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.
