Avalon Song Contest 3

Avalon Song Contest 3 is the third edition of the Avalon Song Contest. It will be hosted in Aspéira, the capital city of Lúnasagh following the country's win in the second edition.

Someraña and Meridia returned for this edition, coming back after their relegation in the first edition. Glariona confirmed that they will not be returning. Elratale debuted in this edition, competing for the first time.

The contest was cited as being economically and environmentally "green" with an emphasis put on having as little environmental impact as possible whilst maintaining the output of an extremely high quality show to broadcast globally.

Location
The event will take place in Draíocht Arena, a football stadium in the capital city of Aspéira. The arena has a capacity of approximately 52,018 attendees.

Bidding phase
RTL 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 11 July, the capital city Aspéira was revealed as the host city for the contest - with the Draíocht Arena announced as the venue the same day. The bidding process took place behind closed doors and no other bids were publicly revealed. The venue is the football stadium of Aspéira Hotspurs, newly built and opened in 2019. The design of the South Stand is intended to be the "heart-beat" of the stadium that can generate an intense atmosphere on match day. It can hold 17,500 fans and will act house most fans attending the contest, with the North Stand acting as the backdrop for the staging area.

Host venue

Format
The contest will consist of one grand final in which all 26 participating countries will perform. The confirmation period for entry submissions began on 6 July 2020. Entries could be selected via national final events or internal selection, to the discretion of the national broadcaster for each country. The winning country is the one who has the highest-score in terms of points at the end of voting. The 3 countries receiving the least points will be relegated and will be forced to sit the next edition out.

The running order was decided by firstly drawing the place for the host, Lúnasagh, who were allocated spot 21. Then, the remaining countries would draw either first or second half, and the final running order is then decided from that by the producers of the show alongside approval of the ABO.

It was announced on 13 July 2020 by host broadcaster RTL that the presenters chosen to host the contest were comedian & television presenter Dara Ó Briain, comedian & actor Dawn French and actor & director Melissa Fumero.

Grand Final
Twenty-six countries will compete in this edition. The deadline to vote is 30 July at 23:59 CET.

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 is the reversed running order from the show.


 * Kamshat Zholdybaeva
 * Vixen von Molyneux
 * María José Llergo
 * Rosemarie Vega
 * Gary Glitterbitch
 * Roisin Conaty
 * Kiesza
 * Moses Sumney
 * Solar


 * Declan McKenna
 * Perfume Genius
 * Kiana V
 * Mahalia
 * Quay Dash
 * EmmiPlemmi
 * Carly Rae Jepsen and a fan
 * A depressed raccoon
 * Natalia Lacunza


 * Hurricane
 * Marcia Hines
 * Bono
 * Monico Blonde
 * Rebecca Mader
 * Natasha Lyonne
 * Aleh Lukashevich
 * Santigold