AwlaVision Song Contest 17

AwlaVision Song Contest 17, often referred to as ASC#17, was the seventeenth edition of AwlaVision Song Contest, held in Leeds, England. The edition started the 01st April 2017, and ended the 29th April 2017.

¡44 countries took part in this edition. No one debuted in this edition. Armenia and Malta withdrew from ASC. Serbia returned to the competition. Hurts from Scotland won the contest with the song "Beautiful ones" receiving a total of 329 points, 46 point ahead the runner-up, Albania. Spain finished in third place with 255 points. The host country, England achieved a 20th place with 13 points. The last place was for Kosovo, that got 1 point.¡

Organisation
After England's victory in AwlaVision Song Contest 16, BBC England and ABU had to decide where to organise the contest this time. The projects were from Birmingham (Barclaycard Arena), Leeds (First Direct Arena), Liverpool (Echo Arena) and London (Copper Box). Finally, BBC England and ABU chose Leeds as the host city of ASC17.

BBC England decided to use popular and professionals people as presenters. Finally Molly Smitten and Ed Skrein were selected.

First Direct Arena
The First Direct Arena is a 14,000 capacity entertainment focused arena in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is the first in the United Kingdom to have a fan-shaped orientation. The arena officially opened its doors on 4 September 2013 with Sir Elton John, playing to an audience of 12,000. Bruce Springsteen had, however, held the first concert on 24 July 2013, with an audience of 13,000. The arena's opening season in 2013 later included acts including Kaiser Chiefs, Rod Stewart, Status Quo and Depeche Mode. The building has been nominated as one of England's greatest landmarks, and won best new venue in the world in 2014.

Leeds had been the largest city in the United Kingdom without a major venue to hold music or indoor sporting events. As of February 2010, Bristol and Leeds were the only major cities without an arena style venue. Previously, the Queen's Hall was used for popular music concerts but this was demolished in 1989. Since 1989, there have been a number of failed attempts at building a major venue in Leeds. An arena has been long requested by residents in Leeds. The consultation on the Vision for Leeds 2004 to 2020 showed a strong demand from the public for a new arena, and the project became one of the city's 12 priorities. The Leeds Initiative formed a Cultural facilities task group to consider options. It appointed PMP consultants whose report outlined the viability of a Leeds Arena,and other potential projects such as a concert hall. The task group recommended that the Council proceed with the development of a 12,500 seat arena. Whilst this study was taking place, campaigners including the Yorkshire Evening Post lobbied for a new arena to be built in the city. This resulted in a widescale 'Leeds needs an arena' campaign that had endorsements from local artists including the Kaiser Chiefs as well as local businesses and residents. The campaign was well publicised in local media, and included popular Myspace and Facebook groups.

Following this, competitions began to find an operator and developer for an arena. In March 2008, SMG were chosen as the future operators of the first direct arena, following worldwide interest from potential operators in the scheme. SMG also operate arenas in Newcastle, Belfast and Manchester and operate over 200 venues worldwide. The addition of Leeds strengthens their position in the UK Arena market. SMG's European managing director has stated that Leeds will be its "flagship venue" in Europe and that they expect first direct arena "to be in the top 10 in the world within two to three years of opening". Two main bidders were involved in the competition to develop the arena. These were the Council owned land at Elland Road as one location which would have been developed by GMI Construction and land owned by Montpellier Estates in Sweet Street, Holbeck with Montpellier Estates being developer of the latter site. However, in November 2008, Leeds City Council announced they had terminated the developer competition and chosen Claypit Lane as the site for the new arena and would proceed as the developer. This resulted in a legal challenge from Montpellier Estates. Montpellier's claim for more than £43.5 million was rejected by Mr Justice Supperstone in a Judgement handed down on 6 February 2013.

Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. Historically in Yorkshire's West Riding, the history of Leeds can be traced to the 5th century, when the name referred to a wooded area of the Kingdom of Elmet. The name has been applied to many administrative entities over the centuries. It changed from being the name of a small manorial borough in the 13th century, through several incarnations, to being the name attached to the present metropolitan borough. In the 17th and 18th centuries Leeds became a major centre for the production and trading of wool. During the Industrial Revolution, Leeds developed into a major mill town; wool was the dominant industry but flax, engineering, iron foundries, printing, and other industries were important. From being a compact market town in the valley of the River Aire in the 16th century Leeds expanded and absorbed the surrounding villages to become a populous urban centre by the mid-20th century. Leeds has a population of around 781,700 (2016) making it the third largest city in the United Kingdom. The city lies within the United Kingdom's fourth-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.3 million.

Today, Leeds has the most diverse economy of all the UK's main employment centres and has seen the fastest rate of private-sector jobs growth of any UK city and has the highest ratio of public to private sector jobs of all the UK's Core Cities. Leeds has the third-largest jobs total by local authority area with 480,000 in employment and self-employment at the beginning of 2015. Leeds is also ranked as a gamma world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network; and is considered the cultural, financial and commercial heart of the West Yorkshire Urban Area. Leeds is served by four universities, and has the fourth largest student population in the country and has the country's fourth largest urban economy. After London, Leeds is the largest legal and financial centre in the UK, and in 2011 its financial and insurance services industry was worth £2.1 billion with more than 30 national and international banks located in the city. Leeds is also the UK's third largest manufacturing centre with around 1,800 firms and 39,000 employees, Leeds manufacturing firms account for 8.8% of total employment in the city. The largest sub-sectors are engineering, printing and publishing, food and drink, chemicals and medical technology.

Leeds has a climate that is oceanic, greatly influenced by the Atlantic and the Pennines. Summers are usually mild, with moderate rainfall, while winters are chilly, cloudy with occasional snow and frost. Spring and autumn are cool but snow and frost are not unheard of in either season. July is the warmest month, with a mean temperature of 16 °C, while the coldest month is January, with a mean temperature of 3 °C. Temperatures above 30 °C and below −10 °C are not very common but can happen occasionally. Temperatures at Leeds Bradford Airport fell to −12.6 °C in December 2010 and reached 31.8 °C at Leeds city centre in August 2003. The record temperature for Leeds is 34.4 °C during the early August 1990 heatwave.

This is the second time in the contest that AwlaVision Song Contest is held in England, but the first one in Leeds.

Participants
44 countries took part in the edition.

Withdrawing countries
Bellow a list of all withdrawing countries:

Returning countries
Bellow a list of all withdrawing countries:

First Semifinal
Jury
 * (Host)
 * (Finalist)
 * (Finalist)

Second Semifinal
Jury
 * (Finalist)
 * (Finalist)
 * (Finalist)