Avalon Song Contest 2

Avalon Song Contest 2 will be the second edition of the Avalon Song Contest, and will be hosted in Guim after Javiera Mena's victory in the first edition.

All countries that competed in the previous edition returned, with the exception of Glariona, Meridia and Someraña who were relegated. Ikana, Oleria, and St. Mercedes debuted this edition.

Location
The event will take place in the Arena of Melodrama in Lampreave, a coastal city within Guim. The arena has an approximate capacity of 17,000 attendees. This makes it slightly bigger than the Adelhallen, which served as host venue for the first edition. Controversially, as Guimish legislation allows for smoking and consumption of marijuana within inside venues, the Arena of Melodrama is smoke-friendly, and no exception was made for the contest.

Bidding phase
GTV and the ABO announced the conditions under which cities and venues could announce their interest in hosting the contest.


 * The host city had to be near a major airport.
 * The venue must be available for at least six weeks before the contest and one week after the conclusion of the contest
 * The venue must not be open-air, but an air-conditioned building with a capacity of at least 10,000 and a minimum ceiling height of 15 metres (49 ft), insulated for sound and light.
 * The green room must be located as close to the arena as possible (or within it), with a capacity of 300.

On 26 June, it was announced that the coastal city Lampreave had been selected as host city, with the contest itself taking place inside the Arena of Melodrama.

Host venue

Grand Final
Twenty-six countries will compete in this edition. The deadline to vote is 2 July at 23:59 CET.

Indoor smoking and marijuana consumption
Owing to the country's relaxed legislation regarding indoor smoking and recreational consumption of marijuana, the host venue 'Arena of Melodrama' is a designated smoke-friendly venue, meaning that attendees are permitted to smoke tobacco or marijuana within the arena. Arena management stated that this "allows music fans to smoke and vibe" to the contest, and they would make no exception for the song contest. This led to several complaints from both the audience and members of delegations in regards to the smell and health concerns regarding second-hand smoke. One anonymous Head of Delegation claimed that "Guim has turned the song contest into one big hotbox", adding "This is unacceptable".

The ABO responded through a statement that they would "allow the Guimish broadcaster, GTV, to have flexibility in hosting the contest in their own vision" and that "delegations can choose to partake in the contest or withdraw if they cannot tolerate cultural differences". Despite this, no countries voluntarily withdrew from the contest, and Guimish organisers noted that the experience was a success.

Voting and spokespersons
Each edition, countries appoint a voting spokesperson to announce their points. They are listed here in the voting order determined by the producers, which was the reversed running order from the show.


 * Celiin
 * Logan Lerman
 * Talos
 * Mercedes Benson
 * Sarah Klang
 * Ben Platt
 * Letitia Dean
 * Destiny
 * Logan Lerman


 * Zebra Katz
 * Between Friends
 * Maxence Danet-Fauvel
 * Melissa Bonny
 * Lisa Kudrow
 * Sevdaliza
 * Clairo
 * Nikki Grahame
 * Bow Anderson

Due to Ikana and Oleria not selecting a spokesperson, host Logan Lerman announced the two countries' votes himself.
 * Rihanna
 * A bottle of rum with googly eyes
 * Justin Tranter
 * Jónsi
 * Sexy Sandra
 * Rina Sawayama
 * Orville Peck
 * Danielle Brooks
 * Javiera Mena