Plastics Song Contest 25

The Plastics Song Contest 25 was the twenty-fifth of the Plastics Song Contest. It took place in Maris, Nexus, following Elle Winter's win in the 24th edition of the Plastics Song Contest in Aquatica with the song "Yeah, No". It was the first time that Nexus hold the contest.

31 countries confirmed their participation in this edition. This edition has three debuting nations  Julius Meinl Land,   Republika Ng Marahuyo and  Saint Kiki and The Chrystols

After a hiatus, on the 20th of October 2020, was announced as the winner, with Agoney's song, "Black". It is the second time the nation won, noting their previous win three editions prior.

'''This edition has a theme. The entries of the participating countries must have an influence of the theme. The theme of this edition is that they must send an entry that is sung in a language other than English.'''

Venue
The Movistar Arena was chosen as the arena for this edition. The host city, Maris, only had one arena that met the necessary criteria. They could also convert the football stadium into a hall, but that was swept off the track by the management of the sports team that plays there. One would be there an important qualifier for the Plastics Cup.

Bidding Phase
On the 28 May 2020, Nexusian host public broadcaster NTV and the PBU released some requirements and details about the venue. NTV requested interested parties to respond by 31 May 2020.


 * The venue must be available for at least 6 to 7 weeks before the contest and one week after the conclusion of the contest.
 * The venue must not be open-air, but an air-conditioned building with a capacity of at least 10,000 and a minimum ceiling height of 15 metres (49 ft), insulated for sound and light.
 * The Green Room should be located in the arena or as near it as possible, with a capacity of 300.
 * An additional room at least 6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft) in area, to house 2 catering stands, a viewing room, make-up rooms, wardrobe, and booths for approximately 50 commentators.
 * Separate offices to house the press centre at least 4,000 square metres (43,000 sq ft) in area, with a capacity of at least 1,500 journalists.

The public broadcaster NTV has chosen Maris as the host city, but they have not named any other cities that would have had a chance to host the festival. There would have been a chance for the capital, but the mayor would like to give the chance for Maris because they are already allowed to host the semi-final of the Plastics Cup.

Host City
The Nexus broadcaster said that Maris is the perfect city for hosting this contest due it was located by the beach and is also surrounded by mountains. The city is also the second-largest city of Nexus. The city also offers many cultural and recreational opportunities for visitors. It is also a very easily accessible city. It is close to the largest port of Nexus and at the third-largest airport. The airport is only a 15-minute walk from the hall. Pre-parties will be held on the beach. The host city itself has bid for this with a playbook. The mayor takes measures to ensure safety for visitors. she also promises to be able to offer as many sleeping options as possible in the city. For people with a different orientation, there is no problem. Nexus belongs to one of these countries that protects this target group. Normally, it would not be a problem with the country's finances and the broadcaster to organize the event.

Voting
Each participating country has its own national jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry. Each member of a respective nation's jury was required to rank every song, except that of their own country. The voting results from each member of a particular nation's jury were combined to produce an overall ranking from first to last place. Likewise, the televoting results were also interpreted as a full ranking, taking into account the full televoting result rather than just the top ten. The combination of the juries' full ranking and the televotes' full ranking produced an overall ranking of all competing entries. The song which scored the highest overall rank received 12 points, while the tenth-best ranked song received one point. In the event of a televoting failure (insufficient number of votes/technical issues) or jury failure (technical issue/breach of rules), only one of the methods was used by each country.

Special Theme
The PBU and NTV discussed in a meeting between them that they would have a special theme. The PBU had this idea a month earlier and asked at the Heads of Deligations what their opinion was about it. Half of the delegations didn't want a special theme but could live with it being an edition with non-English songs. On the 27th of May, they confirmed that there would be an edition with non-English songs.

Artwork and Slogan
The host country wanted to use the logo to highlight its history, as Nexus is known as a fairly modern country that has a Western vision. The nation also has a past as an important stopping point for merchant ships in the eighteenth century to transport goods to the eastern world. The logo of this edition is a representation of a piece of lace. Lace was traded by the countries that helped gain profit of this industry. After these countries had many problems with piracy, they decided to invest in Nexus to start-up to large factories that produce side. This one was breaking into the industry. They had made lace in the colors blue and red. These colors were also symbolized in the logo.

The slogan of this edition is "Connecting Dreams". The phrase was chosen to symbolize Maris' past, where you can go from a port to a big metropolis.

The logo appeared over in Nexus in public places. There are two versions, one with a blue background and one with a white background. That's how they wanted to create a diversity.

Participating Countries
The open call for confirming participation started from 27 May and ended on 14 June.

These entries will be added to the history of this competition. Countries are not allowed to take used songs from the history of the competition. Also, countries are not allowed to take songs that participated in the Junior Plastics Song Contest. There is a age limit set. The artist must be 16 for competing in the Plastics Song Contest.

Semi Final 1
The first semi-final took place on 21 July 2020 at 21:00 (CEST). Fourteen countries will participate in this first semi-final. These countries, plus Cascadia voted in this semi-final. Results were announced on the 10th of August, where it has been found that Saint Kiki and The Chrystols, as well as Cascadia, the sole voting AQ, failed to vote.

Playlist

Recap

Semi Final 2
The second semi-final took place on 23 July 2020 at 21:00 (CEST). Fourteen countries participated in this semi-final. These countries, plus &  voted in this semi-final.

On the 11th of August, results were announced, but not before knowing were unable to vote, thus became disqualified from possibly qualifying to the finals as well as placing last. After semi results were announced, it was shown that (who placed 11th originally) wouldn't qualify had the former nation (who placed 9th originally) had voted.

Playlist

Recap

The Grand Final
The voting for the final took place on 2 September 2020 at 21:00 (CEST). Twenty-three countries have participated in the final, composed of the automatic qualifiers (, Cascadia and  Nexus) and the ten best-ranked entries of each of the two semifinals. 24 countries participating in the contest have voted in the final, leaving the other seven to be penalized, and for 3 finalists, to be disqualified.

The results were announced on the 20th of October 2020.

Recap

National Finals
No national finals were held this edition. Aquatica's public broadcaster wanted to hold a national final but was whistled back by the government. The reason for this was that there was currently no money enough for a national final. It was also unwise to hold a national final with the current corona crisis that fortunately is under control in Aquatica.

Other countries
Eligibility for potential participation in Plastics Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with an active PBA membership that is able to broadcast the contest. All countries with an active PBA membership have been given an invitation to join this edition.

Active PBA members

 * Flag Rote.jpg Rote Kaserne - On the 13th June RK RTV announced that they will pass edition. They are preparing their entry for next edition. The public broadcaster is probably saving money to spend more for next time. Rumours are circulating that they assume that this entry could be the best result for the country.

Inactive PBA members

 * flag of Carlamastia.png Carlamastia - On the 12th June the country announced that they will not participate. The reasons for the decision are not known, but local sources say there is a reduced interest in the contest.
 * - On the 12th June the broadcaster FTV declared that they won't be in edition 25 of Plastics. The reason is probably that the budget that is not balanced in the country.
 * - On the 13th June the broadcaster announced that they will be not participating in this edition and probably in the next ones. Reasons for this are unclear.
 * - On the 12th June they declared they won't be in edition 25. The reasons for not returning aren't offcial but likely due less interest.

COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2) crisis, pandemic and possible cancellation
A notable reason to postpone this song festival was because of the corona virus that gripped the entire world. every country had a sudden overload of hospitals and members, unfortunately victims and deaths. Many countries went into a lockdown in order to inhibit the virus and thus inhibit hospital pressure and imports. A vaccine was also feverishly sought to get its hold on this virus. It was a race between the rich countries to have the scoop. Finally, a vaccine was found in a Maplars lab. It was bought en masse and spread among the population. As a result, there was a large decrease in infections. Later, certain countries such as Skandinavisk Kingdom and Maplar were the first to become corona free. This revolution of solidarity among countries and people also has an influence on this song festival. Suddenly 30 million euros were invested from all countries. More countries have ambitions to host this festival. These contributions will only be tangible for the next edition.

At first, there was fear that the festival would be postponed or even cancelled. Eventually they first held without an audience, but after recent developments one can again hold the festival with a full hall.

Saint Kiki and The Chrystols unable to vote
The national broadcaster was unable to vote in the first semifinal. This would be due to a local problem with the country's cell towers. The country is a newly formed country that recently gained independence from the part belonging to L. As a result, there are no decent installations yet because this part was the poorest part of the country L. The country was disqualified. Whether the country will participate in edition 26 is still unclear.

Julius Meinl Land voting issue
This country has a very delicate issue in the Eurovision song contest. It was already very difficult for the country to make a debut in this match. When the country debuted in this edition, it achieved a total of 50 points in the second semifinal with Grimoire. The country would have qualified if it had voted. The reason for the non-vote is probably due to the dictatorship policy of the current president. The residents could not vote because of no internet or telephone possibilities. They only had jury votes and that is not enough to have a correct picture for a vote of the country. It is not yet known if the country will participate again in the next edition.

International Broadcasting
If a country wants to participate, one has to find a public broadcaster to broadcast it, which then automatically becomes a member of the PBA. Normally these are all channels that are sponsored by the government and are available on a national level. Below is a list of the sending participants. There is also a live stream on the official site and YouTube channel. You can watch it all over the world.

Broadcasters

 * Flag_Aquatiqa.png Aquatique
 * ARIATV
 * HAYAT TV
 * Calavera.jpg Bloom36
 * Cascadia.jpg ABS-CBN
 * DBC
 * Flag of Disneyland.png MMTV
 * Edulandia.png Eduvision
 * esco.jpg EST
 * Flag of Haykaland.jpg Hay TVR
 * HelyaTV
 * IBS
 * Flag of Julius Meinl Land.png
 * Flag of Kerry Republic.png KRC
 * Korviet.jpg TVHouse
 * RTK
 * Flag of L.jpg
 * MTV


 * RTM
 * Nexus.jpg NTV
 * Republic N .png
 * flag of Oldlandia.png OLD
 * Flag of Phoenixiland.png
 * Republika Ng.png PnM
 * Saint Kiki.png
 * Flag Scen.png ST1
 * Concord 1
 * Tarraco TV
 * Flag TL.png TRTN
 * Utrana.png URTV
 * Flag of Vovaltik.png VTVR