Own Eurovision Song Contest 43

Own Eurovision Song Contest 43, often referred to as OESC #43, is the 43rd edition of the Own Eurovision Song Contest. It will take place in Jerusalem, Israel, following Israel's victory at the 42nd Contest with "Hishtagati", performed by Maya Buskila. This will be the first time the competition will take place in Israel. The contest is scheduled to consist of one quarter-final, two semi-finals and a final. On January 15, 2016 it was revealed that the Jerusalem Payis Arena will be the venue of the 43rd edition.

Fifty countries have confirmed their participation in the next edition, being the highest number of countries since the Own Eurovision Song Contest 30, edition held in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The contest will see the return of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Czech Republic, Faroe Islands, Ireland, Montenegro and Slovakia. Lebanon, Morocco and Russia have decided to withdraw. Following the high number of countries that wishes to compete in the 43rd edition, the OEBU introduced the Quarter Finals Round in which the bottom five entries from each of the two semifinals from the 42nd edition will compete, in order to qualify for the semifinals.

After a tense voting process, Italy won the contest for the first time, with Elisa's song "No Hero". Italy received a total amount of 200 points, winning by a margin of only 5 points. The runner-up of the 43rd edition was Ukraine, making the country's best place in the competition.

Third place went to Norway, fourth to Kosovo, fifth to Czech Republic and sixth place went to Kazakhstan. The #WebAwardWinner was Norway's "Faded" and the #BestNonQualifier was declared Romania.

From the countries that were automatically qualified in the Grand Final, only England (9th place) ranked into the top 10. The other five countries from the "Big 6" placed into the second part of the scoreboard, with Iceland ranking 17th, Sweden ranking 18th, Denmark ranking 19th, the host country Israel placed 21st and Albania placing 25th out of 26 countries that were in the Grand Final.

Location
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, situated at the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea. It shares land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories (which are claimed by the State of Palestine and are partially controlled by Israel) comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip. to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. It contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel's financial and technology center is Tel Aviv, while Jerusalem is both its self-designated capital (unrecognised by the United Nations) and its most populous individual city under the country's governmental administration. Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem is internationally disputed.

On January 15, 2016 it was revealed that Jerusalem will be the city host of the 43rd edition. Jerusalem, located on a plateau in the Judean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, is one of the oldest cities in the world. It is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Israelis and Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital, as Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power; however, neither claim is widely recognized internationally.

In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000 (62%), Muslims 281,000 (35%), Christians 14,000 (around 2%) and 9,000 (1%) were not classified by religion.

Bidding Phase
IBA announced the conditions under which cities and venues had announced their interest in hosting the 43rd contest:


 * The host city had to provide a certain number of hotels and hotel rooms to be found in the vicinity of the stadium.
 * The arena had to be able to offer lodges adjacent to the stadium.
 * A press centre had to be available at the stadium that will have a specific size.
 * BBC Scotland had to have access to the host venue at least 4–6 weeks before the broadcasts, in order to build the stage, rigging lights and all the technology.
 * The host city had to be close to a major airport.

The following cities are interested in hosting the 43rd contest

Venue
The Jerusalem Arena (Hebrew: הארנה ירושלים‎, HaArena Yerushalayim), renamed for the National Lottery Mifal HaPayis grant as Jerusalem Payis Arena (Hebrew: פיס ארנה ירושלים‎, HaPayis Arena Yerushalayim), is a multi-purpose sports arena that was built in Jerusalem by the city council and National Lottery grant of Mifal HaPayis. The arena is located in Jerusalem's Sports Quarter, in the southwestern Malha neighborhood, adjacent to Teddy Stadium. The arena seats 11,600 for basketball games and 15,654 for concerts.

The arena interior itself covers 40,000 square metres (430,000 sq ft) and, according to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, the arena is the largest indoor space in Jerusalem. The arena is able to host professional sports, world-class concerts, international conferences, and cultural events. The arena also contains a medical sports center, club rooms, offices, and two additional halls. The entire complex includes 47,370 square metres (509,900 sq ft).

The arena is part of a number of sports facilities in the Jerusalem Sport Quarter, which include an indoor Olympic-size swimming pool, tennis courts, and an ice rink. It is also a multi-purpose site, with hotels and residences for athletes with accommodations of 240 rooms, that is able to provide facilities for exhibitions, cultural and business events. There is also an underground parking space for 1,700 cars, and a retail power center. Upon completion, the arena became the new home arena of the Israeli Basketball Premiere League club Hapoel Jerusalem B.C., as they moved into it from the smaller Malha Arena, which was their previous home arena. The arena was officially opened on 11 September 2014

Semi-final Allocation Draw
The semifinal allocation draw took place on January 17, 2016.

The participating countries, excluding the automatic finalists (host Israel and the Big Five), will be split into six pots, based on voting patterns from the previous ten editions. The pots were calculated and are as follows: From these pots, 16 countries each were allocated to compete in the first semifinal and 16 in the second semifinal. The host country, Israel will vote in the first semi-final. The countries from the big five will vote as follow: England with Sweden in the first semifinal, while Albania with Denmark and Iceland in the second semifinal.

First semifinal
Twenty countries participated in the first semi-final. England, Israel and Sweden also voted in this semi-final.

Second semifinal
Twenty countries participated in the second semi-final. Albania, Denmark and Iceland also voted in this semi-final

12 points
(Coming soon)

Voting Ceremony

 * 1) Flag of Croatia.svg.png Ivan Dečak
 * 2) Flag of Wales.svg.png Bonnie Tyler
 * 3) Flag of Montenegro.svg.png Marija Vujović
 * 4) Flag of Serbia.svg.png Nevena Božović
 * 5) Flag of Scotland.svg.png Sandi Thom
 * 6) Flag of Switzerland.svg.png Xenia Tchoumitcheva
 * 7) Flag of Israel.svg.png Avishai Rosen
 * 8) Flag of Ukraine.svg.png Verka Serduchka
 * 9) Flag of France.svg.png Shy'm
 * 10) Flag of Greece.svg.png Apostolia Zoi
 * 11) Flag of Spain.svg.png Barei
 * 12) Flag of Hungary.svg.png Hien
 * 13) Flag of Azerbaijan.svg.png Leyla Aliyeva
 * 14) Flag of Malta.svg.png Ella Eyre
 * 15) Flag of Kazakhstan.svg.png Eugen Bauder
 * 16) Flag of Slovenia.svg.png Žan Košir
 * 17) Flag of Belgium.png Barbara Opsomer
 * 18) Flag of England.svg.png Mel Giedroyc
 * 19) Flag of Algeria.svg.png Leïla Lanova
 * 20) Flag of Kosovo.svg.png Labinot Gashi
 * 21) Flag of Turkey.svg.png Onur Büyüktopçu
 * 22) Flag of Portugal.svg.png Marisa Liz
 * 23) Flag of Romania.svg.png Claudia Pavel
 * 24) Flag of Albania.svg.png Ardian Bujupi
 * 25) Flag of Norway.svg.png Lene Egeli
 * 26) Flag of Bulgaria.svg.png Aziz
 * 27) Flag of Italy.svg.png Francesca Michelin
 * 28) Flag of Poland.svg.png Natalia Szroeder
 * 29) Flag of Uzbekistan.svg.png Shahzoda
 * 30) Flag of Faroe Islands.svg.png Bára Silvansdóttir
 * 31) Flag of Estonia.svg.png Ott Lepland
 * 32) Flag of Czech Republic.png Marta & Václav
 * 33) Flag of Lithuania.svg.png Vaidas Baumila
 * 34) Flag of the Netherlands.svg.png Patty Brard
 * 35) Flag of Iceland.svg.png Greta Salóme
 * 36) Flag of Finland.svg.png Krista Siegfrids
 * 37) Flag of Georgia.svg.png Nina Sublatti
 * 38) Flag of Moldova.svg.png Aliona Moon
 * 39) Flag of Armenia.svg.png Sirusho
 * 40) Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg.png Maya Sar
 * 41) Flag of Cyprus.svg.png Polina Christodoulou
 * 42) Flag of Macedonia.svg.png Tamara Todevska
 * 43) Flag of Ireland.svg.png Kasey Smith
 * 44) Flag of Slovakia.svg.png Lina Mayer
 * 45) Flag of Sweden.svg.png Samir & Viktor
 * 46) Flag of Denmark.svg.png Medina
 * 47) Flag of Belarus.svg.png Teo
 * 48) Flag of Northern Ireland.svg.png Leah McFall
 * 49) Flag of Germany.svg.png Elyas M'Barek
 * 50) Flag of Austria.svg.png Marla Blumenblatt
 * 51) Flag of Earth.svg.png Shiri Maimon

Other countries

 * Further information: List of countries in the Own Eurovision Song Contest

Eligibility for potential participation in the Own Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active OEBU membership that would be able to broadcast the contest. As in every edition, an invitation to all the members have been sent in order to confirm whether they will participate or not. The following list of countries declined stating their reasons as shown below.


 * After hiring a new head of delegation, he was fired shortly after by ERTU due to some internal conflicts. The broadcaster is now looking for a new one. The country was forced the skip one more edition for not having a permanent HoD.
 * After finding a new HoD, the country decided to wait one more edition before returning at Own Eurovision Song Contest 44.
 * Lebanon confirmed that they won't be present in the competition shortly after the Grand Final results, due to their political conflicts with Israel.
 * The country withdraw stating bad results as a reason.
 * Few days before the deadline for confirmation, the country announced their withdrawal without a reason given.