Eurovision Song Contest 2017

The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and a final on 13 May 2017, held at the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv, Ukraine, and presented by Oleksandr Skichko, Volodymyr Ostapchuk, and Timur Miroshnychenko. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC), which staged the event after its legal predecessor, the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), had won the 2016 contest for Ukraine with the song "1944" by Jamala. It was the first contest since the inaugural 1956 edition without a female host.

Broadcasters from forty-two countries participated in the contest. Portugal and Romania returned to the contest after a year's absence, while Bosnia and Herzegovina did not participate on financial grounds. Russia had originally planned to participate, but later withdrew after its representative, Julia Samoylova, was banned from entering Ukraine by virtue of having travelled directly from Russia to Crimea, a region that was annexed by Russia in 2014, to give a performance, which is illegal under Ukrainian law.

The winner was Portugal with the song "Amar pelos dois", performed by Salvador Sobral and written by his sister Luísa Sobral. The song won both the jury vote and televote, and Bulgaria, Moldova, Belgium, and Sweden rounded out the top five. This was Portugal's first victory in 53 years of participation, the longest wait for victory by any participating country in Eurovision history. It was also the first winning song entirely performed in a country's native language since "Molitva" for Serbia in 2007. The top three countries – Portugal, Bulgaria and Moldova – all achieved their highest placings in their Eurovision history, while host country Ukraine received its worst placing to date, finishing 24th in the final.

The EBU reported that 182 million viewers watched the contest, 22 million fewer than the 2016 record.

The contest took place in the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv, following Ukraine's victory at the 2016 contest with the song "1944", written and performed by Jamala. The International Exhibition Centre has a capacity of approximately 11,000 attendees and is the largest exhibition centre in Kyiv. Located in the western part of the Livoberezhna microdistrict, the centre was opened in October 2002, and its head since its construction was Anatoly Tkachenko.

The Deputy Chief of host broadcaster Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC) and Head of Delegation for Ukraine, Viktoria Romanova, stated on 18 May 2016 that the first organisational meeting for the contest would take place before 8 June, during which the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and UA:PBC would go through the technical requirements for the contest, as well as any training required for the contest to take place in Ukraine. Romanova also announced that the venue for the contest would be announced over the summer.

UA:PBC and the Ukrainian Government formally launched the bidding process for interested cities to apply to host the contest on 23 June. The selection of the host city was scheduled to be conducted in four stages:

The following criteria were outlined for the selection of the host city: