Own Eurovision Song Contest 9

Own Eurovision Song Contest 9, often referred to as OESC #09, was the 9th edition of Own Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Malmö just off the coast of Sweden, following Agnes's win in the previous contest with the song "Release me". It was the second time that Sweden had hosted the contest, the last time being in second edition. Sveriges Television (SVT) chose Malmö Arena as the venue following the consideration of several venues in Sweden. The hosts for the contest were Charlotte Perrelli and Danny Saucedo. Fourty-five countries participated, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Faroe Islands, Italy, Lebanon, Northern Ireland, Poland, San Marino and Ukraine, which all returned in the competition. Lebanon last participated in the first edition. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Germany, Greenland, Latvia, Macedonia, Norway, Portugal and Slovenia announce their withdrawal.

The winner for the ninth edition was Denmark with the song "Friends" sung by Aura Dione and Rock Mafia. Second place went to the Netherlands. For the second time in the history of the contest there was a tie between the first and second places, as both received 169 points. This necessitated a "count-back", since Denmark received votes from 28 countries and the Netherlands only from 25 countries, "Friends" was declared the winner song. Scotland finished in third place and Poland in fourth, while Romania finished in fifth place. Out of the countries with the 'Big 5' status, Andorra, Romania and Scotland managed to finish in the top ten. Ireland finished in the 14th place, while the host country received a total of 67 points, finishing in the 18th place out of 26 countries.

Venue
Malmö Arena is a multi-use indoor arena in Malmö, Sweden, and the home of HockeyAllsvenskan ice hockey club Malmö Redhawks. Apart from hosting Redhawks hockey matches, the arena is often the venue for team handball, floorball, concerts, and other events. It has also hosted indoor athletics. Owned and operated by Parkfast AB, the arena was designed by Mats Matson of MM Matsson Konsult AB, Hannu Helkiö of Pöyry Architects, and Gert Wingårdh of Wingårdh arkitektkontor. Naming rights for the venue are owned by Malmö Stad, in a ten-year contract, agreed in 2007. Malmö Arena hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 between 14 and 18 May 2013.

With a capacity of 13,000 for sports and 15,500 for concerts, Malmö Arena is the fourth-largest indoor arena in Sweden, after Friends Arena, Tele2 Arena and Ericsson Globe, all of them located in Stockholm. The attendance record for concerts at Malmö Arena is 11,300, set by a Lady Gaga concert on 19 November 2010. The venue attendance record for ice hockey was set on 12 November 2008, when Malmö Redhawks hosted Leksands IF in front of 13,247 people. Ground was broken on 10 January 2007, and the arena was inaugurated on 6 November 2008. The final construction cost for the arena was 750 million SEK. The arena is located about 80 m (260 ft) from Hyllie railway station, from where there are rail and bus connections to Malmö Central Station, Copenhagen Airport, and Copenhagen Central Station.

Location
Malmö, in the southernmost province of Scania, is Sweden's third largest city by population after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and is one of the largest cities in Scandinavia. Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County. The administrative entity for most of the city is Malmö Municipality which has 303,873 inhabitants in eight different localities, with 30% being of foreign origin (either born outside of Sweden or having both parents born abroad). Malmö is also a bimunicipal locality, as part of it is formally situated in Burlöv Municipality. The total population of the urban area was 280,415 in December 2010.

Malmö is thought to have been founded in 1275, as a fortified quay or ferry berth of the Archbishop of Lund, some 20 km to the north-east. It was for centuries Denmark's second biggest city. Its original name was Malmhaug (with alternate spellings), meaning "Gravel pile".

In the 15th century, Malmö became one of Denmark's largest and most frequented cities, reaching a population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants. It became the most important city around the Øresund, with the German Hanseatic League frequenting it as a marketplace, notable for its flourishing herring fishing. During that time, the city arms were granted in 1437 by King Eric of Pomerania. It was based on Eric's own arms from Pomerania: an argent with a griffin gules. It gave the griffin's head to Malmö, eventually this extended to the entire province of Scania. In 1434, a new citadel was constructed at the beach south of the town. This fortress, known today as Malmöhus, did not get its current appearance until the mid-16th century. Several other fortifications were constructed, making Malmö Sweden's most fortified city, but only Malmöhus remains.

This will be the second time after OESC #02, that the competition is held in Sweden and the first time that it will be held in Malmö.

Participants
A record of fourty-five countries were announced that would take part in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 9. The 9th edition saw the return of Lebanon, who previously took part in the first contest.

Returning artists
Nineteen countries decided to send artists that participated in the past. Franka Batelic, Funda and Kristina and previous winners of the contest, returned to defend their titles.

Shows
The qualified countries were revealed on the 28th of August 2012. The semifinal included a wildcard, meaning that one country that received the most points, from both shows, out of top ten, will have a chance to battle in the Grand Final.

Semi-final 1

 * The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to the voting of the countries, qualifies for the final.
 * (host country), and  votes in this semifinal.
 * won the wildcard

Semi-final 2

 * The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to the voting of the countries, qualifies for the final.
 * (the host country), and  voted in this semifinal.
 * , and  were disqualified for not voting.
 * didn't qualify for the final, because there was an error in the voting system. So, qualified to the Grand Final, as a consequence Turkey was declared a finalist in the next edition.

Notes
 * 1. The country was disqualified for not voting. Three countries were disqualified, they should have qualify in the Grand Final.

Final
The finalist are:
 * the big five:, , , and (host country).
 * the top ten countries from the first semifinal
 * the top ten countries from the second semifinal
 * a wildcard, best scored semifinalist that was not in the top ten
 * and have both the same score, but the winner is Denmark because it received points from more countries then the runner-up.

12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the final

Voting and spokespersons
40th of the 45th countries voted in the Grand Final. ,, , and  didn't send their votes.

The order was used to add as much excitement as possible. The spokespersons and the city from where they were calling, were shown alongside each country.

Moscow – Andrey Malahov Beirut – Nelly Makdessy Warsaw – Magdalena Tul Mostar – Maya Sar Eindhoven – Raffaela Paton Andorra la Vella – Gisela Tbilisi – Sofia Nizharadze Villnius – Sasha Son Brussels – Yelle van Dael Timișoara – Andra Măruţă Liverpool – Rebecca Ferguson Zagreb – Modric Luka Chişinău – Olga Fesenco Podgorica – Andrea Demirovic Dublin – Bono
 * 1) [[File:Russia.png]] Russia ,
 * 1) [[File:Lebanon.png]] Lebanon,
 * 1) [[File:Poland.png]] Poland,
 * 1) [[File:Bosnia and Herzegovina.png]] Bosnia and Herzegovina,
 * 1) [[File:The Netherlands.png]] The Netherlands,
 * 1) [[File:Andorra.png]] Andorra,
 * 1) [[File:Georgia.png]] Georgia,
 * 1) [[File:Lithuania.png]] Lithuania,
 * 1) [[File:Belgium.png]] Belgium,
 * 1) [[File:Romania.png]] Romania,
 * 1) [[File:England.png]] England,
 * 1) [[File:Croatia.png]] Croatia,
 * 1) [[File:Moldova.png]] Moldova,
 * 1) [[File:Montenegro.png]] Montenegro,
 * 1) [[File:Ireland.png]] Ireland,

 Estonia , Tallinn – Ott Lepland  Malta, Qormi – Mikaela Attard  Sweden , Malmo – Agnes  France, Paris – Vanessa Paradis  Greece, Livadeia – Katerina Geronikolou  Czech Republic, Trinec – Ewa Farna  Liechtenstein, Vaduz – Lena Meyer-Landrut  Cyprus, Nicosia – Evridiki  Faroe Islands, Tórshavn – Sisse Marie</li>  Albania, Priztren – Frederic Ndoci</li>  Kazakhstan, Astana – Roza Rymbaeva</li>  Scotland, Glasgow – Emeli Sande</li>  Denmark, Copenhegen – Ida Corr</li> </ol>

 Wales, Cardif – Marina Diamandis</li>  Åland Islands, Mariehamn – Eric Saade</li>  Iceland, Reykjavik – Gylfi Sigurdsson</li>  Northern Ireland, Belfast – Tulisa</li>  Finland, Helsinki – Pernilla Karlsson</li>  Turkey, Trabzon – Gülben Ergen</li>  Bulgaria, Sofia – Nadia</li>  Italy, Rome – Emma</li>  Serbia, Belgrade – Radmila Manojlovic</li>  San Marino, Acquoviva – Tiziano Ferro</li>  Hungary, Budapest – Brighitta Balogh</li> <li> Switzerland, Geneva – Ursula Andress</li> </ol>