The Insignia Exchange and the Allocation Draw for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest will take place on Monday the 25th of January in Stockholm. The Insignia Exchange is a ceremony in place since the 2007 edition in Helsinki, where the mayor of the previous hosting city gives the Insignia to the mayor of that year’s hosting city. The Insignia is a ring with keys of each hosting city since 2007, so a new ”key” gets added every year. The Insignia can be seen on the picture in the header above this article.

That very same day, the Allocation Draw for next year’s contest will be held. During that ceremony which countries (everyone except the Big 5 (France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany & Italy) but plus Australia this year) will perform in which semi-final and in which half of the semi-final. Of Israel, however, it is already known they will be performing in the second semi-final, to avoid a clash with Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, which will fall on the 10th of May next year, the day of the first semi-final.

More details about the Allocation Draw as starting time and where to follow it will be announced at a later stage.