Eurovision 2012 slogan to be presented in Baku

PanARMENIAN.Net - In January, several key events leading up to the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Namely, the traditional Host City Insignia Exchange ceremony and the Semi-Final allocation draw will be held together with the introduction of the slogan and theme art for this year's contest, Eurovision TV reports.

During the Host City Insignia Exchange ceremony the mayor of last year's Host City of Düsseldorf Dirk Elbers will hand over the symbolic key to the Eurovision Song Contest to the mayor of this year's Host City Hajibala Abutalibov.

After the ceremony at the Buta Palace, the Semi-Final allocation draw will be held there as well where all the 37 Semi-Finalists will be drawn into two Semi-Finals.

It will also be determined which Semi-Final the 'Big Five' (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) as well as last year's winning country of Azerbaijan will have to broadcast and vote in.

To assure maximum suspense, the countries represented in the Semi-Finals will be drawn from six pots, based on voting patterns of previous years. This spreads countries that regularly exchange votes over the two Semi-Finals. The draw for the running order will be held in March during the Heads of Delegations meeting after all delegations have picked and handed in their songs officially to the European Broadcasting Union.

Since 2004, the Eurovision Song Contest has a generic logo where in the heart of it the flag of the Host Country is displayed. However, every year the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) invites the Host Broadcaster to create the visual identity to support the logo.

Ictimai TV, the Host Broadcaster of the 2012 contest, will introduce just that during the Host City Insiignia Exchange

This year's Eurovision Song Contest will take place on May 22, 24 and 26. Azerbaijan got the right to host Europe's favorite TV show when their contestants Ell/Nikki won the contest in 2011 with their song Running Scared.

Armenia is on the list of countries to participate in the contest. In a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, head of the Armenian delegation to Eurovision Gohar Gasparyan noted that Armenia’s participation proves its full fledged membership in European Broadcasting Union (EBU).