Helios Festival 1

Helios Festival 1 will be the first edition of the Helios Festival, and will consist of two semi-finals in which all participants will compete, with thirteen entries in each show qualifying to the grand final. The contest will be held in Centre Unic in Abitibi, Ouisquinipi.

Bidding phase
ICI RTO and the HBS announced the conditions under which cities and venues could announce their interest in hosting the contest.


 * The host city had to be near a major airport.
 * The venue must be available for at least six 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 must be located as close to the arena as possible (or within it), with a capacity of 300

In late December 2021, several Ouisquinois cities have expressed interest in hosting the contest.

Host venue

Organization
The contest will consist of two semi-finals, one with 21 acts and the other with 20. From each semi, 13 countries will qualify to the 26-song grand final in which all participants will have to vote. The confirmation period for entry submissions began on January 1st, lasting 12 days before it ends on January 12th. Entries could be selected via national final events or internal selection, to the discretion of the national broadcaster for each country. The winning country is the one who has the highest-score in terms of points at the end of voting, with points being allocated from each country in a system of 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs. A country cannot vote for their own entry.

The running order will be decided by firstly drawing the place for the host, Ouisquinipi. Then, the remaining countries would draw either first or second half, and the final running order is then decided from that by the producers of the show alongside approval of the HBS.

On January 1st, the HBS revealed the official composition of the edition's steering group:

Permanent members

 * Holland van W.
 * Hannah T.
 * Oisín T.

Volunteer members

 * Alexandra
 * Asuto
 * Chante
 * Jake B.
 * Joaquin
 * Palmas
 * Radek

Semi-final allocations
On January 2nd, the HBS held a semi-final allocation draw in Palais de Largechien, Abitibi. They revealed the 'pots' for this edition, based on broad geographical and geopolitical affinities between competing nations. Despite not being counted as being in any pot, the vote collecting nations are still assigned a pot in spite of having been preemptively allocated to the semi-final they do not collect the votes of.


 * would be in Pot B
 * would be in Pot C
 * would be in Pot D
 * would be in Pot E

Semi-final 1
and are collecting the votes in this semi-final.

Semi-final 2
and are collecting the votes in this semi-final.

Final
and are collecting the votes for the final.

Voting and spokespersons
Each edition, countries appoint a voting spokesperson to announce their points. They are listed here in the voting order determined by the producers, which was the reversed running order from the show.


 * TBA
 * TBA
 * Manila Luzon
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * Alexa Bliss
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA


 * TBA
 * Keke Palmer
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * Isaac Sene
 * Barbara Pravi


 * TBA
 * TBA
 * Sister Sister
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA
 * TBA

Semi-final allocation draw
The live broadcast of the semi-final allocation draw, held in Palais de Largechien in Abitibi, has met several problems. Firstly, a mysterious bug has affected the LED screens present on the set, with various cryptic pictures such as some depicting a sentient teacup greeting people in Arabic, a crow staring, and an unknown man attempting to drink alcohol for several hours, among others, all being shown instead of the current standings of the draw. Later, the broadcast's host made a mistake in announcing that Alitheia would perform in semi-final 1, when the nation would in fact participate in the other semi-final. This caused the North Byeol head of delegation to pull a fit of rage, claiming the draw was "rigged" and that Alitheia and his country "should've been in the same semi as the mum and dad of Helios". After he tried to attack the broadcast host, he was driven out of the set by security. Finally, the country of Alaia and Zenbetsu was originally drawn in semi-final 1, however, the behaviour of the country's head of delegation during Ameyalli's allocation draw, with the Alaian executive openly saying the Ameyalli head of delegation "smelled", prompted the committee to move Alaia and Zenbetsu in the other semi-final as a punitive measure.