Fantasia Contest

The Fantasia Contest, abbreviated as FC, is a song contest held between the members of the Fantasia Broadcasting Association (FBA) since August 2015. The current and official executive supervisor of the contest is Kevin Kern.

Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The country's head of delegation gets to select whether the entry will be selected either by internal or national selection. Then the countries get to vote for each show (semi-final or final) to determine the qualifiers and the winner of the edition.

So far, twenty four countries have won the competition and therefore hosted the contest. Kerwan, Lakadamia, Jarea, Alkyria, Maronesia, Sirenforest, Beklium, Danskanksova, Aquia, Fordia, Demacia, Baesnia, Niolskiaj, Torlova, Decoria, Hwaesonna, Neocastria, Ximbala, Evergreen, Taslana, Shkeera, the Ruyjin Republic, Glacea and Flírskmasto have been winners and hosts of the contest. The latest winner of the Fantasia Contest is Sasami of Flírskmasto, who won the twenty-eighth edition in Edessa, Demacia, with her song "Call Me Home".

History
On 3rd August 2015, the Fantasia Broadcasting Association was formed between the countries of Fantasia, by Marika Wolfe, Daniel Lengfeld, Dimitris Ioannou and Matt Harrod. Through this, the Fantasia Contest was also created, as an international music contest where every member of the FBA is eligible to participate in.

The first ever Fantasia Contest kicked off on 14th September 2015, held in Crystalfall, Evergreen. Evergreen was thus the first country to obtain the rights to host the contest and was also the first country to automatically qualify to the final. A total of 46 nations participated in the first edition, the lowest amount in the contest's history until the twelfth edition. Each country would award 12, 10 and then 8-1 points, with 12 going to their favourite, 10 to the 2nd favourite and so on. Every country was free to pick whether to select results through a televoting, jury or 50/50 split process, though most countries opted for televoting or 50/50.

Kerwan was the first country to win the contest, scoring 175 points, 3 points above the runner up, and thus hosted the 2nd edition of the contest. The winner is traditionally also expected to host the following edition of the contest.

Logo and theme
The general logo was created by the Decorian team, headed by FBA council member, Dimitris Ioannou. It features the name of the contest and the trademark 'F' letter, formed in a calligraphic font, along with the rest of 'Fantasia'. During the seventh edition a new logo was introduced. The new logo was created by an Everish team; the logo had a change of font while a heart was introduced next to the name of the contest. The flag of the host country appears in the heart while the host city and the number of the edition appeared below just like before. The new logo will be used for the first time during the eighth edition of the contest.

Slogans
Since the first edition, slogans have been selected to reflect the theme of that particular edition. The slogan is picked by the host broadcaster, with input from the FBA, and a design is then created to suit it.

Participation

 * Main article: List of countries at the Fantasia Contest

Any full member of the FBA is able to participate in the contest, countries not full members can apply to become one. Though, all independent states of Fantasia have an active broadcaster in the FBA at the moment, several unrecognised nations have been declined by the FBA.

Each member is responsible for the selection of artists and songs sent by the country that edition. A total of sixty countries have participated in the contest at least once, though fifty-five countries is the maximum count of participants allowed in an edition, but later maximum count of participants reduced to fifty-three.

Before new rules, being revealed on 31st of March, the countries debuted or returned, if the available spots are free. Had rule remained for twenty-eighth edition, Sovarasma would debut after Khamatin, and if the next three available spots will be free, Vikyirie would return, Yeukiwan and Dorma would debuted.

However, on 31st of March, it was revealed, that everyone else can participate. On Day 1, the countries, who participated in previous edition, can confirm. Next day, any country on the map can confirm until the limit of 53 countries.

Format
During the first two editions, the contest's format consisted of two semi-finals and a single grand final. In the first edition, 12 countries qualified from both semi-finals, but in the second edition this number was reduced to 10. This decision was unpopular with the broadcasters, however a larger amount would have led to a larger final, which was an unpopular idea between both the broadcasters and the FBA. From the 3rd edition a new format was introduced that consisted of three semi-finals, instead of two, and 7 qualifiers from each.

In the first edition, only Evergreen was automatically qualified to the final, due to being the host country. But from the 2nd edition onward, the top 5 of the previous edition would automatically qualify, including the host country.

Since the first edition, the winning country is automatically awarded the rights to host the next edition. The host broadcaster of the country will then need to decide any format changes, the theme, slogan amongst other jobs, with additional input from the FBA. If a host broadcaster is not able to host, the runner-up or FBA can come in to help. However, the contest would still be hosted in the winning country.

New format
On July 3rd, a new format is introduced: a limit of spots will be increased from 53 to 54; in each semifinal 8 countries will qualify for he grand final instead of 7, meaning that starting with the twenty-ninth edition there will be 30 finalists.

The "Big 5"
In the first edition, only the host country made it to the final, but in the following editions the top 5 of each edition would automatically have the right to participate in the final of the next edition, without having to go through the semi-finals once again. Two exceptions to this rule have been made: in the eleventh edition only four countries were automatically qualified after Te Ao withdrew; in the thirteenth and sixteenth editions six countries were automatically qualified due to a mishap in the voting process of the previous edition.

However, the twenty-ninth edition will be the first edition since the sixteenth edition, where six countries will qualify for the grand final.

Several countries have been automatic qualifiers over the editions, including Flírskmasto, who has done so nine times (Flírskmasto also gained all automatic qualifications from 23rd to 27th editions); Fordia and Demaciawho have done so seven times; Alkyria,, Dýria and Evergreen, who has done so six times; Aquia who have done so five times; Danskanksova, Frootania, Lanovina and Torlova, who have done so four times; Hwaesonna, Jarea, Lakadamia, Namimori, Niolskiaj, Trivania and United States of Eldance, who have all done so thrice.

Automatic qualifications
The number of editions in which a country was an automatic qualifier.

Voting
The Fantasia Contest has had two relatively similar voting systems. The first voting system was used between the first and fourth editions, and the newer voting system has been in place since the fifth edition and is currently in use. The earlier voting system entailed each country finding out their top 10 songs, either through a televoting or jury voting process, or a combination of the two. The current system requires each country to go through both a televoting and jury voting process, and submit the top 10 of both votes. In all rankings, the first place gets 12 points, the second place 10 points and the remaining places receive points from 8 down to 1, but with the current voting system, the amount of points given out by each country is doubled.

However, on March 31st 2022, it was revealed that Fantasia Contest will return to the simple one set voting system (aka Old Eurovision System). That means, the twenty-eighth edition will be the first edition since fourth, that only one set voting system will be used. However, the council wants to give the participants the chance to vote for their preferred way to distribute the points.

The options are:

A) 12, 10, 8-1 points are given to the top 10.

B) 24, 21, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8-1 points are given to the top 15.

This would be introduced in the Grand Final only. The normal top 10 voting would remain for the semi-finals.

Scrutineers
To ensure all points are allocated correctly and make sure nothing suspicious is taking place, the FBA appoints a scrutineer for each show, who presides over the results.

Highest scores
Before the introduction of the current voting system, the highest scoring winner was "Ghosts" by Alkyrian artist Charlie in the fourth edition, which scored 252 points. Since the introduction of the new voting system, all winners have received at least 330 points in total. The highest scoring winner was Ana Tijoux from Ximbala, with "Antifa Dance", which managed to score 587 points in the twnty-first edition. The ninth edition is the only time when the entire top 3 scored above 400 points, with Aquia scoring 463, Lanovina scored 453 points and Glaray 421 points.

As the voting system and the amount of countries in the contest has varied, it may be more relevant to compare the point amounts to the percentage of maximum possible points.

Winners

 * Main article: List of Fantasia Contest winners

So far, there have been twenty eight winners from twenty four different countries: Kerwan, Lakadamia, Jarea, Alkyria, Maronesia, Sirenforest, Beklium, Danskanksova, Aquia, Fordia, Demacia, Baesnia, Niolskiaj, Torlova, Decoria, Hwaesonna, Neocastria, Ximbala, Evergreen, Taslana, Shkeera, the Ruyjin Republic, Glacea and Flírskmasto. The highest scored winner is "Antifa Dance", the winner of the twenty-first edition which scored a total of 587 points.

Spin-offs
A few spin-offs of the Fantasia Contest have been produced, some national and some international.

Similar competitions held include:
 * Junior Fantasia Contest (2016–present), for Fantasian artists under the age of 16.
 * Themed Fantasia Contest (2022–present)
 * Sunshine & Stars (2015-present), held annually between the 53 states of Eldance.