Own Eurovision Song Contest 34

Own Eurovision Song Contest 34, often referred to as OESC #34, is the 34th edition of the Own Eurovision Song Contest. The contest will take place in Zagreb, following Severina and Učiteljice's victory in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 33 with the song "Generale". During the winner's press conference, an HRT Television representative stated that the host city this time will be Zagreb. Last time, Croatia hosted the Own Eurovision Song Contest 3 edition, held in Zadar.

The 34th edition will see the return of Algeria, Andorra, Austria, Libya, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia, while Hungary, Kazakhstan, Malta, Morocco and Serbia were forced to withdraw. Georgia, Lithuania, San Marino and Syria withdrew voluntarily making a total of 46 countries competing. This is the third time in the history of the competition when this amount of countries participate.

The Big 6 status countries and also the countries that will automatically qualify for the Grand Final in the 34th edition are Albania, the host country Croatia, Latvia, Spain, Sweden and Tunisia.

The winner song of the 34th edition was Finland. "Unbreakable" performed by Benjamin received a total amount of 179 points, winning by a margin of only 9 points. This is Finland's first win since their debut in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 4, contest held in Košice, Slovakia.

Second place went to Poland, third place went to Portugal, winning their best place in the competition and their first top five, so far. Fourth place went to Turkey. Fifth place went to Slovakia and sixth to Scotland.

From the countries with the Big 6 status, only Croatia, the host country, ended in the top 10, receiving a total amount of 134 points and ending on the 7th place. The other five countries placed in the second half of the leaderboard, with the exception of Sweden which ended on the 12th place with 109 points. Albania ended on the 20th place with 79 points, Tunisia received a total of 59 points and ended on the 22nd place, Spain received 53 points and place 23rd and Latvia placed last out of 26 countries, that were in the Grand Final, receiving a total amount of 30 points.

The Own Eurovision Song Contest 34 marks Tunisia's last participation in the contest.

Venue
Arena Zagreb is a multi-purpose sports hall located in the southwestern part of Zagreb, Croatia (in the Lanište neighborhood of Novi Zagreb). The site also includes a building complex, the Arena Complex (Arena Center), making it one of the largest shopping-entertainment centers in the city.

The Croatian Government and the City Government of Zagreb held a public tender for the construction of a sports hall in order to host games in the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship, and later for numerous other sporting, cultural, and business events.

They selected the consortium composed of property developers TriGránit (from Hungary) and Ingra (from Croatia). The TriGránit/Ingra offer was initially approved on April 25, 2007, but the signing of the final contract was delayed because of Mayor Milan Bandić expressing discontent with the conditions. The Consortium engaged studio UPI-2M from Zagreb, specially for this project to create and produce a unique design for Arena Zagreb. The construction of the sports hall finally started on July 20, 2007, and was completed as planned on December 15, 2008.

The Arena is used for hockey, futsal, handball, athletics, basketball, volleyball, numerous other sporting competitions, and various concerts, exhibitions, fairs, conventions, and congresses.

The shopping center and Arena Zagreb share a series of services such as a joint parking lot, multiplex cinema, wellness center, numerous restaurants, cafes, and stores.

Location
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is located in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately 122 m (400 ft) above sea level. In the last official census of 2011 the population of the City of Zagreb was 792,875. The wider Zagreb metropolitan area includes the City of Zagreb and the separate Zagreb County bringing the total metropolitan area population up to 1,110,517. It is the only metropolitan area in Croatia with a population of over one million.

Zagreb is a city with a rich history dating from the Roman times to the present day. The oldest settlement in the urban area of the city is Andautonia, a Roman settlement in the place of today's Ščitarjevo. The name "Zagreb" is mentioned for the first time in 1094 at the founding of the Zagreb diocese of Kaptol, and Zagreb became a free royal town in 1242, whereas the origin of the name still remains a mystery in spite of several theories. In 1851 Zagreb had its first mayor, Janko Kamauf, and in 1945 it was made the capital of Croatia when the demographic boom and the urban sprawl made the city as it is known today.

Zagreb has a special status in the Republic of Croatia's administrative division and is a consolidated city-county (but separated from Zagreb County), and is administratively subdivided into 17 city districts, most of them being at low elevation along the river Sava valley, whereas northern and northeastern city districts, such as Podsljeme and Sesvete districts are situated in the foothills of the Sljeme mountain, making the city's geographical image rather diverse. The city extends over 30 kilometres (19 miles) east-west and around 20 kilometres (12 miles) north-south.

The transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific and research institutions and industrial tradition underlie its leading economic position in Croatia. Zagreb is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies and almost all government ministries. Almost all of the largest Croatian companies, media and scientific institutions have their headquarters in the city. Zagreb is the most important transport hub in Croatia where Western Europe, the Mediterranean and Southeast Europe meet, making the Zagreb area the centre of the road, rail and air networks of Croatia. It is a city known for its diverse economy, high quality of living, museums, sporting and entertainment events. Its main branches of economy are high-tech industries and the service sector.

This is the second time in the history of the Own Eurovision Song Contest, when the contest is held in Croatia and the first time to be held in Zagreb, last time the contest was held in Zadar, back in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 3.

Semi-final Allocation Draw
The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on January 10, 2015 at the Arena Zagreb. The participating countries, excluding the Big 6 countries, were split into six pots, based on voting history and geographical location. From these pots, 20 countries each were allocated to compete in each semifinal. The pots are as follows:

The host country, Croatia will vote in the second semi-final. The rest of the big six countries will vote as follow: Albania with Sweden and Tunisia will vote in the first semi-final, while Latvia with Spain will vote in the second semi-final.

Running Order
The official running order of the two semifinals was held on January 10, 2015. Also, the running order of the Big 6 countries in the Grand Final was revealed, with the host country, Croatia performing second last out of 26 countries.

The official running order of the qualifiers from the semifinals was held after the winners were revealed.

Participants
Forty-six countries have confirmed participation in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 34 with nine countries returning and nine withdrawing.

The Own Eurovision Song Contest 34 edition will see the return of Algeria, Andorra, Austria, Libya, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia,, while Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Malta, Morocco, San Marino, Serbia and Syria have withdraw.

Libya has last participated in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 15 and Austria in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 30. Slovakia has last been in the contest back in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 31. Algeria, Andorra, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands and Poland have all last performed in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 32.

Returning artists
Twenty-nine previous contestants returned in the competition. Former winners, Učiteljice band, winners of the Own Eurovision Song Contest 33 returned for Slovenia, Ellie Goulding, returned for Scotland, she was the winner of the Own Eurovision Song Contest 23. The winner of the Own Eurovision Song Contest 21, INNA and the winner of the Own Eurovision Song Contest 19, Antonia returned for Moldova.

Below are the names of the artists that returned in the competition and for how many times they are returning.

Semi-Final 1

 * The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to the votes from each voting country, qualifies for the Grand Final.
 * , and  will vote in this semi-final.
 * The ten qualifiers were announced on January 16, 2015.

Notes

1. Although the song is almost completely in English, Italian words are used in the song and in the title.

Semi-Final 2

 * The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to the votes from each voting country, qualifies for the Grand Final.
 * , and  will vote in this semi-final.
 * The ten qualifiers were announced on January 20, 2015.

Finalists
The twenty-six finalists are:
 * the Big 6 countries:, the host country  ,  ,  ,  and.
 * the top ten countries from the first semi-final.
 * the top ten countries from the second semi-final.

Disqualified entries
Starting with Own Eurovision Song Contest 34, the "Overused Rule" was introduced. This rule is not allowing songs which participated in more than 4 contests which admins are OESC players to take part in the contest. This rule was created to prevent overused and unoriginal songs doing extremelly well for obvious reasons. Therefore, the following entries were disqualified and are never allowed to participate:
 * [[File:The Netherlands.png]] Within Temptation - "Shot In The Dark"
 * [[File:Turkey.png]] Sertab Erener - "Here I Am"

12 points awarded in the first semifinal
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the first semifinal.

12 points awarded in the second semifinal
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the second semifinal.

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

Spokepersons

 * 1) Cyprus.png Stefanos Chrisoforou
 * 2) Portugal.png Cristiano Ronaldo
 * 3) Slovakia.png Kristína Peláková
 * 4) Austria.png Natália Kelly
 * 5) Monaco.png Baptiste Giabiconi
 * 6) Armenia.png Khloe Kardashian
 * 7) Egypt.png Sandy
 * 8) Belarus.png Julia Parshuta
 * 9) Turkey.png Murat Dalkılıç
 * 10) Kosovo.png Bleona Qereti
 * 11) France.png Mia Martina
 * 12) Montenegro.png Katarina Bulatovic
 * 13) Northern Ireland.png Olly Murs
 * 14) Poland.png Ewelina Lisowska
 * 15) Wales.png Gabrielle Aplin
 * 16) Latvia.png Madara Botmane
 * 17) Albania.png Taulant Xhaka
 * 18) Norway.png Mateusz Bluszcz
 * 19) Libya.png Nadia Ali
 * 20) Germany.png Angela Merkel
 * 21) Bosnia and Herzegovina.png Neda Ukraden
 * 22) Denmark.png Burhan G
 * 23) Croatia.png Severina & Matea Tisaj
 * 24) Sweden.png Timoteij
 * 25) Algeria.png Zinedine Zidane
 * 26) Azerbaijan.png Bianca Balti
 * 27) Italy.png Dear Jack
 * 28) Ukraine.png Alyosha
 * 29) Romania.png Alexandra Stan
 * 30) Ireland.png Niamh Kavanagh
 * 31) Greece.png Christina Miliou
 * 32) Macedonia.pngl Kajmakoski & Tamara Todevska
 * 33) Estonia.png Elina Born
 * 34) Tunisia.png Ermin Bašaškić
 * 35) Bulgaria.png Petya Koleva Ivanova
 * 36) Finland.png Janna Hurmerinta
 * 37) England.png Victoria Lott
 * 38) Scotland.png Jamey Bowers
 * 39) Slovenia.png Neža Buh
 * 40) The Netherlands.png Julien Escudé
 * 41) Iceland.png Fanney Osk
 * 42) Faroe Islands.png Christopher Nissen
 * 43) Spain.png Ana Morgade
 * 44) Andorra.png Joel Molina
 * 45) Switzerland.png Eliane Müller
 * 46) Moldova.png Olga Fesenco
 * 47) Flag of Earth.svg.png Lana Jurčević

Other countries

 * : The country announced that they are not willing to return to the contest.
 * : Czech Republic decided not to return to the contest.
 * : After the bad results the country had decided to withdraw from the competition.
 * : Hungary was forced to withdraw from the contest due to the rule of limited countries.
 * : The country decided not to return to the contest, due to lack of interest and money.
 * : Kazakhstan was forced to withdraw from the contest due to the rule of limited countries.
 * : Lithuania decided to withdraw from the contest,due to lack of interest.
 * : Rumours said that Luxembourg would return to the contest to the OESC 34,but their HoD, announced that they are not planning a return.
 * : Malta was forced to withdraw from the contest due to the rule of limited countries.
 * : Morocco was forced to withdraw from the contest due to the rule of limited countries.
 * : The country decided not to return to the contest due to lack of interest.
 * : Russia decided not to return to the contest,due to lack of interest. A come back is said to be made in the future.
 * : Due for non voting to the semi-final of previous edition, the country was forced to withdraw for one edition.
 * : Serbia was forced to withdraw from the contest due to the rule of limited countries.
 * : The country decided not to participate this edition due to lack of sponsors.