AwlaVision Song Contest 61

AwlaVision Song Contest 61, often referred to as ASC#61, was the sixty-first edition of AwlaVision Song Contest, held in Turku, Finland. The edition started the 01st February 2022, and ended the 26th February 2022.

42 countries took part in this edition. No one debuted in this edition. No one withdrew from ASC. No one returned to the competition. TBA from TBA won the contest with the song "TBA" receiving a total of TBA points, TBA points ahead the runner-up, TBA. TBA finished in third place with TBA points. The host country Finland achieved a TBA place with TBA points. The last place was for TBA, that got TBA points.

Organisation
After Finland's victory in AwlaVision Song Contest 60, YLE and ABU had to decide where to organise the contest this time. YLE organised a public competition for choosing the host city between all applicant cities. Some cities presented their applications and the organisation had to decide which one was the best. Finally, YLE and ABU chose Turku as the host city of ASC61.

YLE decided to use popular and professionals people as presenters. Finally Saimi Hoyer and Sauli Koskinen were selected.

Gatorade Center
The Gatorade Center (commonly referred to as Turkuhalli in Finnish and Åbohallen in Swedish) is a multi-functional indoor arena in the district of Artukainen in Turku, Finland. Opened in November 1990, it can hold up to 11,800 spectators for ice hockey games.

It is primarily used for ice hockey, and is the home arena of TPS, but it is also frequently used to host concerts and other events such as the Maata Näkyvissä Festival. A record attendance of 12,041 for a hockey match was registered in 1991. Gatorade Center is a member of the European Arenas Association (EAA).

The arena, Turku Fair and Congress Centre, and a riding school were built on the former runways of the Artukainen Airport (1935–1955), which served as the main airport of Turku until Turku Airport was built in 1955. The arena was built for the needs of hosting the Ice Hockey World Championships, during which it was the main venue of the games. There were, among others, matches of the group stage and the final stage of the tournament. It was the first arena to be built in Finland with a capacity of more than 10,000 people. It was not until 1997 that a larger venue was opened, this being Hartwall Arena in the Finnish capital Helsinki. The Gatorade Center was designed by architectural firm Casagrande and Haroma Oy and cost 145 million Finnmarks (24.4 million euros). The city of Turku paid 95 million Finnmarks (16 million euros) towards this.

Due to the world COVID19 situation and its regulations in the European Union and Finland, this was the eleventh edition that was held with public and media attendance limitations to all of the shows.

Turku
Turku is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River,[15][16] in the region of Finland Proper and the former Turku and Pori Province. The region was originally called Suomi (Finland), which later became the name for the whole country. As of 31 March 2021, the population of Turku was 194,244 making it the sixth largest city in Finland after Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa and Oulu. There were 281,108 inhabitants living in the Turku Central Locality, ranking it as the third largest urban area in Finland after the Capital Region area and Tampere Central Locality. The city is officially bilingual as 5.2 percent of its population identify Swedish as a mother-tongue.

Turku is the oldest city in Finland, and served as the most important city of the eastern part of the Kingdom of Sweden (modern-day Finland). After the Finnish war, Finland became an autonomous grand duchy of the Russian Empire in 1809, and Turku was made the capital of the grand duchy. However, Turku lost its status as capital only after three years in 1812, when Tsar Alexander I of Russia decided to move the capital to Helsinki. It was only after the last great fire in 1827 that most governmental institutions were moved to Helsinki along with the Royal Academy of Turku (Turun Akatemia) founded in 1640, which then became the University of Helsinki, thus consolidating Helsinki's position as the new capital. Turku continued to be the most populous city in Finland until the end of the 1840s, and it remains the regional capital and an important business and cultural center and port. Due to its location, Turku is a notable commercial and passenger seaport with over three million passengers traveling through the Port of Turku each year to Stockholm and Mariehamn.

Because of its long history, it has been the site of many important events, and has extensively influenced Finnish history as the former capital city. Along with Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, Turku was designated the European Capital of Culture for 2011. In 1996, it was declared the "Christmas City" of Finland. Also, Turku has been officially declared the Food Capital of Finland, because it holds a number of Finland's oldest, highest quality restaurants alongside a historically famous fish market, held twice a year. Turku's canteen and café culture has often been compared to French food culture, which is why Turku has also been perceived as "Paris of Finland"; this is also the reason for the Swedish saying: "Varför Paris, vi har ju Åbo!" ("Why Paris, we have Turku!")

Situated by the Baltic Sea and sheltered by the islands of the Archipelago Sea, Turku has a humid continental climate. Like much of southern Finland, the city experiences warm summers, with temperatures ranging up to 30 °C, and relatively cold winters with frequent snowfall. The warmest month of the year is July, with an average temperature of 17.5 °C, whereas the coldest month is February. The average year-round temperature is 5.5 °C. Winter usually starts in early December, and spring in late March. Precipitation in Turku averages 720 mm a year. The rainiest month of the year is August, when the city receives on average 80 mm of rainfall. In April, the driest month of the year, the figure is only 32 mm. The average air pressure at sea level is 101.2 kilopascals, with little variance throughout the year.

This is the fourth time in the contest that AwlaVision Song Contest is held in Finland, but the first that it is held in Turku.

Participants
42 countries took part in the edition.

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

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