The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consistedfor the first timeof two semi-finals on 20 and 22 May and a final on 24 May 2008, held at the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia, and presented by Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), which staged the event after winning the for with the song "" by Marija Šerifović.
Broadcasters from forty-three countries participated in the contest, the highest ever number of participants, beating the record of forty-two set the year before. and participated for the first time, while did not participate, mainly due to questions on the semi-final organisation as well as the politicisation of the contest.
The winner was with the song "Believe", performed by Dima Bilan who wrote it with Jim Beanz. , , , and rounded out the top five, with Armenia achieving its best result to date. Of the "Big Four" countries, placed the highest, finishing 16th, while the ended up in last place for the second time in its Eurovision history, after .
The official website, eurovision.tv, streamed national finals for this year's contest live on ESCTV for the first time. Furthermore, for the first time, the winner has been awarded the perpetual glass microphone trophy of the Eurovision Song Contest. The trophy is a handmade piece of sandblasted glass in the shape of a 1950s microphone.
Location
[{ "type":"Feature", "geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[20.421358, 44.814153]}, "properties":{"title":"Belgrade Arena","marker-symbol":"stadium","marker-color":"#f00","marker-size":"large"} },{ "type":"ExternalData", "service":"geoshape","ids":"Q33277", "properties":{"title":"Belgrade Arena","fill":"#f00","stroke":"#f00"} },{ "type":"Feature", "geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[20.431111, 44.808889]}, "properties":{"title":"Press centre","marker-symbol":"village","marker-color":"#00f"} }] Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) gained the right to host the contest after "" performed by Marija Šerifović won the in Helsinki, Finland. On 15 May 2007, one day following the final of the 2007 contest, RTS reported that it would host the 2008 contest in Belgrade. The broadcaster chose the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade as the venue for the contest, one of the largest indoor arenas in Europe, with a total capacity of 25,000 seats.
On 14 September 2007, the Mayor of Helsinki handed over the "Eurovision keys" to the Deputy of Belgrade. This ceremony was meant to be a tradition from the 2008 contest and onward, and the ring contains a key from every city that has ever hosted the competition. This tradition continued until 2024.
Potential change of location Following the unilateral Kosovo declaration of independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, which has resulted in protests and unrest across the country, the host of the event was considered to be changed. The National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) was considered an option since they came second in 2007. Yleisradio (YLE) were another option, as they hosted the previous year's competition in Helsinki, Finland. Greece's Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) also offered the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to host the contest in Athens, Greece again. It was later decided that the contest would stay in Belgrade, with the EBU giving support. RTS would gain a guarantee of safety and security from the government of Serbia for all visitors and participants. The delegations of , , and had special security. In the end, the contest was held without any incidents.
Participants
Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members.
On 21 December 2007, the EBU confirmed that 43 countries would be present in Belgrade. , as well as the newest EBU member, , made its debut at the 2008 contest. did not compete; its broadcaster, (ORF), said "we've already seen in 2007 that it's not the quality of the song, but the country of origin that determines the decision."
Automatic grand finalists and exercised voting rights at the first semi-final. , the and Serbia exercised voting rights at the second semi-final. Spain and France each broadcast only the semi-final in which they participated; Germany, Serbia, and the United Kingdom screened both semi-finals (with Germany broadcasting on a delay).
Several of the performing artists had previously competed as lead artists representing the same country in past editions: Charlotte Perrelli had won the contest for ; Dima Bilan had represented ; and Roberto Meloni, a member of Pirates of the Sea, had represented as part of Bonaparti.lv. In addition, Gisela representing Andorra, had provided backing vocals for .
+ Eurovision Song Contest 2008 participants Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) RTSH Olta Boka "" Albanian RTVA Gisela "Casanova" English Jordi Cubino AMPTV Sirusho "" () English, Armenian İTV Elnur and Samir "Day After Day" English BTRC Ruslan Alehno "" English VRT Ishtar "O Julissi" Imaginary Michel Vangheluwe BHRT Laka "" Bosnian Elvir Laković "Laka" BNT Deep Zone and Balthazar "DJ, Take Me Away" English Dian Savov HRT Kraljevi ulice and 75 Cents "" Croatian Miran "Hadži" Veljković CyBC Evdokia Kadi "" Greek ČT Tereza Kerndlová "Have Some Fun" English DR Simon Mathew "All Night Long" English ERR Kreisiraadio "" () Serbian, German, Finnish YLE Teräsbetoni "" Finnish J. Ahola Sébastien Tellier "Divine" English, French GPB Diana Gurtskaya "Peace Will Come" English NDR No Angels "Disappear" English ERT Kalomira "Secret Combination" English MTV Csézy "Candlelight" English, Hungarian RÚV Euroband "This Is My Life" English RTÉ Dustin the Turkey "Irelande Douze Pointe" English IBA Boaz "The Fire in Your Eyes" Hebrew LTV Pirates of the Sea "Wolves of the Sea" English LRT Jeronimas Milius "Nomads in the Night" English MRT Tamara, Vrčak and Adrijan "Let Me Love You" English Rade Vrčakovski "Vrčak" PBS Morena "Vodka" English TRM Geta Burlacu "A Century of Love" English RTCG Stefan Filipović "" () Montenegrin NOS Hind "Your Heart Belongs to Me" English NRK Maria "Hold On Be Strong" English Mira Craig TVP Isis Gee "For Life" English Isis Gee RTP Vânia Fernandes "" Portuguese TVR Nico and Vlad "" Romanian, Italian RTR Dima Bilan "Believe" English SMRTV Miodio "" Italian RTS Jelena Tomašević Bora Dugić "" () Serbian RTVSLO Rebeka Dremelj "" Slovene RTVE Rodolfo Chikilicuatre "" Spanish, English Rodolfo Chikilicuatre and friends SVT Charlotte Perrelli "Hero" English SRG SSR Paolo Meneguzzi "" Italian TRT Mor ve Ötesi "" Turkish Mor ve Ötesi NTU Ani Lorak "Shady Lady" English BBC Andy Abraham "Even If" English
Other countries EBU members EBU member broadcasters in , , , and confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU.
Production Presenters
On 4 March 2008, RTS revealed that Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović would be the presenters of the contest. Janković served as an anchor of the RTS morning show and hosted the allocation draw ceremony held earlier that year, while Joksimović represented and hosted the allocation draw with Janković in January.
Visual design
RTS ran a competition that led to the creation of the 2008 contest's branding, logo and the stage. On 1 October 2007, the logo titled "Mama 2008" was announced as the winner among 455 submissions. The stage design, titled "Confluence" was also declared as the winner among 70 submissions. However, due to the negative responses to the design, the logo was subsequently changed, and the new logo was presented in January 2008. The stage design was also eventually changed.
The theme of the contest was based around the "confluence of sound". This was symbolic as Belgrade lies on the confluence of two European rivers, the Sava and Danube. The replacement logo, a treble clef, formed the graphical basis of the design created by Boris Miljković.
The postcards in the first and second semi-final were based around the creation of the flag of the nation that was to perform next. Each post card had a short story related to each country and its people. During each postcard a short letter was displayed. All were in the national language of the artist's country, with the exception of the Serbian postcard, which consisted of "Welcome to Belgrade" and "Welcome to Serbia" in various languages. The postcards were brought to an end by a stamp with this year's Eurovision logo.
According to RTS the stage represented native identities, history and modern themes, symbols and universally recognised messages. The confluence-themed stage also contained a large number of television and LCD screens. The stage had settings for all new electronic possibilities including some movable parts of the stage. It was designed by Chicago-based David Cushing.
The first semi-final was created around a city theme. The contest opened with a panorama of the city of Belgrade forming in the stage's background with two waves sliding down the stage to meet in the centre – at the confluence, the overall theme of the contest.
The second semi-final was based around the theme of water, which was enhanced by the look of the stage during the interval act where the water formed the main colours of the stage.
The grand final was based on the theme of the confluence. Construction of the stage lasted several days and was carried out by various teams from across Europe. Pyrotechnics were heavily used for the entries from , , , , , the , , and . The stage received positive feedback from the media and fans describing it as "one of the best looking stages in the history of the competition".
Format Expansion to two semi-finals
At a press conference in Helsinki in May 2007, Svante Stockselius, executive supervisor of the contest for the EBU, announced that the competition's format may be expanded to two semi-finals in 2008 or 2009. On 28 September 2007 it was announced that the EBU had approved the plan of hosting two semi-finals in 2008.
According to Stockselius, there were multiple ideas on how the two semi-finals would be organized, such as prerecording both semi-finals and airing them simultaneously on Thursday 22 May, with each broadcaster airing the semi-final their country competes or votes in; or prerecording one semi-final, while the other one is held live, and airing them simultaneously on Thursday 22 May, with each broadcaster airing the semi-final their country votes in. In both cases, the results sequences would be held live.
Although originally this option was not being considered due to the additional costs to such a production, it was later decided that the two semi-finals would be held on different days, both live, on Tuesday 20 May and 22 May 2008.
Semi-final allocation draw
Based on research conducted by the EBU's tele-voting partner Digame, the semi-finalists were sorted into the two heats through the drawing of lots, which was seeded to keep countries that have a significant history of voting for each other apart. Each broadcaster had to broadcast the semi-final in which they took part, with the broadcasting of the other semi-final being optional. The draw for the semi-final allocation occurred in the City Assembly of Belgrade on Monday 28 January 2008 at 13:00 CET and was conducted by the hosts of the contest Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović.