the previous season's contest, with the winning country's head of delegation receiving a welcome package of information related to hosting the contest at the winner's press conference.

The host broadcaster will subsequently select a host city, typically a national or regional capital city, which must meet certain criteria set out in the contest's rules.

Rules

Further information: Rules of the Worldvision Song Contest

The contest is organised annually by the International Eurofan's Countries Organisation (IECO), together with the participating broadcaster of the host country. The event is supervised by a reference group which is represented by the Executive Supervisor, the Executive Secretary (appointed by the IECO) and the Head of Delegation of the host country of the current season. The reference group resolves important and controversial issues during the entire season. The current Executive Supervisor as of Summer 2022 season is Mark Nightingale.

Song eligibility and languages

Further information: Languages in the Worldvision Song Contest

All competing entries must be no longer than four and a half minutes. This rule only applies to the live performance version. In order for the entries in this year's contest to be considered eligible, they must not be released on the YouTube platform before the first day of July of the previous year (for the summer season) and before the first day of January of the previous year (for the winter season). All competitive entries must include vocals and lyrics, and purely instrumental works are not allowed. Participating broadcasters have the right to send a composition in the national or official language of the country. Also, the rules of the competition are available in public languages for all participating countries: English and French.

Artist eligibility and performances

A participating broadcaster has the right to nominate a solo performer, a duet or a musical group. There are no restrictions on the nationality or country of birth of competing artists, and participating broadcasters are free to choose an artist from any country. No performer may compete for more than one country in a given year.

Running order

From the very beginning of the competition, the order of performance of the participating countries is determined and approved by the reference group of the competition before the public announcement. This was done as a random draw to ensure the best experience for TV viewers and to ensure that all countries stand out, avoiding cases where songs of a similar style or tempo are played consecutively. The only place where a random draw is involved is the determination of the part of the performance of the participating country and the serial number for the host country in the final.

Voting

Winning entries

Season		Date	Host	Winner
I	Summer'22	23 July 2022	Spain, Barcelona	TBA 23 July 2022
II	Winter'23	TBD January 2023	23 July 2022	TBD January 2023
III	Summer'23	TBD July 2023	TBD January 2022	TBD July 2023