Eurovision 2020: NPO receives 1,347 applications for ESC postcards

by Sanjay (Sergio) Jiandani 787 views

Dutch national broadcaster, NPO, has received 1,347 applications in its quest to search for locations, activities, bands, associations, clubs and events showcasing the Netherlands in the best ways through the Eurovision 2020 postcards.

According to Dutch news portal AD.nl, a total of 1,347 applications have arrived at NPO. It seems that the whole of Netherlands is pretty eager to be part of the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest postcards.

The City of  Rotterdam has contributed the most ideas  for the 41 lucrative introduction films that will be seen during the Eurovision Song Contest in May. Associations and clubs from Rotterdam have submitted 138 applications for the so-called postcard videos, in which artists from the participating countries will be presented to the 200 million TV viewers. Following Rotterdam are Amsterdam with 65 submissions, Utrecht with 33  and The Hague with 25 applications.

Following a call from the NPO requesting for the whole of the Netherlands to apply to partake in the ESC 2020 Postcards, applications arrived from the whole nation.

 A total of 1,347 applications have been received including submissions from volunteer organizations, choirs, brass bands, student associations, orchestras, sports clubs,  rowing clubs, sailing clubs, carnival clubs etc.

The province of Zuid-Holland (South Holland) has submitted  the highest number of applications with 414, followed by Noord-Holland (North Holland) with 179, Noord-Brabant ( North Brabant) with 164 and Gelderland  with 136 .

Dutch Diversity

A total of 41 postcard videos will be made, one for each participating country. Earlier editions of the Eurovision Song Contest mainly focused on tourist attractions – winner Duncan Laurence landed on Mount Arbel in Israel for his video – but in 2020 the organization will take a different approach.

Sietse Bakker ( Eurovision 2020 Executive Producer) says:

We deliberately chose to show the best of the Netherlands through postcards: the people and their hospitality, in all their diversity.

The 2020 Eurovision Committee and NPO are quite thrilled and satified with the massive response.

Danny Vormer (Eurovision 2020 Spokesperson) says:

This is a rich harvest. We want to show the Netherlands as diverse as possible and if you look at the list, we will succeed in doing so. The range is very varied.

We  will now visit the different organizations and locations, but this doesn’t mean that they are actually chosen. There are no guarantees.

We want to surprise the Netherlands. Ultimately, we have look at which artists will be presented at which location. These videos should showcase the diversity of both the Netherlands and the Dutchman.

The Postcard Concept

As the Netherlands, the 2020 ESC Committe wants the artists of the Eurovision Song Contest to get to know the Dutch people and experience along with them their activities, traditions and hobbies that are characteristic of the Netherlands. Thus this will be the concept behind the 2020 Eurovision postcards!

For each of the 41 postcards the ESC 2020 Committee are looking for a group, street, club or association that wants to receive one of the artists and let them participate in their activity, hobby, sport or tradition. Whether that is a game of football, an afternoon skating in the skate park, building a carnival carriage, a bingo evening, a workshop baking pies or a sailing trip…

Artists and delegations from 41 countries will travel to the Netherlands in order to film their respective postcards. Each country will film its postcard in a different location in the Netherlands.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 Organizing Body called on the people of the Netherlands to welcome one of the 41 participants in their street, sports club, group, community or association. This special call had everything to do with the postcards, the short introduction films with which the participants are traditionally introduced.

Each artist will experience his/her own unique piece of the Netherlands prior to the Eurovision Song Contest, by partaking in a Dutch activity, tradition or hobby. This will form the concept of the videos – the so-called postcards – which, entirely in the tradition of the Contest, introduce the performances of the artists during the Semi-Finals and the Grand Final.

The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest will be co-produced by Dutch public broadcasters NPO, NOS and AVROTROS in collaboration with the EBU.

The 2020 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 12, 14 and 16 May at the Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, the Netherlands