The Armenian Head of Delegation, David Tserunyan, has replaced the Italian Head of Delegation on the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group.

The Italian Head of Delegation, Nicola Caligiore, was an elected member of the Reference Group who served for circa 4 terms. He has left his post at RAI in order to pursue a professional career abroad.

David Tserunyan, is a young and multi talented Armenian tv producer. He has worked on AMPTV as Head of Press at Eurovision, today he is the Head of Delegation of the Armenian Delegation. He is also a member of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest Steering Group. He will be replacing Nicola Caligiore in the ESC  Reference Group.

David is the Armenian Head of Delegation both at the Eurovision Song Contest and Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

The Refence Group

The Reference Group was formed by the European Broadcasting Union’s Television Committee in 1998. The Group meets up 5-6 times a year.

The main tasks of the body include approving format developments and changes to the rules, securing financing, modernizing the brand and raising awareness of the Eurovision Song Contest and overseeing the yearly preparation by the Host Broadcaster.

The Reference Group is composed of a Chairman, three members elected by the Heads of Delegation, two Executive Producers from previous host countries, as well as the Executive Producer of the current Host Broadcaster. The EBU’s Eurovision Song Contest Executive Supervisor is also a member of the Reference Group.

The Reference Group has a possibility to invite up to 2 extra professionals to join the group.

The Reference Group currently consists of the following members:

• Dr. Frank-Dieter Freiling (ZDF/Germany)(Chairman)
• Mr. Jon Ola Sand (EBU Representative)
• Mr. David Tserunyan (AMPTV/Armenia)
• Ms. Carla Bugalho –(RTP/Portugal) (Eurovision 2018 Executive Producer)
• Mr. Aleksandar Radic (RTVSLO/Slovenia) – Elected member
• Mr. Reto Peritz  (SRF/ Switzerland) – Elected member
• Ms. Ayala Mizrachi  (KAN/Israel) (Deputy Executive Producer Eurovision 2019)
• Ms. Rachel Ashdown (BBC/ United Kingdom)- Appointed member
• Mr. Yuval Cohen (Israel) (Creative Director Eurovision 2019)
• Ms. Inge van de Weerd  (NOS/AVROTROS -The Netherlands) ( Eurovision 2020 Executive Producer TV)

The current Reference Group includes the Heads of Delegation from Switzerland, Slovenia, Armenia and Portugal.

The Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group is the executive Committee for all Members, its purpose being to control and guide the Eurovision Song Contest and meets four to five times each year on behalf of all Participating Broadcasters, and is required to take decisions in the general interest of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Source: EBU