Alaxian Melody Festival 1

The 1st Alaxian Melody Festival was the inaugural edition of the annual Alaxian Melody Festival, although it was thought to be a one-off special at time of release. It took place in Gateshaven, Empherias in the High Kingdoms of Alaxia. Organised by the International Broadcasting Agency (IBA) and the High Kingdoms Broadcasting Company (HKBC), the contest was held at the Gateshaven-Pyrette Thunder Globe on 15 April 2451. The main presenters were Empheri television presenters Fraser Clayst and Elise Waltz.

Six countries participated in the competition: The five constituent countries of the High Kingdoms of Alaxia, alongside Grensalbourg. Each country would give two sets of points– one from a professional jury of musical professionals, and one from an amalgamation of surveys from the public. Musical professionals being used helped steer the contest towards focusing on good vocals, while an element from the public allowed for interaction with the audience at home. Juries would evaluate and judge performances during rehearsals the week prior to the show filming, and the public were able to vote by writing to their local broadcasting system with their favourites over a two month period prior to the show, in which the eligible songs would play on the radio and television.

Each country had a total of 30 points to give out from both the jury and public vote for a total of 60. They could allocate these points according to the weight they saw fit and had no restrictions of minimum or maximum points they could spend on any entry. Countries could not vote for themselves however. Rules for the songs were that they must be completely originally, with songs having to be released after 1 September 2450. Only a maximum of eight people were allowed on stage (although no performance had more than 3), and the song must be between 2 minutes 45 seconds and 4 minutes long, and must fit the orchestra provided.

The programme would last an hour and fifteen minutes. The start of the programme would last ten minutes of different musical melodies and presenter introductions. Seven minutes were allotted per song which would allow the production time to adequately prepare before each entry, alongside the maximum time of four minutes per song. After all performances had happened, the voting portion of the show took 10 minutes due to the votes being counted prior to the show's start. After a winner was announced, a performance reprise would last eight minutes into the end credits. Short transition breaks and overrunning portions added up to around five minutes.

Production
Production of a live musical show began development in 2449, just a year after the establishment of the High Kingdoms Broadcasting Company. This was because the executives of the new channel believed the booming music industry would be a great display to help unite the newly unified union. These were just plans until producer Flynn Metz stepped in to officially begin production in September 2450.

Location
Flynn Metz was an Empheri producer, and thus was able to bargain with Empheri venues more easily. He approached many stadiums and halls in Wynnoa but found they were too pricey. Eventually, he was split between Vreimer and Gateshaven for a host city. These were ideal due to their close location and easy access from other High Kingdoms countries. Eventually, Gateshaven was chosen. The Gateshaven-Pyrette Thunder Globe was the chosen venue within the city.

Fraser Clayst and Elise Waltz were chosen to present. Elise Waltz had been a host for ETV, the Empheri broadcaster, since 2444.

Participating countries
Six countries participated in the contest. These were the High Kingdoms of Alaxia constituent countries of Ahitereira, Empherias, Kiavalar, Koresa, Peryzium; and Grensalbourg.

The winner was Empherias represented by the song "Red Lights", composed by Edwin Likks and Mars Freun, two out of three of the Zwartious band members, who performed the song.

In depth results
The announcement of the results began with the jury and ended with the public vote. The order of points was opposite to the running order of song performances.

Spokespersons
Some countries nominated a spokesperson to read out the points they distributed. Known spokespersons are listed below.


 * Empherias – Elise Waltz

Other countries

 * – the country had relatively good relations with the High Kingdoms and did sometimes participate in High Alaxian projects, similar to Grensalbourg, due to its small size and closeness. The HKBC planned to invite the Palak broadcaster to the event, but no invite went out. Palakkinen did not broadcast the show.

Broadcasts
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via either a television or radio network. The broadcast was sold to other countries to play on demand, but nobody outside of the participating countries relayed the show live. Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.