AwlaVision Song Contest 3

AwlaVision Song Contest 3, often referred to as ASC#3, was the third edition of AwlaVision Song Contest, held in Krakow, Poland. The edition started the 19th January 2016, and ended the 2nd February 2016

14 countries participated in this edition, where Italy and Romania withdrew from the contest. Kazakhstan and Switzerland debuted in this edition. Norway decided to return in third edition. Dotter from Sweden won the contest with the song "Dive" receiving a total of 98 points, 5 points ahead the runner-up, England. Andorra finishing in third place with 79 points. The host country, Poland achieved a 12th place with 27 points. The last place was for Greece, that got only 21 points.

Organisation
After Poland's victory in AwlaVision Song Contest 2, TVP had to decide where to organise the contest this time. The main projects were from Warsaw (Stadion Narodowy) and Krakow (Tauron Arena). Finally, TVP and ABU chose Krakow as the host city of ASC3. The arena elected were Tauron Arena due to the higher capacity for accommodate spectators.

TVP decided to innovate on the issue of presenters. In last edition, there were three me, so now they chose to Małgorzata Jamroży and Marcin Mroziński like presenters of this edition.

Tauron Arena
Tauron Arena is an indoor arena located in Kraków, Poland. It has a seating capacity of 15,030 for sporting events[2]. It hosted the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship tournament, 2016 European League of Legends Championship Finals and 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I.

Tauron Arena Kraków is the largest and one of most modern entertainment and sports venues in Poland. It allows to host a variety of sports events, including badminton, boxing, curling, acrobatic and artistic gymnastics, indoor football, hockey, basketball, track and field, figure skating, volleyball, handball, martial arts, extreme sports, tennis, table tennis, equestrian competitions and sports dancing competitions.

The facility area has 61,434 m2, with maximum area of the arena court of 4 546 m2. The average capacity is 18,000 for concerts, and 15,000 for sport events, with maximum number of spectators being 22,000.

The Arena boasts Poland's largest LED media façade, with a total surface of 5,200 m2 of LED strip lighting, wrapping around the stadium, and one of Europe's largest LED screens, measuring over 540 m2.

Krakow
Krakow is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River (Polish: Wisła) in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life and is one of Poland's most important economic hubs. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1569; the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1596; Free City of Kraków from 1815 to 1846; the Grand Duchy of Cracow from 1846 to 1918; and Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.

The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second most important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was already being reported as a busy trading centre of Slavonic Europe in 965. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and artistic centre. The city has a population of approximately 760,000 whereas about 8 million people live within a 100 kilometres (62 miles) radius of its main square.

In 1978, Karol Wojtyła, archbishop of Kraków, was elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II – the first Slavic pope ever, and the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. Also that year, UNESCO approved the first ever sites for its new World Heritage List, including the entire Old Town in inscribing Cracow's Historic Centre. Kraków is classified as a global city by GaWC, with the ranking of High sufficiency. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its extensive cultural heritage across the epochs of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture includes the Wawel Cathedral and the Royal Castle on the banks of the Vistula river, the St. Mary's Basilica and the largest medieval market square in Europe, the Rynek Główny. Kraków is home to Jagellonian University, one of the oldest universities in the world and traditionally Poland's most reputable institution of higher learning.

In the year 2000, Kraków was named European Capital of Culture. The city would also host the next World Youth Day in 2016. Kraków has been also approved as a UNESCO's City of Literature. On November 7, 2013 Kraków confirmed its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

This is the first time in the contest that AwlaVision Song Contest is held in Poland

Participants
14 countries participated in the edition.

Debuting countries
Bellow a list of all debuting countries:

Returning countries
Bellow a list of all returning countries:

Withdrawing countries
Bellow a list of all withdrawing countries: