European Music Festival 2016

The European Music Festival 2016 was the first edition of the annual European Music Festival, organised by BBC and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It was held on 15 October 2016, at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom. It was the first time United Kingdom had hosted the contest. Eighteen countries participated in the contest, while all the countries were debuting.

Poland's Margaret with the song “Cool Me Down” was the winner of the contest. This was Poland’s first victory in the contest, as well as the first country to win in the history of the contest. Sweden and Denmark finished in second and third place. Ukraine and Israel completed the top five, with the former finishing fourth and fifth. Lithuania finished last.

Bidding phase and host city selection
On 30 February 2015 the European Broadcasting Union confirmed that they are planning to create a new singing contest for all the members of EBU. After 3 months on 30 May 2015 they confirmed that the new contest will be named “European Music Fesitval” and the first ever edition will take place in 2016 - due that all members of the EBU could offer to host the contest till 10 July 2015. On 28 July 2015 it was announced that Estonia, Germany, Slovenia and United Kingdom had offered to host the first contest. On 15 September 2015, it was confirmed by the EBU that United Kingdom would host the 2016 contest. Between 20 and 30 September 2015, many cities across United Kingdom expressed interest in hosting the contest. Representatives from cities of Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Derby, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchaster, Nottingham and Sheffield voiced their interest.

Host broadcaster BBC launched the bidding process on 3 October 2015. In the first phase of this process, any interested cities were to present their bid through certified email by 10 October 2015, after which BBC and the EBU would proceed to send all of them a bid book with more detailed requirements for the cities to submit their plans for review.

On 23 October, BBC announced that 10 cities had submitted their bid for hosting the contest and would be provided the following day with the bid books. They had until 8 November to draft and submit their detailed plans, which all 10 cities did. On 28 November, it was reported that Leeds and London would be the cities left in the running to host the contest.

On 15 December 2015, the EBU and BBC announced London as the host city, with the 20,000 capacity The O2 Arena as the chosen venue for the contest. On 21 December 2015, EBU and host broadcaster BBC announced that the contest will be held on 15 October 2016.

Hosts
On 1 May 2016, it was announced that Amanda Holden, Graham Norton and Nigella Lawson would host the contest.

Opening & interval acts
On 24 May 2016, the EBU relased information about the opening and interval acts.

The final was opened by the traditional flag parade, introducing all eighteen finalists, accompanied by the Sigala ft. Imani Williams and DJ Fresh performing remixed version of song "Say You Do". The interval acts included ZAYN performing his single "Pillowtalk" and Little Mix performing a medley of "Black Magic and "Shout Out To My Ex".

Voting
The results will be determined by 50% online voting and 50% jury voting. The online voting is taking place during the live show and starts after the last performance and is open for 15 minutes. International viewers could vote for one country three Times from one phone number. The other half of the points was determined by a national jury from every participating country. These points are then announced live during the programme by a spokesperson representing the participating country. The spokespersons give out the points from each of the participating country.

Running order
The draw for the running order of the contest was held on 10 October in London after the Opening Ceremony, with Ukraine drawn to open the contest and Spain drawn to close.

Participating countries
On 10 January 2016, the EBU released the official list of participants with 18 competing countries.