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Kiev wins bid to host 2017 Eurovision Song Contest

By | Published on Monday 12 September 2016

Eurovision Song Contest

After two weeks of delays, it was finally announced last week that Kiev in Ukraine will host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The host city was due to be announced on 26 Aug, but a press conference was cancelled at the last minute.

Deputy Director General of Ukraine’s national broadcaster NTU, Victoria Romanova, said in a statement: “After a thorough selection process, we are very pleased to be announcing today that NTU will be working with Kiev as host city for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. Kiev presented an excellent case and we are looking forward to working together to create the most electrifying show yet next May”.

The Ukrainian cities of Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson and Lviv had also been considered as locations for the event, but ultimately Kiev was chosen – as it was for Ukraine’s last year as Eurovision host in 2005 – with the main event due to take place at the 11,000 capacity International Exhibition Centre.

“In the course of the selection we were deeply impressed with the efforts made by the bidding cities, the professionalism of their teams and the serious approach to their participation in the bid”, continued Romanova. “The process has demonstrated an unprecedented interest in the Eurovision Song Contest in Ukraine. We look forward to maintaining that momentum, with thanks and congratulations to Kiev – the host city of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest”.

Ukraine won the opportunity to host Eurovision 2017 after singer Jamala won in Sweden this year. Her song, ‘1944’, proved controversial in the run up to the event, after it was argued that its lyrics, about the exile of the Crimean Tatar people by Josef Stalin, were a covert comment on Russian’s 2014 occupation of Crimea. Eurovision officials deemed the lyrics not to break the competition’s ‘no politics’ rule and allowed it to proceed.



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