International song competition
The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the 2021 contest with the song "" by Måneskin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RAI), the contest was held at the , and consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, and a final on 14 May 2022. The three live shows were presented by Italian television presenter Alessandro Cattelan, Italian singer Laura Pausini and Lebanese-born British-French singer Mika.
Forty countries participated in the contest, with Armenia and Montenegro returning after their absence from the previous edition. Russia had originally planned to participate, but was excluded due to its invasion of Ukraine.
The winner was Ukraine with the song "Stefania", performed by Kalush Orchestra and written by the group's members Ihor Didenchuk, Oleh Psiuk, Tymofii Muzychuk and Vitalii Duzhyk, along with Ivan Klymenko. The United Kingdom finished in second place for a record-extending sixteenth time, also achieving its best result since 1998. Spain, Sweden and Serbia rounded out the top five, with Spain achieving its best result since 1995. Ukraine won the televote with 439 points, the most received in the contest's history to date, and came fourth in the jury vote behind the United Kingdom, Sweden and Spain. "Stefania" is the first song sung entirely in Ukrainian and the first song with hip-hop elements to win the contest.
The EBU reported that the contest had a television audience of 161 million viewers in 34 European markets, a decrease of 22 million viewers from the previous edition, however, it is noted that this is due to the exclusion of Russia and the lack of audience figures from Ukraine, with the overall figures up by 7 million viewers in a comparable market from 2021. An increase of three per cent in the 15–24 year old age range was also reported. A total of 18 million viewers watched the contest online on YouTube and TikTok.
Location.
The 2022 contest took place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the 2021 edition with the song "", performed by Måneskin. It was the third time that Italy had hosted the contest, having previously done so for the 1965 and 1991 contests, held in Naples and Rome respectively. The selected venue was the 13,300-seat , a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Santa Rita district, which serves as a venue for events including concerts, exhibitions, trade fairs, conferences, and sports (mainly those requiring an ice rink, such as ice hockey and curling). had previously hosted the ice hockey events at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and the opening ceremonies of the 2007 Winter Universiade and will host the same event in 2025.
The venue returned to its full capacity for the contest, after the previous edition in Rotterdam saw a limited audience of 3,500 people as a precaution against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the audience was required to wear masks at all times inside the venue, unlike in Rotterdam where mask-wearing was not enforced whenever the audience was seated. Nearly all COVID-19 prevention measures for the contest were dropped by 11 May 2022, with testing only required whenever symptoms were exhibited.
In addition to the main venue, the host city also organised side events in tandem with the contest. The Eurovision Village was the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors area during the event weeks, where it was possible to watch performances by contest participants and local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. It was located at and open from 7 to 14 May 2022. The EuroClub, which took place across ten different locations in Turin, hosted the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike in previous years, access to the EuroClub was not restricted to accredited fans, delegates and press. The "Turquoise Carpet" and Opening Ceremony events, where the contestants and their delegations were presented before the accredited press and fans, took place at the Palace of Venaria on 8 May 2022.
Bidding phase.
Between 23 and 28 May 2021, many cities across Italy expressed interest in hosting the contest. Representatives from the cities of Bologna, Milan, Pesaro, Naples and Turin voiced their interest, as well as the Mayor of Reggio Emilia, Luca Vecchi, who hoped to host the contest in the new RCF Arena, the largest open-air arena in Europe with a capacity of 100,000 spectators. The mayors of Rome, Rimini and Florence soon after also expressed interest in hosting the contest and were joined by Sanremo, Verona and Bari. Marco Di Maio, member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, also suggested that if Rimini were to host the contest, it should be a co-production with San Marino RTV.
Host broadcaster RAI launched the bidding process on 7 July 2021. In the first phase of this process, any interested cities were to present their bid through certified email by 12 July, after which RAI and the EBU would proceed to send all of them a bid book with more detailed requirements for the cities to submit their plans for review.
On 9 July 2021, the city of Turin officially announced its bid. On the same day, the city of Pesaro did the same, proposing the Vitrifrigo Arena as a possible venue to host the event. They were followed by Bologna and Jesolo on 12 July, and Rimini and Bertinoro (jointly with Forlì and Cesena) on 13 July. On 13 July, RAI announced that 17 cities had submitted their bid for hosting the contest and would be provided the following day with the bid books. They had until 4 August to draft and submit their detailed plans, which 11 cities did. On 24 August, it was reported that Bologna, Milan, Pesaro, Rimini and Turin would be the cities left in the running to host the contest.
The choice among them was meant to be announced by the end of August; however, this did not happen, and in mid-September Stefano Coletta, director of Rai 1, stated that the selection was behind time to ensure "transparency and precision". On 8 October 2021, the EBU and RAI announced Turin as the host city, with the as the chosen venue for the contest.
Key:
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Participating countries.
Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members. Associate member Australia did not need an invitation for the 2022 contest, as it had previously been granted permission to participate at least until 2023.
On 20 October 2021, the EBU initially announced that 41 countries would participate in the 2022 contest. The list included all countries that participated in the 2021 contest, along with Armenia and Montenegro, both of which had last taken part in 2019 (Armenia was also set to compete in the cancelled 2020 edition). On 25 February 2022, the EBU announced that Russia was excluded from the contest due to its invasion of Ukraine, thereby reducing the number of participating countries to 40.
Returning artists.
The contest featured five representatives who also previously performed as lead artists for the same country. Nika Kocharov, the guitarist of Circus Mircus, had previously represented Georgia in 2016 alongside Young Georgian Lolitaz; Stoyan Yankoulov, a member of Intelligent Music Project, had represented Bulgaria in 2007 and 2013 alongside Elitsa Todorova; Zdob și Zdub had represented Moldova in 2005 and 2011; Mahmood had represented Italy in 2019; and Ihor Didenchuk, a member of Kalush Orchestra, had previously represented Ukraine in 2021 as a member of Go_A. In addition, Ihan Haydar, who had previously represented Denmark in 2012 as a member of Soluna Samay's backup band, returned as a member of Reddi.
Other countries.
Active EBU members.
Active EBU member broadcasters in 
Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Monaco and Slovakia confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. Turkish national broadcaster TRT had been in talks with the EBU about a potential return to the contest in 2022, but the country ultimately did not appear on the final list of participants.
Non-EBU members.
Belarus was excluded from participation in the 2022 contest on 1 July 2021, when the EBU Executive Board agreed to expel its national broadcaster BTRC as a result of its use as a propaganda tool, losing the rights to broadcast and participate in any Eurovision event until 1 July 2024. Conversely, Russia initially appeared on the list of participants; however, following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and subsequent protests from other participating countries, the EBU decided to exclude the country from the contest; Russian member broadcasters, including VGTRK and Channel One, immediately responded by announcing their withdrawal from the union, which was finalised on 26 May 2022 and resulted in Russia indefinitely losing broadcasting and participation rights for future Eurovision events.
Liechtensteiner broadcaster 1 FL TV, despite previous attempts to become an EBU member, halted its plans after director Peter Kölbel's unexpected death, and did not resume them due to the lack of sufficient funds and of government support.
Production.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was produced by the Italian public broadcaster Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI). Claudio Fasulo and Simona Martorelli served as executive producers, Cristian Biondani and Duccio Forzano served as directors of the three live shows, Claudio Santucci served as head of show, and Emanuele Cristofoli served as artistic director for the opening and interval acts. Background music for the shows was composed by Maurizio Filardo.
The Italian government allocated around as part of the budget needed to host the event, while the municipality of Turin and the regional government of Piedmont contributed around in total. The preliminary total budget for the shows was . The full costs was not officially published, but is estimated to be at approximately .
Visual design.
The theme art and slogan for the contest, "The Sound of Beauty", was unveiled on 21 January 2022. Designed by Rome-based studio Flopicco, the artwork was built around the symmetrical structure and patterns of cymatics to convey the visual properties of sound, which also reflects Italian garden design, while the typography, Arsenica, was inspired by early-20th century Italian poster art; the colours were drawn from those of the Italian flag.
Stage design.
The stage design for the 2022 contest was revealed on 18 February 2022. Designed by Rome-based stage designer Francesca Montinaro and dubbed "The Sun Within", the stage design was based around the movements and light of a kinetic sun, with the intended ability to showcase theatrical motion. The design also featured a working water cascade and a green room modelled after an Italian garden. Montinaro had previous experience in stage design, having done so for the Sanremo Music Festival in 2013 and 2019. This marked the first time since 2016 that German stage designer Florian Wieder did not design the Eurovision stage.
Postcards.
The "postcards" were 40-second video introductions shown on television whilst the stage is being prepared for the next contestant to perform their entry. Filmed between February and April, and directed by Matteo Lanzi, each postcard for 2022 showcased a different locale in Italy adorned by pictures and various artistic elements related to the acts, while the participating artists themselves appeared via footage superimposed through chroma keying, guided by a drone named "Leo". The following locations were used for each participating country:
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Presenters.
Television presenter Alessandro Cattelan and singers Laura Pausini and Mika were the presenters of the 2022 contest. They had already been named as likely hosts by Italian news agency Adnkronos and TV magazine "TV Sorrisi e Canzoni"; and were officially confirmed during the second night of the Sanremo Music Festival 2022 on 2 February, after appearing on that show as special guests.
The "Turquoise Carpet" and Opening Ceremony events were hosted by Gabriele Corsi, Carolina Di Domenico, Mario Acampa and Laura Carusino. Acampa, Carusino and Di Domenico also moderated the contest's press conferences.
Format.
Entries.
For the second year in a row, delegations had the option to use pre-recorded backing vocals, though each delegation could still use backing singers – whether on or off stage – or a combination of live and recorded backing vocals. However, all lead vocals performing the melody of