Liverpool has tonight been chosen as the host city for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023.
Graham Norton on The One Show announced Liverpool will welcome the huge international event next May. Liverpool had been whittled down to the final two potential host cities along with Glasgow, beating off competition from the likes of Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow earlier in the process.
READ MORE: Manchester OUT of race to host 2023 Eurovision Song Contest
The UK is hosting Eurovision next year on behalf of Ukraine. Ukraine won the event this year and should be welcoming the world to Kiev in 2023 but sadly this has been deemed not possible because of the Russian invasion. The UK is stepping in after it finished second in this year's contest with artist Sam Ryder.
Liverpool has already released some details of its planned cultural programme, which would begin months before the actual song contest next May.
At the core of this will be a major programme of artist exchange and co-production between Ukrainian and Liverpool-based artists.
Working specifically with its sister city Odesa and their creative community, Liverpool's bid aims to 'deliver an extraordinary celebration of Ukrainian culture' that will shine a spotlight on the country and also create a major community outreach programme across the city.
