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| Eurovision Song Contest 2008 "Confluence of Sound" |
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| Semi-final 1 | 20 May 2008 |
| Semi-final 2 | 22 May 2008 |
| Final | 24 May 2008 |
| Presenter(s) | Jovana Janković1 Željko Joksimović1 |
| Director | Sven Stojanovic |
| Host broadcaster |  RTS |
| Venue | Belgrade Arena, Belgrade, Serbia2 |
| Winning song |  Russia"Believe" |
| Voting system | |
| People in each country can vote by tele-vote or SMS. Each country's 10 favourite songs are awarded 12, 10, then 8 through to 1 points based on the votes of the population of each country. All participating countries in the semi-finals and final will have the right to cast points in the final.3 | |
| Number of entries | 43: 19 in each semi-final; 25 in the final (5 prequalified and 10 from each of the semi-finals) (map view) |
| Debuting countries |  Azerbaijan San Marino4 |
| Returning countries | None |
| Withdrawing countries |  Austria5 |
| Nul points | None |
| Opening act | Marija Šerifović performing "Molitva" (remix) (Final) Video killed a radio star performance (SF1) Serbia for beginners accompanied by Aleksandar Josipovic as a Master of Ceremonies (SF2)6 |
| Interval act | Goran Bregović performance (Final) Metropole Orkest, Slobodan Trkulja, Balkanopolis (SF1) National Theatre in Belgrade performance (SF2)7 |
| Eurovision Song Contest | |
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, which was hosted by Serbia. The semi-finals were held on 20 May and 22 May, and the final was held on 24 May 2008 in the capital, Belgrade. Russia was declared the winner, with Jim Beanz and Dima Bilan's song "Believe" performed by Bilan. The Belgrade Arena, venue for the Contest, is among the largest indoor arenas in Europe, with a total capacity of more than 20,000 seats. Serbia gained the right to host the Contest after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. The host broadcaster was RTS.
The 2008 contest's official website opened on 15 January 2008. For the first time ever, Eurovision.tv streamed national finals on ESCTV with broadcasters' permission.8 On 30 January 2008, Eurovision.tv revealed the theme of the Contest: "The Confluence of Sound",9 inspired by Belgrade's location at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. The show was hosted by Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović.1 Jelena Tomašević represented Serbia with a song composed by Joksimović; this led to debate over his role in the contest.10
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Location
Serbia gained the right to host the Contest after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. Since Serbia was the winner of the preceding contest, the 2008 contest was subsequently held there. The Belgrade Arena was chosen as the venue for the contest, and is among the largest indoor arenas in Europe, with a total capacity of more than 20,000 seats. On 14 September 2007, the Mayor of Helsinki handed over the "Eurovision keys" to the Deputy of Belgrade. This ceremony is 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.11
Due to problems and riots in Belgrade following the declaration of independence by Kosovo on 22 February 2008, the EBU held a phone conference to decide if the contest should be moved to a different country. Ukraine was considered an option since they came second in Eurovision Song Contest 2007. YLE were another option, as they hosted last year's competition in Helsinki, Finland.12 Greece's Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) also offered the EBU to host the contest in Athens, Greece again.13 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 of the contest.14 The delegations of Croatia, Israel and Albania had special security.15
Visual design
RTS ran a competition that led to the creation of the 2008 Contest's branding, logo and the stage.16 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 logo chosen, a treble clef, formed the graphical basis of the design created by Boris Miljković.17
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 it regarding Belgrade and its people. During each postcard a short letter written by the musician of the upcoming performing country 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 display screens. The stage had settings for all new electronic possibilities including some movable parts of the stage.18 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 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 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Turkey, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. 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".19
Format
At a press conference in Helsinki in May 2007, Svante Stockselius, executive supervisor of the Contest for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that the competition's format may be expanded to two semi-finals in 2008 or 2009.20 On 28 September 2007 it was announced that the EBU had approved the plan of hosting two semi-finals in 2008.21
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.citation needed 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 Belgrade City Hall on Monday 28 January 2008 at 13:00 CET and was conducted by dancers from the National Dance Ensemble KOLO. First, two envelopes with 'Semi-Final 1' and 'Semi-Final 2' were drawn. Then, three countries from each pot were chosen randomly to take part in the first semi-final and the other three in the second one. The country left in Pot 5 took part in the first envelope that is drawn. While, the country left in Pot 6 in the second one.22
The automatic finalist countries chose whether they would broadcast both semi-finals or just one, but viewers from these countries could only vote in one. From the draw conducted, it was decided which of the five finalist countries would broadcast and have voting rights in either of the events. The semi-finals were webcast live through Eurovision.tv.23 The top nine songs from the televoting qualified for the final, and a tenth was determined by the back-up juries. Twenty-five songs competed in the final.3
Semi-final allocation
On 24 January 2008, all 38 countries in the semi-finals were separated into the following pots based on voting history and geographical location:
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 |
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| Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Pot 6 |
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Running order
The draw to decide the running order of the songs in each Semi-Final and the Final was conducted at the Heads of Delegation meeting on 17 March 2008.24
Individual Entries
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Participating countries
On 21 December 2007, the EBU confirmed that 43 countries would be present in Belgrade.25 San Marino, as well as the newest EBU member, Azerbaijan, made its debut at the 2008 contest. Austria 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."5 Italy, which has not competed since 1997, and which would have been an automatic finalistcitation needed, was again absent. Slovakia was absent due to budget problems.
The following countries competed in two semi-finals which were broadcast live on Tuesday 20 May and Thursday 22 May 2008. In addition to this, automatic finalists Germany and Spain exercised voting rights at the first semi-final. France, the United Kingdom 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 UK screened both semi-finals.
Results
Semi-final 1
- The first semi-final was held on 20 May 2008
- Peach indicates countries which qualified for the final
- Flax denotes the entry chosen by the jury to go to the final
Semi-final 2
- The second semi-final was held on 22 May 2008
- Peach indicates countries which qualified for the final
- Flax denotes the entry chosen by the jury to go to the final
Final
The finalists were:
- the big four France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom
- the host country Serbia
- the top nine countries from the first semi-final plus one wildcard from the juries (marked in flax)
- the top nine countries from the second semi-final plus one wildcard from the juries (marked in flax)
The final was held on 24 May 2008 and was won by Russia. Russia's victory was questioned by Ukraine's officials later in May, whose representative was the runner-up.30
Poland, the United Kingdom and Germany all received a total of 14 points. Whilst the rules of the contest describe mechanisms to break a tie should it be for first place, it is ambiguous as to whether the procedure applies to other rankings. Should the rules apply, Germany having received more twelve points than the others would be ranked 23rd, Poland having scored more ten points than the UK would be ranked 24th, leaving the UK in 25th and last place. A table located at the contest's official website, Eurovision.tv, shows the ties as broken, however in previous years such as 2007, 2004 and 2002, the same source has shown unbroken ties. Other encyclopaedic sources rank all three as 23rd.
Scoreboards
Semi-final 1
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Montenegro | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Israel | 104 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Estonia | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Moldova | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| San Marino | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Belgium | |||||||||||||||||||||||