Rules

Here are the rules of the contest. Please read them carefully!

General rules

 * 1) To enter the contest, you must join the waiting list.
 * 2) First step after joining the contest is to chose one of the available free countries.
 * 3) Everyone must participate just with one country.
 * 4) It's required to participate at least three editions with the same country (the only exception is when your native country becomes free).
 * 5) Everyone should confirm the participation or the withdrawal in the upcoming edition within the deadline.
 * 6) It's required to submit an entry before the deadline, otherwise the country will be eliminated and the player will get a strike.
 * 7) The entry is officially submitted after being posted in the confirmation thread.
 * 8) The entry can be changed after being posted, but the original cannot be used again in a further edition.

Entries

 * 1) Entries can be chosen internally or with national selections.
 * 2) Before submitting entry, it's required to send it for approval to Mihai.
 * 3) The singer should be from or have strong connection with the country they represent.
 * 4) A band or a collaboration can represent the country if at least one of members is from the selected country.
 * 5) The song can be any length and released after 2000.
 * 6) The singer must be 16 years old to participate.
 * 7) (J)ESC songs are not allowed to enter.
 * 8) Official covers are allowed (Covers of hits and chart songs are not allowed to enter).
 * 9) The submitted entry must have a studio version.

Voting

 * 1) Voting system is similar with all online song contests. Voting for top 10 songs and awarding points (12 points for the favorite song, 10 points for the second favorite, then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point respectively).
 * 2) The non-participants are able to vote in the contest. Their votes are combined and counted as one set of votes (also known as Rest of the World).
 * 3) The automatic qualifiers are required to vote in semi-final they are supposed to vote.

Overused rule
To prevent the overused and unoriginal songs do extremely well just because they are well-known, disadvantaging other countries, every entry should be approved before being submitted. If the song you are trying to send took part in the most popular contests on forum, it cannot enter OESC.

Final results

 * 1) The winner is the country achieving the most points.
 * 2) If the countries are tied, the one which received points from the most countries will be the winner (or the best placed). If there will be the same number of voters, the country which received the most 12 points is the winner (and then 10, 8, 7, etc.). If there is still tie, the country performing earlier in recap gets the advantage and is placed higher.
 * 3) The countries which ended top 6 are directly qualified for next edition. If one of them is withdrawing for different reasons, the place is given to country on 7th place, and so on.

Blacklist
If someone doesn't follow any rule they will receive strikes. You can get strike for various reasons:
 * Not confirming participation/withdrawal each edition before deadline;
 * Not submitting entry after confirming;
 * Failing to vote in any required event;
 * Submitting entry without approval;

You will be permanently banned for cheating in the voting or for joining with a fake account.

Current blacklist

 * Temporary ban
 * Permanent ban
 * Does not compete