Greece: Melissa Mantzoukis’ application for a temporary injunction was discussed!

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Melissa Mantzoukis’ application for a temporary injunction against ERT’s selection process for the Greek entry in the Eurovision song contest was discussed today at the Multi-Member Court of First Instance of Athens. The court’s decision is expected on Monday, March 6.

In the trial, PANIK Records also appeared as an intervener, through the lawyer’s proxy, while ERT also announced a trial on the side of Viktor Vernikos, so that he too (through his parents, since he is not an adult), could participate in the case as a party.

As we saw on Melissa’s social media, the singer was this morning in Evelpidon, after appearing in court herself.

With the decision of the temporary injunction, the date of the discussion of the interim measures will be set. We remind you that Melissa Mantzoukis has also filed a lawsuit, which will be discussed in mid-May, with which she requests that she be declared the winner of the ERT selection process and, in addition, be paid an amount as compensation for moral damage.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Greece: Victor Vernicos’s entry will be revealed on March 6! | EXCLUSIVE

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According to our exclusive information, the song that will represent Greece in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest will be officially released next Monday, March 6, 2023.

Victor Vernicos‘ “What They Say” will be released by ERT in its final version, along with the music video. The shooting of the music video, which will be directed by ERT director Yannis Georgioudakis, will take place in the next few days.

Kostas Kalimeris, Steve Sovolos and Vangelis Yialamas have participated in the production of the track.

The stage director of the Greek entry will be Konstantinos Rigos, who has directed the Greek entries in Eurovision 2011 and 2012.

We are looking forward with great anticipation to the reveal of the Greek entry in Eurovision 2023 next Monday!

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the latest developments regarding Greece’s participation in Eurovision 2023!

Poland: Stefania and Kalush Orchestra will sing in the national final!

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In the national final of Poland, Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję 2023, which will be held in Warsaw on February 26, Stefania and Kalush Orchestra will be invited as guest stars, in a surprise live appearance specially prepared for them. Read more

BREAKING NEWS: Within the week, Melissa Mantzoukis will proceed with all legal means against ERT

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A while ago, the lawyer of Melissa Mantzoukis, Christos Zotiadis, was invited to a morning show on the Greek Broadcaster “SKAI”.

Initially, he mentioned that the following week Melissa will proceed with all legal actions against ERT about the selection process regarding Greece’s representative for Eurovision 2023. Due to unstable connection with the show, he only referred to Maria’s Kozakou interview, thanking her about the confession regarding the procedure of the jury voting. ERT had mentioned via extrajudicial document to Melissa earlier that the voting was held as it was announced.

 

Based on what Maria Kozakou has told, the points of the expert jury isn’t equal to 49,4% … They would have given the gold, silver and bronze metal to whoever they wanted. How is possible that among three contestants, one of them gets ranked fifth?

 

Christos Zotiadis thinks that everything Maria Kozakou has told is the reason that ERT has not announced the detailed results of the expert jury despite his persistent requests. Nevertheless, ERT continues not to respond with the detailed results, but mentioning that the voting proceedings are available for pickup.

Here is the full interview in Greek:

Everything that Maria Kozakou told and the response of Melissa Mantzoukis

Maria Kozakou (a member of the expert jury of ERT for the selection process) in her interview mentioned that:

Liar, the song that didn’t manage to go to Eurovision, in the last voting procedure didn’t get 8 points from the seven jurors. As people think, in the last jury voting among the 3 songs, we invited them for an interview and they presented us their ideas about their vision regarding their stage presence in Liverpool…Why didn’t we give 12, 10 and 8 points?  The demoscopic jury ranked the songs from 4 to 12 points, so we had the same amount of points to give as the demoscopic jury. Finally, some songs got 12 points, some 10 and others 6 points. That why the last place didn’t concentrate the minimal points, this is simple mathematics…

 

Here is the full interview in Greek:

 

Melissa responded to what Maria Kozakou said via story in her Instagram page:

Thank you miss Maria Kozakou for finally telling the truth. In every mail and extrajudicial document that have been sent, ERT persists on the exact opposite than what you admitted!

 

 

We expect the following week updates on the topic!

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!

Greece: ERT’s participation fee for Eurovision 2023 | How much did it increase from last year?

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Greece’s participation fee in Eurovision 2023 has increased by approximately 20,000 Euros, according to the official data published today.

Specifically, according to the decision posted on Diaugia, ERT’s participation fee in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest amounts to 150,142 Euros, increased by approximately 20,000 Euros compared to last year.

This of course happened due to the reduced number of countries participating in Eurovision 2023, but also due to the withdrawal of Russia from the EBU, which every year paid one of the largest participation fees, based on its size and population.

The participation fee of each country in the Eurovision contest is different and has to do mainly with the population, but also with other quantitative criteria. The Big 5 who qualify directly to the final (United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, Germany), pay the highest entry fees and therefore have this right, i.e. to be directly in the grand final.

You can see the relevant decision HERE.

Of course, the above 150,142 is only the cost of the participation fee and does not include the additional costs that the public television will incur (travel, accommodation, stage presentation, booth rental, etc.). In the last two years the total budget for Eurovision amounted to approximately 400,000 Euros.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Greece: These are the detailed results of the two juries for Eurovision 2023!

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The official detailed results of Greek selection for Eurovision 2023 have been published in a TV Moring show, “Super Katerina” by the laywer of one of the finalists, Melissa’s Mantzouki.

The ERT jury decided on the top three and held meetings with the team of the three artists about their perfomance, video clip ideas and promotion of the song. After that, the jury submitted their final vote on the three songs.

On the other hand, we remind you that the demographic jury, 70 people who where drawn among 3.000, voted between the 7 songs. 25 of the members were at the age group of 18-24, 20 at the agre group 25-34, 15 members in the group 35-44 and just 10 members on the age group of 45+.

The ERT jury who voted is:

  • Δημήτρης Παπαδημητρίου, music composer – Presented
  • Μαρία Κοζάκου, commentator of Greek Deligation
  • Φώτης Απέργης, ERT radio director
  • Πέτρος Αδάμ, music producer
  • Γιάννης Πετρίδης, music producer
  • Κωνσταντίνος Μπουρούνης, responsible for ERT youth programms
  • Λεωνίδας Αντωνόπουλος, journalist and music composer

The votes of Greek demographic jury among the three contestants were the 50,6% of the results, while the other 49,4% was determined by the Jury voting.

The final results are:

Demographic Public Jury of 70 people:

  1. Melissa Mantzoukis– Liar 693 votes
  2. Victor Vernicos– What they say 509 votes
  3. Maria Maragkou and Antonia Kaouri– Shout out 341 votes

ERT Jury:

  1. Victor Vernicos– What they say 740 votes
  2. Maria Maragkou and Antonia Kaouri– Shout out 720 votes
  3. Melissa Mantzoukis– Liar 440 votes

Combined final resutls

  1. Victor Vernicos– What they say 1.249 votes
  2. Melissa Mantzoukis– Liar 1.133 votes
  3. Maria Maragkou and Antonia Kaouri– Shout out 1.061 votes

Combining the results of the two juries, the winner is 16 years old Victor Vernicos with his emotional ballad “What they say“.

As you have noticed, Liar won the public jury voting with a big difference, as she had an average score of 9.9, while Victor had 7,27 and the duet only 4,87. On the other hand, ERT jury gave Victor an average score of 10,57, the duet a score of 10,28 and Melissa just a 6,28.

The winner was decided due to the big difference of the last place of “Liar” by the ERT Jury. We remind you that both the 70 people that voted and also the ERT Jury voted with the Eurovision sytem (12,10,8).

Stay tuned in EurovisionFun for all the latest new of Eurovision Song Contest 2023!

Eurovision 2023: The Semi-Final Allocation Draw Results!

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Liverpool’s Saint George’s Hall with a very nice event hosted a few minutes ago the draw for the semi-finals of the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.

The analyzes of the fans and not only, have been on fire for a few minutes now. Since the theories based on the pre-history of the countries in the competition, it is a first insight into how passable the qualification to the final is or not. In other words, it’s time to make our predictions, about who will go through to the final and who are the favorites to say goodbye to Liverpool early…

The presenters and the handover ceremony

The Eurovision 2023 semi-final draw was hosted by AJ Odudu and Rylan. Both are on the staff of the BBC, being some of the most loved faces of British public broadcasting.

During the draw, the ceremony of handing over and accepting the emblem of the contest took place. The mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo, formally handed over the “keys to the event” to the mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson.

Draw Procedure

The 31 countries competing in the semi-finals were divided into five pots, based on the scores they have exchanged in recent years with each other. This is done in order to avoid, as much as possible, the alliances that appear every year in the voting.

Big 5 and Ukraine

With the big winner of last year’s competition, Ukraine, directly in the final, along with the Big 5 (UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain), the first part of the draw determined the semi-final that the direct finalists would vote for.

Will vote in the 1st Semi-Final:

  • Germany
  • France
  • Italy

Will vote in the 1st Semi-Final:

  • Ukraine
  • Spain
  • United Kingdom

In the semi-final that the six aforementioned countries were drawn to broadcast and vote for, the video from their dress rehearsal will also be shown. This was done at Eurovision 2016 for the first time, for reasons of equal exposure of the countries directly in the final and the countries that qualify from the semi-finals. Essentially, viewers see each entry twice during the shows.

Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The allocation draw for the two semi-finals had two parts. In the first part the 31 countries participating in the semi-finals were drawn in which of the two they will compete in. Fifteen countries will compete in the first/second semi-final and sixteen in the first/second semi-final.

In the second part, each country learned whether it will appear in the first or second half of the semi-final in which it will compete. The exact order of appearance will be determined by the EBU and the show’s producers at a later date.

1st Semi-final (9 May):

1st Half

  • Serbia
  • Latvia
  • Ireland
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Croatia
  • Malta

2nd Half

  • Sweden
  • Moldova
  • Switzerland
  • Israel
  • Netherlands
  • Finland
  • Azerbaijan
  • Czech Republic

2nd Semi-Final (11 May):

1st Half

  • Armenia
  • Cyprus
  • Romania
  • Denmark
  • Belgium
  • Iceland
  • Greece
  • Estonia

2nd Half

  • Albania
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Lithuania
  • San Marino
  • Slovenia
  • Georgia
  • Poland

Liverpool will host the 67th Eurovision Song Contest from 9 to 13 May at the Liverpool Arena. The motto of this year’s event, as chosen by the organizers, is “United by Music“.

You can see the draw again through the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HAY-qpDTnY

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments regarding Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool!

Eurovision 2023: Today the semi-final draw!

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At 20:00 CET and live from Saint George’s Hall in Liverpool, the Eurovision 2023 semi-final draw will take place.

During today’s event, there will also be the delivery-receipt of the emblem of the organization from the city of Turin to that of Liverpool. For this reason, today’s draw will be attended by both the mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo, and the mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson.

Presenters

The draw is expected to be hosted by AJ Odudu and Rylan, both BBC presenters.

Draw Procedure

The first part of the draw will determine the semi-final that each of the six countries that are directly in the final (Italy, France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, Ukraine) will broadcast and vote for.

The second part of the draw will determine which semi-final and which half the other 31 participating countries will compete in. As in recent years, the exact order of appearance will be determined by the event’s producers at a later date.

The 31 countries have been divided into five pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by official TV partner Digame.

Pot 1
  • Albania
  • Austria
  • Switzerland
  • Croatia
  • Serbia
  • Slovenia
Pot 2
  • Denmark
  • Australia
  • Finland
  • Iceland
  • Norway
  • Sweden
  • Estonia
Pot 3
  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Georgia
  • Israel
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
Pot 4
  • Cyprus
  • Greece
  • Ireland
  • Malta
  • Portugal
  • San Marino
Pot 5
  • Belgium
  • Czech Republic
  • Netherlands
  • Moldova
  • Poland
  • Romania

In the evening, therefore, we all tune in for the draw of the semi-finals of our favorite competition. You can watch the draw on the official Eurovision YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HAY-qpDTnY

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments regarding Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool!

Greece: Fokas Evangelinos will not direct the Greek entry for Eurovision 2023!

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The Greek public broadcaster ERT announced on Monday evening that 16 years old Victor Vernicos will represent Greece in Eurovision 2023 with the song “What They Say”.

Today more information are being revealed regarding his entry and stage performance. For the first time since 2019, Fokas Evangelinos will not direct the Greek entry in the Eurovision stage. He is the director behind countless successful Eurovision entries and winners like Greece 2005, Russia 2008 & 2016, Azerbaijan 2013 etc. It is now known yet who will be the stage director of Greece’s entry for Eurovision 2023.

Victor Vernicos is signed with Panik records, the record company that works closely with Cyprus over the last years in choosing Eurovision entries while Yianna Terzi was part of the roster when she represented Greece in Eurovision 2018.

Below you can watch last year’s Greek entry “Die Together” by Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord that was directed by Fokas Evangelinos and got the 8th place in the Grand Final

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWeT0nJpB3Y

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the latest news on the Greek entry and more!

Greece: With Victor Vernicos and “What They Say” in Eurovision 2023!

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With a surprise announcement a few minutes ago through the main news bulletin, ERT announced that Victor Vernicos will be the representative of Greece in Eurovision 2023. Vernicos will represent Greece in Liverpool with the song “What They Say“.

Victor Vernicos was born in Athens and is the youngest representative that Greece has ever sent to Eurovision, as he is only 16 years old, while his song “What They Say“, with which he will represent the Mediterranean country, is his own composition.

This announcement puts an end to the long process chosen by the Greek state broadcaster for the selection of the representative of Greece in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest which will take place in May in Liverpool.

Viktor Vernicos was seen as the ideal to represent Greece at Eurovision 2023, being the big winner of the internal process which included public (50.6%) and jury (49.4%) voting.

The artistic committee of ERT evaluated the proposals of all the artists, with over 106 songs, and singled out the three best, who held private meetings at the ERT’s headquarters, with the jury committee and the ERT’s management.

After these meetings, where the candidates presented more details (stage appearance, promotion of the song, plans for the video clip, etc.), the competent committee considered Victor’s proposal as better and more complete, considering primarily the song, but also the above important factors. Of course, the voting of the 70-member Polling Committee played a role in the selection.

Thus, for all these reasons, Vernicos was preferred over both Melissa Mantzoukis with the song “Liar” which allegedly won the public vote and the duo of Antonia Kaouri and Maria Maragkou with the song “Shout Out” which allegedly to win the corresponding jury vote.

The committee consists of the following:

  • Dimitris Papadimitriou, music composer – President
  • Maria Kozakou, director of the Second Program of ERA, commentator of the Eurovision contest
  • Fotis Apergis, ERT radio director
  • Petros Adam, music producer
  • Yannis Petridis, music producer
  • Konstantinos Bourounis, head of ERT’s youth program
  • Leonidas Antonopoulos, journalist and music producer

Who Is Who

Victor Vernicos is a proposal of PANIK Records. As he mentioned the theme of his participation is human anxiety, while he characterized his song as a festive, atmospheric ballad.

Victor has been involved in music since he was 4 years old. He has taken vocal and guitar lessons, while he has also attended music technology seminars.

In 2021 he released his first song in which he wrote music, lyrics but also produced it himself. At the moment he is taking vocal and performance lessons with Nina Lotsari.