Own Africavision Song Contest 11

Own Africavision Song Contest 11, often referred to as OAfSC #11, is the 11th edition of Own Africavision Song Contest. The contest took place in Dakar, Senegal, following the country's victory in the 10th edition with the song "Lazertits" by Khadyak. It was the first time Senegal had hosted the contest. Organised by the Own African Union of Broadcasting and host broadcaster Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise, the contest was held at the Dakar Arena. The three live shows were hosted by Khoudia Diop and Viviane Chidid.

Fourty-eight countries participated in the contest. Djibouti, Ethiopia, Liberia and Mali returned to the competition, while Algeria, Botswana, Gabon, Niger, Western Sahara and Zambia withdrew for various reasons.

Malawi's GrisVer and Nandi were the winners of the contest with the song "Dawn!". The song broke the record for the highest scoring winner of the Own Africavision Song Contest by a single point, which was set the previous edition by Senegal's Lazertits, as well as the song with the most 12 points across the five contests in the family, with 15 sets of 12s. This is the first time that Malawi won the contest, with Tanzania, Egypt, Djibouti, Benin, and Guinea-Bissau completing the top six, with the top five nations achiving their highest place to date, along with Guinea getting fifteenth in the semi. The host country, Senegal placed twentieth in the grand final. For the first time since the introduction of the semifinals, Mauritania failed to advance to the final.

Location
Further information on the host country: Senegal

Host city
Dakar (Wolof: Ndakaaru) is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2021.

The area around Dakar was settled in the 15th century. The Portuguese established a presence on the island of Gorée off the coast of Cap-Vert and used it as a base for the Atlantic slave trade. France took over the island in 1677. Following the abolition of the slave trade and French annexation of the mainland area in the 19th century, Dakar grew into a major regional port and a major city of the French colonial empire. In 1902, Dakar replaced Saint-Louis as the capital of French West Africa. From 1959 to 1960, Dakar was the capital of the short-lived Mali Federation. In 1960, it became the capital of the independent Republic of Senegal.

Venue
Dakar Arena (nicknamed Palais des sports de Diamniadio) is an indoor arena that is located in Diamniadio, Senegal, on the east side of Dakar. Built between 2016 and 2018, it is primarily used for basketball games, and it is the home arena of the Senegal national basketball team and the Senegal women's national basketball team. The arena has a seating capacity of 15,000 people. It is one of Africa's newest basketball arenas.

President Macky Sall promised to build a new basketball arena, after Senegal won the AfroBasket Women 2015. The objective was to replace the Marius Ndiaye Stadium as the home arena for both men and women basketball teams in Senegal. The land which the Dakar Arena is on was broken on 9 May 2016, by President Macky Sall, Prime Minister Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne and many basketball players. On 8 August 2018, the Dakar Arena was inaugurated by Macky Sall. It hosted all matches of the 2019 Women's Afrobasket.

Semi-final allocation draw
The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on 28 May 2022. The draw decided in which half of the respective semi-finals each country would perform, with the exact running order determined by the producers of the show at a later date. Twenty-one countries participated in each semi-final. From each semi-final, ten countries joined the host and the automatic qualifiers in the final, where a total of twenty-six countries participated.

The forty-two semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, based on their geographical place and cultural similarities. Drawing from different pots helps in reducing the chance of so-called neighbour voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined.

The six pots were the following:

Semi-final 1
Twenty-one countries participated in the first semi-final. Comoros, Ghana and Rwanda also voted in this semi-final.

Semi-final 2
Twenty-one countries participated in the first semi-final. Eritrea, Senegal and Tunisia also voted in this semi-final.

Final
Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all 48 participating countries eligible to vote.

Other countries
Eligibility for potential participation in the Own Africavision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active OAUB membership that would be able to broadcast the contest. As in every edition, an invitation to all the members has been sent in order to confirm whether they will participate or not.
 * Algeria announced a one edition break after the entry they submitted was rejected for breaking the rules.
 * The head of delegation announced that they had taken the role as the head of the Malawian delegation, and Botswana didn't find a replacement in time.
 * The nation failed to respond to the invitation given by the OAUB. It is speculated that the country might return in the future with a new Head of Delegation.
 * The nation failed to respond to the invitation given by the OAUB.
 * Despite initially appearing on the list of participants, the Congo-Brazzaville broadcaster announced that they have to pull out because of artists' low interest in taking part. However, according to the website "better-congo.cg", the nation won't rule out a comeback if the situation changes.
 * The Ugandan broadcaster has yet to resolve their ongoing financial issues, and will therefore not be present in the upcoming edition. An economic relief package from the central government is set to make participation in the next edition feasible.
 * The head of delegation announced that Western Sahara would not be present in Dakar, but didn't specify whether this would be a one-off or if it would be permanent.
 * The nation failed to respond to the invitation given by the OAUB. Due to the nation placing 4th in Lesotho, their automatic qualifying spot went to the seventh placed nation in Lesotho, that being Rwanda.