Good evening people, Lisbon calling! What we’ve been waiting for all year long, is finally here! With the Blue Carpet ceremony last Sunday, the 63rd Eurovision Song Contest has officially opened its curtains in the Portuguese capital and a week full of shows, entertainment and suspense has already begun!
As with every year since 2008, the Eurovision Song Contest will consist of two semi-final shows, taking on Tuesday and on Thursday respectively and the Grand Final, which will be held (as per tradition) on Saturday at Lisbon’s Altice Arena.
10 countries from each semi-final show will join the 6 automatic finalists (host country Portugal and the “Big 5” – United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain) at Saturday’s Grand Final, bringing the total number of finalists to 26.
Within a record number of 43 participants (equal to 2008 and 2011), only one will be crowned the winner, getting the honour of hosting next year’s 64th Eurovision edition.
Our editors have their say
And now our questions of torture: Who’s progressing to the final and who’s not? Who will continue on the road to victory and who will bid farewell in the competition? Who are going to be the public’s and juries’ favourites? Tonight, 10 countries will keep fighting for the Eurovision trophy, as they will qualify to the Grand Final, out of a total of 19 contestants.
As with last year, all of ESCToday‘s editors have tried to give an answer to the query, as they were asked to cast their votes in the Eurovision system, according to their personal preferences. Each editor has awarded his/her own set of 1-8, 10 and 12 points to his/her favourite 10 entries of the show.
Following the ranking of each editor separately, we now have our 10 qualifiers of today’s semi-final, announced in a random order.
The edirors’ results!
The 10 qualifiers that have emerged from the poll are (in random order):
It was a strong competition between the 19 competing entries. Only 3 points behind the last of the 10 qualifiers, we see Switzerland, whilst the 12th place was awarded to Croatia. The remaining countries of the first semi-final are (in alphabetical order): Albania, Armenia, Austria, FYR Macedonia, Iceland, Ireland and Lithuania.
What’s your own opinion on the first semi-final editors’ poll? Would you like to see these countries among tonight’s winner or would you like to see any of the non-qualifiers jumping into the Top 10?
How close will the editors’ poll be to the actual result? It’s only a matter of a few hours to find out on our screens!