It took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, as Ukraine, the winner of the 2022 contest with the song "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, was unable to host the event due to the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Bulgaria, Montenegro, and North Macedonia opted not to participate, primarily due to the economic impact of the global energy crisis.

[7] The "Turquoise Carpet" event, where the contestants and their delegations were presented before accredited press and fans, took place outside the Walker Art Gallery on 7 May 2023, followed by the Opening Ceremony at St George's Hall.

[8][9] In conjunction with the contest, Liverpool held a cultural festival called "EuroFest", which featured collaborations between British and Ukrainian artists.

Between May and June 2022, the Ukrainian government and UA:PBC, the nation's public broadcaster, discussed hosting the contest with the EBU.

[40][41] During the first stage of the process, the BBC received expressions of interest from 20 UK cities and towns, seven of which were longlisted on 12 August 2022: Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, and Sheffield.

[125] In addition, Gustaph had previously provided backing vocals for Belgium in 2018 and in 2021,[126] and Iru had won Junior Eurovision for Georgia in 2011 as a member of Candy.

[127] Several EBU member broadcasters made statements confirming non-participation prior to the publication of the official 2023 participants list.

[140] However, these plans were curtailed due to the delay in the launch of a new Monégasque public television channel, TVMonaco, which commenced broadcasts in September 2023 instead of the initially outlined period of late 2022.

Kazakhstan has participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest since 2018, with television producer Zhan Mukanov stating that "there is every chance [for Kazakhstan] to enter the adult Eurovision next year" and that the country's participation in the 2022 Junior contest would have a "significant impact" on its chances of debuting in the adult event.

[147] The senior production team consisted of Martin Green as managing director, Rachel Ashdown as lead commissioner, Andrew Cartmell as executive producer, Lee Smithurst as head of show, Twan van de Nieuwenhuijzen as head of contest, and James O'Brien as executive in charge of production.

[161] King Charles III and Queen Camilla (whose coronations were held the week before the contest) inaugurated the stage on 26 April, during an official visit to Liverpool.

Filmed between February and April 2023 and directed by Tom Cook, with Carlo Massarella and Jane McGoldrick serving as executive producers, the postcards were based on the "United by Music" theme of the contest.

[168] The contest's executive supervisor Martin Österdahl later stated that the use of pre-recorded backing vocals would continue to be permitted for the foreseeable future.

[171] The "Turquoise Carpet" and Opening Ceremony events were hosted by Timur Miroshnychenko (who had co-hosted the 2017 contest) and Sam Quek, with Richie Anderson providing off-screen commentary.

The procedure of using calculated points would remain as a last resort in the event that a country cannot deliver a valid jury or televoting result.

[181][182] The draw to determine the participating countries' semi-finals took place on 31 January 2023 at 19:00 GMT (20:00 CET), at St George's Hall.

[183] The thirty-one semi-finalists were divided over five pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame.

[188] Finland won the most points, followed by Sweden, Israel, Czechia, Moldova, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, Portugal, and Serbia.

Finland came second with 526 points and won the televote, with Israel, Italy, Norway, Ukraine, Belgium, Estonia, Australia and Czechia completing the top ten.

Among those who appeared in the pre-recorded portion of the opening were Bolt Strings, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joss Stone, Ballet Black, Ms Banks, and Catherine, Princess of Wales.

[208] The interval acts included Sam Ryder performing his new single "Mountain" with Queen's Roger Taylor,[209] and "The Liverpool Songbook", a homage to Liverpool's music heritage featuring six former Eurovision entrants singing their own version of songs from the host city: Mahmood with "Imagine", Netta with "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", Daði Freyr with "Whole Again", Cornelia Jakobs with "I Turn to You", Sonia with her 1993 entry representing the UK, "Better the Devil You Know", and Duncan Laurence, together with the aforementioned artists, the presenters, and Ruslana in a pre-recorded appearance at the Golden Gate in Kyiv, with "You'll Never Walk Alone".

[218] All participating broadcasters may choose to have on-site or remote commentators providing insight and voting information to their local audience.

The European Broadcasting Union also provided international live streams with no commentary of both semi-finals and the final through their official YouTube and TikTok channels.

[3][4] Technical issues occurred during the start of the first semi-final, causing most of the on-site commentators to lose connection to their broadcasters for around 15 minutes.

"Due vite" had previously peaked at number 32 following its win at the Sanremo Music Festival 2023, which also doubled as the Italian national final.

[373][374][375] During the jury voting sequence, several occasions when Sweden scored 12 points were disrupted by chanting from Finland's supporters,[376] although the Swedish entrant Loreen, following her win, stated that she did not mind and furthermore appreciated their enthusiasm.

[373] The 2023 contest was presented with the Changemaker Award at the International Broadcasting Convention, in recognition of "its contribution to society and culture – celebrating a brand that continues to stay relevant and fresh on a huge scale".

Eurovision Awards, an end-of-year poll conducted by the contest's official site, returned for a third year with the results determined across eight categories.

After all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry in the 2023 poll was also the winner of the contest, "Tattoo" performed by Loreen; the top five results are shown below.