Own Eurovision Song Contest 33

Own Eurovision Song Contest 33, often referred to as OESC #33, is the 33rd edition of the Own Eurovision Song Contest. The contest will take place in Georgia, following Grigoriy Leps and Ani Lorak's victory in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 32 with the song "Zerkala". During the winner's press conference, an GPB Television representative stated that the host city will be Tbilisi.

The 33rd edition will see the return of Belarus, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, Morocco, Northern Ireland, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Tunisia and Wales, while Algeria, Belgium, Israel, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Uzbekistan were forced to withdraw. Andorra, Luxembourg and Monaco withdrew voluntarily making a total of 46 countries competing. This is the second 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 33rd edition are Croatia, the host country Georgia, Lithuania, Scotland, Sweden and Ukraine.

The winner song of the 33rd edition was "Generale" from Croatia performed by Severina and Učiteljice band. The country received a total amount of 169 points, winning by a margin of only 6 points. This is Croatia's second win since they won in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 2, contest held in Stockholm. "Generale" is the first Croatian language song that has ever won the contest. Also this is the second time in the history of the contest, when an autoqualifed country wins, last time this happened was in the 10th edition.

Second place went to Spain, third place went to Tunisia, winning their best place in the competition and their first top five, so far. Fourth place went to Albania, also winning their best place in the competition. Fifth place went to Sweden and sixth to Latvia. Latvia's last best place was 12th, achieving this in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 16 edition.

From the countries with the Big 6 status, only Croatia and Sweden ended in the top 10. The other four countries placed in the second half of the leaderboard, with Scotland ending on the 15th place with 103 points, Lithuania ended on the 17th place with 80 points, Ukraine received a total of 68 points and ended on the 23rd place and the host country, Georgia placed last out of 26 countries, that were in the Grand Final, receiving a total amount of 38 points.

Venue
Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, formerly known as Boris Paichadze National Stadium, is a stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia, and the home stadium of Dinamo Tbilisi, Georgia national rugby union team and Georgia national football team. With a capacity of 54,549, the stadium is the largest in Georgia. Built in 1976 by the Georgian architect Gia Kurdiani, the Dinamo Arena was named Boris Paichadze National Stadium after the famous Georgian football player Boris Paichadze. Prior to the construction of Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, the home stadium of Dinamo Tbilisi was the Central Stadium with an approximate capacity of 35,000 spectators. The demand for a much bigger stadium was increased with the successful performance of Dinamo Tbilisi in the mid 1970s. After the inauguration of the stadium, it became the third-largest in the Soviet Union, with a capacity of 74,354 spectators.

In 1995, the stadium was renamed to Boris Paichadze National Stadium, after the former Georgian football player. The National Stadium has been the home ground of the Georgian National Football Team for several years. Georgia achieved memorable wins against Wales (5-0), and Poland (3-0). The stadium was most recently refurbished in 2006 when it became an all-seater stadium. This reduced the capacity to 54,549.

Location
Tbilisi (Georgian: თბილისი [tʰb̥ilisi], formerly known as Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mtkvari River with a population of roughly 1.5 million inhabitants. Founded in the 5th century by the monarch of Georgia's ancient precursor Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has since served, with intermissions, as the Georgian capital. Formerly, the city had also served as the seat of the Imperial administration of the Caucasus during the Russian rule from 1801 to 1917, the capital of the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918, of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 1918 to 1921, of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1921 to 1991, and the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic from 1922 to 1936.

Located on the southeastern edge of Europe, Tbilisi's proximity to lucrative east-west trade routes often made the city a point of contention between various rival empires throughout history and the city's location to this day ensures its position as an important transit route for global energy and trade projects. Tbilisi's varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, and Soviet structures.

Historically, Tbilisi has been home to people of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, though it is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox Christian. Notable tourist destinations include cathedrals like Sameba and Sioni, classical Freedom Square and Rustaveli Avenue, medieval Narikala Fortress, pseudo-Moorish Opera Theater, and the Georgian National Museum.

This is the first time in the history of the Own Eurovision Song Contest, when the contest is held in Georgia.

Semi-final Allocation Draw
The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on December 17, 2014 at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena. 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, Georgia will vote in the second semi-final. The rest of the big six countries will vote as follow: Croatia with Scotland and Ukraine will vote in the first semi-final, while Lithuania with Sweden will vote in the second semi-final.

Running Order
The official running order of the two semifinals was held on December 18, 2014. Also, the running order of the Big 6 countries in the Grand Final was revealed, with the host country, Georgia performing last out of 26 countries.

The official running order of the qualifiers from the semifinals was held on December 24, 2014.

Participants
Forty-six countries have confirmed participation in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 33 with eleven countries returning and eleven withdrawing.

The Own Eurovision Song Contest 33 edition will see the return of Belarus, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, Morocco, Northern Ireland, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Tunisia and Wales, while Algeria, Andorra, Belgium, Israel, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Uzbekistan have withdraw.

Belarus and Tunisia have last participated in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 29, Malta in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 30. Hungary, Ireland, Morocco, Northern Ireland, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia and Wales have all last performed in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 31.

Returning artists
Thirty-one previous contestants returned in the competition. Former winners Bebe Rexha, winner of the Own Eurovision Song Contest 30 edition returned in the contest for Albania, Valentina Monetta, winner of the Own Eurovision Song Contest 20 returned in the competition for San Marino and Ani Lorak, winner of the previous edition, which returned for Ukraine.

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

First Semi-Final

 * 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 December 23, 2014.

Second Semi-Final

 * 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.
 * The host country,  and  will vote in this semi-final.
 * The ten qualifiers were announced on December 23, 2014.

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.

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) Malta.png                   Ira Losco
 * 2) Lithuania.png               Nota Dainininkė
 * 3) Portugal.png                Catarina Pereira
 * 4) Romania.png                 Andrei Maria
 * 5) Slovenia.png                Tanja Žagar
 * 6) France.png                  Lilly Wood & The Prick
 * 7) Belarus.png                 Nuteki
 * 8) Scotland.png                Ellie McKeating
 * 9) Cyprus.png                  Ioanna Protopapa
 * 10) Syria.png                   Dana Al Fardan
 * 11) Egypt.png                   Rania Tawfiq
 * 12) Wales.png                   Electrovamp
 * 13) Spain.png                   José Miguel Navarro
 * 14) Switzerland.png             Edita Abdieski
 * 15) Germany.png                 Ilka Bessin
 * 16) Georgia.png                 Georgian Model
 * 17) Turkey.png                  Hadise Trendyol
 * 18) Tunisia.png                 Amani Souissi
 * 19) Denmark.png                 Elize Ryd
 * 20) Greece.png                  Despina Vandi
 * 21) Bulgaria.png                Zhana Bergendorff
 * 22) Albania.png                 Arkimed Lushaj
 * 23) Moldova.png                 Alexandru Carabetchi
 * 24) Finland.png                 Krista Siegfrids
 * 25) Iceland.png                 Björk Guðmundsdóttir
 * 26) Sweden.png                  Molly Sandén
 * 27) Armenia.png                 Mariam Meliqyan
 * 28) Hungary.png                 Laura Cserpes
 * 29) Latvia.png                  Samanta Poļakova
 * 30) Italy.png                   Annalisa Scarrone
 * 31) Macedonia.png               Simona Poposka
 * 32) Norway.png                  Anine Stang
 * 33) Faroe Islands.png           Medina Valbak
 * 34) Ireland.png                 Katie Taylor
 * 35) Bosnia and Herzegovina.png  Pamela Ramljak
 * 36) Ukraine.png                 Vera Brezhneva
 * 37) Kazakhstan.png              Dilnaz Akhmadieva
 * 38) Kosovo.png                  Blerim Destani
 * 39) Serbia.png                  Aleksandra Radović
 * 40) Estonia.png                 Tatjana Mihhailova
 * 41) San Marino.png              Senhit Zadik
 * 42) Morocco.png                 Hind Laroussi Tahiri
 * 43) Azerbaijan.png              Aysel Manafova
 * 44) England.png                 Tula Contostavlos
 * 45) Croatia.png                 Mia Franić
 * 46) Northern Ireland.png        Janet Devlin
 * 47) Flag of Earth.svg.png       Sopho Nizharadze

Other countries

 * : The african country was forced to withdraw from this edition cause of the new rule.
 * : The country at November 4, 2014 announced that they won't compete anymore to the contest, due to lack of interest and poor results.
 * : The country announced that they won't return in the contest, due to lack of interest.
 * : The country was forced to withdraw from this edition cause of the new rule. Their HoD also changed and they are looking after for one.
 * : The Czech delegation announced that they would not like to compete again to the contest.A confirmed announcment hasn't been made yet.
 * : The nordic country announced on the November 11, 2014 that they would not come back to the contest.
 * : The country was forced to withdraw from this edition cause of the new rule.
 * : The country decided not to come back to the contest.Their announcment was confirmed from the jordan HoD on November 16, 2014.
 * : The lebanesse country decided not to return in the competition.
 * : The country anounced live to their interview with oesctoday.com that they are not planning for a return.
 * : The german country decided not to come back,cause their HoD need to be changed.
 * : The country decided to withdraw from the contest due to lack of interest and bad results of the previous edition.
 * : On November 15, 2014 the french country announced that they would like to take a break and search for artists that could be for the little country on the other editions of the contest.
 * : Montenegro was forced to withdraw from this edition cause of the new rule. Also the montenegrin HoD was changed so they wait for something new to the other editions.
 * : The country was forced to withdraw from this edition cause of the new rule.
 * : The country decided to keep their distance from the contest for one more edition,as they announced on November 1, 2014.
 * : The country was forced to withdraw from this edition cause of the new rule.
 * : The country was forced to withdraw from this edition cause of the new rule.
 * : The Slovak delegation need to be changed so the country can't come back to the contest,until then.
 * : Due the african country confirmed participation,on the 16 December they announced that they would not return to the competing due to financial reasons. Afterwards founding was found and they returned in the competition.
 * : The country was forced to withdraw from this edition cause of the new rule.