Own Eurovision Song Contest 42

Own Eurovision Song Contest 42, often referred to as OESC #42, is the 42nd edition of the Own Eurovision Song Contest. The edition will take place in Glasgow, Scotland, after Calvin Harris and Disciples won the Own Eurovision Song Contest 41 in Poland. On November 25, 2015 it was decided that the Hampden Park will be the venue of the 42nd edition.

Forty-six countries have confirmed there participation in the following edition. The 42nd edition will see the return of Albania, Bulgaria, Iceland, Morocco and Romania. Unfortunately, the following countries have confirmed their withdrawal, respectively Belarus, Czech Republic, Egypt and the Faroe Islands.

The 42nd edition consisted in two semifinals and a grand final. The semifinals took place on December 20, 2015 and December 27, 2015 respectively. The Grand Final will take place on January 9, 2016.

After a tense voting process, Israel won the contest for the first time, with Maya Buskila's song "Hishtagati". Israel received a total amount of 173 points, winning by a margin of only 11 points. The runner-up of the 42nd edition was Albania, making the country's best place in the competition.

Third place went to England, fourth to Sweden, fifth to Iceland and sixth place went to Denmark. The 42nd edition also saw the best score from a semifinal, Albania placed first in the second semifinal and received a record breaker of 159 points. The #WebAwardWinner was Norway's "Dancing in Flames" and the #BestNonQualifier was declared Moldova.

From the countries that were automatically qualified in the Grand Final, only England (3rd place), Denmark (6th place) and Kosovo (7th place) ranked into the top 10. The other three countries from the "Big 6" placed into the second part of the scoreboard, with Kazakhstan ranking 14th, the host country Scotland placed 21st and Switzerland placing 23rd out of 26 countries that were in the Grand Final.

Location
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the south-west. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands,including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

This is the second time an event for the Own Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Scotland, the third winner edition took place in Edinburgh on August 25, 2015.

On November 25 it was announced that Glasgow will be the host of the Own Eurovision Song Contest 42. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, and the third largest in the United Kingdom (after London and Birmingham). Greater Glasgow had a population of 1,199,629 at the 2001 census. At the 2011 census, it had a population density of 8,790/sq mi (3,390/km2), the highest of any Scottish city. It is situated on the River Clyde in the country's West Central Lowlands. Inhabitants of the city are referred to as Glaswegians.

Bidding Phase
BBC Scotland announced the conditions under which cities and venues had announced their interest in hosting the 42nd 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 42nd contest

Venue
Hampden Park (often referred to as Hampden) was choosen as the Venue of the 42nd edition on November 25, 2015. Hampden Park is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The 51,866 capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the normal home venue of the Scotland national football team and amateur Scottish league club Queen's Park F.C. and regularly hosts the latter stages of the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup competitions. It is also used for music concerts and other sporting events, such as when it was reconfigured as a athletics stadium for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Format
The competition consists of two semi-finals and a final, a format which has been in use since the first edition, with some exceptions starting from the Own Eurovision Song Contest 11 until the Own Eurovision Song Contest 30, when three semifinal were used, following the increasing number of participants. The ten countries with the highest scores in each semi-final qualifies to the final where they join the host nation Scotland and the other top six countries from last edition, known as the Big Five: Denmark, England, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Switzerland. Every country will cast their votes, only in the show that they will participate and the ten songs which scores the highest overall rank receives 12 points, while the tenth-best ranked song receives 1 point. Also, countries that don't participate in the respectively show or that don't participate in the competition at all can cast their votes, the scores will be sum and added to the Rest of the World voting.

On November 27, 2015 it was announced that the official sponosor of the Own Eurovision Song Contest 42 is the strongest Scottish beer "Snake Venom".

On November 30, 2015 it was revealed that ScotRail will also sponsor the Own Eurovision Song Contest 42 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Semi-final allocation draw
The semifinal allocation draw took place on November 29, 2015.

The participating countries, excluding the automatic finalists (host Scotland 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, 20 countries each were allocated to compete in the first semifinal and 20 in the second semifinal. The host country, Scotland will vote in the first semi-final. The countries from the big five will vote as follow: Denmark with Kosovo in the first semifinal, while England with Kazakhstan and Switzerland in the second semifinal.

Running Order
The final running order of the competing performances at the semi-finals and the final will be decided by the producers of the show and approved by the OEBU Executive Supervisor as had been done since the first edition. The host Scotland will draw their running order position at the heads of delegations meeting.

On December 3, 2015 the running order of the Semi-Finals was revealed by the OEBU.

On December 20, 2015 the running order of the first Semi-Final qualifiers was revealed by the OEBU.

On December 27, 2015 the running order of the second Semi-Final qualifiers and also the final line-up of the Grand Final was revealed by the OEBU.

Graphic design
On November 28, 2015, the slogan for the 42nd Contest was revealed to be "Achieving Goals". BBC Scotland confirmed that the postcard films, used to introduce each song in the contest, would feature each artist in their respective country, to give the viewer a personal insight of each competing participant. The postcards of this edition's contest also witness the slogan "Achieving Goals". In the postcards, each of the clips start with every contestant receiving an invitation to Poland in their home country. More specifically, the invitation is to a region in the host country. The story continues with the contestants making their way to one of the point from the country, where they have an individual task to fulfil. The tasks on the journeys vary from culture to sports, from economics to science and tradition to modern.

Presenters
On November 26, 2015, BBC Scotland announced that Karen Gillian and Sam Robertson will be the hosts of the 42nd contest. The winner of the Own Eurovision Song Contest 41, Ina Wroldsen was also chosen as host of the green room

Karen Sheila Gillan is a Scottish actress, director, and former model. She is known for the role of Amy Pond in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (2010–13). In film, she has starred as Jane Lockhart in Not Another Happy Ending (2013), Kaylie Russell in the horror film Oculus (2013), and Nebula in the Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Gillan was born and raised in Inverness, the only child of Marie (née Paterson) and John Gillan, a singer and recording artist. When she turned 16, Gillan moved to Edinburgh and completed an HNC Acting and Performance course at Telford College. She moved to London at age 18 to study at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts drama school, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in acting. In 2011, Gillan helped promote Fashion Targets Breast Cancer (FTBC) and the opening of Squirrel Ward in Great Ormond Street Hospital. During a 2012 interview on The Late Late Show, she stated that she had relocated to the US to star in the film Oculus and confirmed that she now lives in Los Angeles, California. She has stated that, though her family is Catholic, she was never baptized and is not religious, instead agreeing with the statement that, "we're just minuscule dots in the vast cosmic emptiness of the universe".

Samuel "Sam" Robertson is a Scottish actor and model best known for his role as Flynn on E4 comedy-drama Beaver Falls. Robertson was born in Dundee, Scotland. He studied Drama and English at the University of Manchester, but dropped out at 18 to focus on his role as Adam Barlow in Coronation Street. He is a keen follower of his local football team, Dundee Football Club. In 2005 and 2006, he took part in the second and third series of Sky One's The Match. In 2009, Sam joined the BBC Scotland soap opera River City as new character Innes Maitland. Sam played 'Flynn' in the E4 series, Beaver Falls, which aired in July 2011 in Britain. When he was eighteen, he played the part of Adam Barlow in Coronation Street. As of January 2013, Robertson was a housemate in Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5 in the UK. He was the second evictee of the series.

Rehearsals
All 46 countries will have 30 minutes on their rehearsals. This will begin starting with the first half of the First Semi-Final then the second half. All 4 days start at 12:00, with the Press Meet & Greet section starting later at 14:25.

The Big 5 countries, plus host Scotland will have their first rehearsals after the semifinalists's first rehearsals. Second rehearsals for all 46 countries will be shorter at 20 minutes. This starts at 10:20 with all 20 countries from the First Semi-Final and the next day for all 20 countries from the Second Semi-Final. Press conferences will begin at 11:20. Poland and the Big 6 countries will have their 2nd rehearsals the next day after second semifinalist's rehearsals, starting at 10:00 with the press conferences at 11:00.

The full confirmed running order was announced later after the Second Semi-Final has ended.

Participants
The submissions for the Own Eurovision Song Contest 42 started on November 23, 2015. The OEBU announced that the deadline for submissions is set on November 29, 2015. The deadline for submitting their songs was set on December 6, 2015.

Forty-six countries have confirmed there participation in the following edition. The 42nd edition will see the return of Albania, Bulgaria, Iceland, Morocco and Romania. Unfortunately, the following countries have confirmed their withdrawal, respectively Belarus, Czech Republic, Egypt and the Faroe Islands.

Returning artists
Fourteen previous entries returned in the competition.

First semi-final

 * 20 countries will take part in the first semi-final
 * Denmark.png Denmark, Kosovo.png Kosovo and the host country, Scotland.png Scotland will vote in this 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
 * On December 20, 2015 the 10 qualifiers were revealed.

Second semi-final

 * 20 countries will take part in the second semi-final
 * England.png England, Kazakhstan.png Kazakhstan and Switzerland.png Switzerland will vote in this 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
 * On December 27, 2015 the 10 qualifiers were revealed.

Grand Final
The twenty-six finalists are:
 * the Big 6 countries.
 * the top ten countries from the first semi-final.
 * the top ten countries from the second semi-final.


 * Notes
 * 1. Kamikaze is a Japanese word meaning divine wind, used to mean a suicidal action, especially that of Japanese pilots in World War II who deliberately crashed their airplanes onto enemy ships.

Voting Ceremony

 * 1) Flag of Romania.svg.png Antonia Iacobescu
 * 2) Flag_of_Belgium.png Paul Van Haver
 * 3) Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg.png Fuad Backović
 * 4) Flag of Georgia.svg.png Nina Sublatti
 * 5) Flag of Hungary.svg.png Viktor Király
 * 6) Flag of Lebanon.svg.png Myriam Fares
 * 7) Flag of Austria.svg.png Ramona Rotstich
 * 8) Flag of Sweden.svg.png Danny Saucedo & Molly Sandén
 * 9) Flag of Slovenia.svg.png Ana Haložan
 * 10) Flag of Spain.svg.png Amaia Montero
 * 11) Flag of Italy.svg.png Marco Mengoni
 * 12) Flag of Malta.svg.png Ira Losco
 * 13) Flag of Albania.svg.png Eneda Tarifa
 * 14) Flag of Turkey.svg.png Ekin Koç
 * 15) Flag of Macedonia.svg.png Simona Poposka
 * 16) Flag of England.svg.png Adele Laurie Blue Adkins
 * 17) Flag of Serbia.svg.png Ana Ivanovic
 * 18) Flag of Croatia.svg.png Iva Jerković
 * 19) Flag of Uzbekistan.svg.png Lola Yuldasheva
 * 20) Flag of Iceland.svg.png Young Karin
 * 21) Flag of Greece.svg.png Amaryllis Economou
 * 22) Flag of Switzerland.svg.png Pedro Mendes
 * 23) Flag of Scotland.svg.png Calvin Harris
 * 24) Flag of Armenia.svg.png Siranush Harutyunyan
 * 25) Flag of Israel.svg.png Shiri Maimon
 * 26) Flag of Kazakhstan.svg.png Eugen Bauder
 * 27) Flag of Cyprus.svg.png Michalis Hatzigiannis
 * 28) Flag of France.svg.png Matt Pokora
 * 29) Flag of Lithuania.svg.png Eglė Jakštytė
 * 30) Flag of Bulgaria.svg.png Radostina Todorova
 * 31) Flag of Finland.svg.png Benjamin Peltonen
 * 32) Flag of Norway.svg.png Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll
 * 33) Flag of Kosovo.svg.png Flaka Krelani
 * 34) Flag of Portugal.svg.png Aurea Sousa
 * 35) Flag of Ukraine.svg.png Igor Kolomiyets
 * 36) Flag of Algeria.svg.png Leïla Bekhti
 * 37) Flag of Estonia.svg.png Daniel Levi
 * 38) Flag of Wales.svg.png Stereophonics
 * 39) Flag of Poland.svg.png Patricia Kazadi
 * 40) Flag of Russia.svg.png Alsou Ralifovna Abramova
 * 41) Flag of the Netherlands.svg.png Marijke Helwegen
 * 42) Flag of Denmark.svg.png Nabiha Bensouda
 * 43) Flag of Moldova.svg.png Aliona Moon
 * 44) Flag of Germany.svg.png Lisa Wohlgemuth
 * 45) Flag of Northern Ireland.svg.png Karen Hassan
 * 46) Flag of Morocco.svg.png Fadoua Lahlou
 * 47) Flag of Earth.svg.png Sam Robertson

Other countries

 * Active Members of the OEBU
 * — On November 23, 2015 the country showed no interest in returning this edition. A comeback is possible in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 43.
 * — On November 23, 2015 Belarus officially confirmed that they will take an one edition break.
 * — On November 20, 2015 Czech Republic officially confirmed that they withdraw from the contest.
 * — The participation of Egypt is still unsure as announced by their head of delegation on 23rd November. It was later announced on November 25th that they will withdraw from the contest.
 * — On November 25, 2015 the HoD of the Faroe Islands, announced that the country will take an edition break, returning in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 43 edition.
 * — On November 29, 2015 it was announced that Ireland won't participate in the upcoming edition, due to lack of interest.
 * — On November 29, 2015 it was announced that Latvia won't participate in the upcoming edition, due to lack of interest.
 * — On November 25, 2015 the country announced that will take an one more edition break, stating as reason, no interesed artists.
 * — On November 27, 2015 the country announced that is now searching for a new head of delegation. If they find one, a comeback is possible in Own Eurovision Song Contest 43.


 * Inactive Members of the OEBU
 * — On November 23, 2015 it was announced that RTVA ( Ràdio i Televisiò d'Andorra) has withdrawn from the OEBU.
 * — On November 23, 2015, it was announced that 1FLTV (1 Fürstentum Liechtenstein Television) has withdrawn from the OEBU.
 * — On November 23, 2015, it was announced that RTL (RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg) has withdrawn from the OEBU.
 * — On November 23, 2015, it was announced that TMC (Télé Monte Carlo) has withdrawn from the OEBU.
 * — On November 23, 2015 it was announced that SMTV ( Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino) has withdrawn from the OEBU.

Other Awards
Marcel Bezençon Awards were given for the first time in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 19. The participants had to vote in several categories for the favorites. Some of the categories were: best non qualifier, best female singer, best male singer and best video clip.
 * Marcel Bezençon Awards


 * Web Award Winner


 * Best Non-Finalist