Own Eurovision Song Contest 19

Own Eurovision Song Contest 19, often referred to as OESC #19, was the 19th edition of Own Eurovision Song Contest. Following Gigi Radics's win at the 18th Contest, the festival will be brought to the city of Budapest, Hungary. This is the first time that Hungary will host the Contest.

Fifty-five countries have confirmed participation, with Austria, Faroe Islands, Lithuania, Slovakia and Turkmenistan returning in the competition. The Own Eurovision Song Contest 19 saw eight countries withdrawing, with Albania, Belgium, Egypt, Jordan, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia and Uzbekistan deciding to leave the competition.

The winner of the Own Eurovision Song Contest 19 was Romania with the song "Pleacă" performed by Vunk and Antonia. The song scored 214 points, winning with a margin of 25 points, beating France, who took the second place, which is their best result until date. This marks the second time Romania has won the competition.

Russia took the third place and Denmark placed fourth, while Greece finished in fifth place. For the second time in the contest there were twenty-nine countries in the Grand Final. The host country, Hungary make it into the first half of the leader board, receiving 118 points and took the ninth place.

Venue
Budapest Sports Arena (Hungarian: Papp László Budapest Sportaréna) was announced by Hungarian broadcaster N	Magyar Televízió (MTV) as the venue for the Own Eurovision Song Contest 19. This will be the first Own Eurovision Song Contest held in Hungary.

Budapest Sports Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Budapest, Hungary, the biggest of its kind in the country. The venue holds 12,500 people in its largest concert configuration, 11,390 for boxing and 9,479 for hockey.

The building has a total weight of 200,000 tons and contains 50,000 tons of concrete, 2,300 tons of steel structure, more than 11,000,000 bolts and several kilometres of cable.

Following the decision of the European Handball Federation Executive Committee, the organization rights of the 2014 European Women's Handball Championship were awarded to Croatia and Hungary. Budapest Sports Arena is set to host the conclusive stage of the tournament, including the semifinals, the bronze medal match and final.

Location
Budapest is the capital and the largest city of Hungary, the largest in East-Central Europe and the seventh largest in the European Union. It is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre, sometimes described as the primate city of Hungary. In 2011, according to the census, Budapest had 1.74 million inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2.1 million due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter Area is home to 3.3 million people. The city covers an area of 525 square kilometres within the city limits. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with a unification on 17 November 1873 of west-bank Buda and Óbuda with east-bank Pest.

The history of Budapest began with Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement that became the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia. Hungarians arrived in the territory in the 9th century. Their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241–42. The re-established town became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture in the 15th century. Following the Battle of Mohács and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, the region entered a new age of prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Budapest became a global city after the 1873 unification. It also became the second capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a great power that dissolved in 1918, following World War I. Budapest was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Republic of Councils of 1919, Operation Panzerfaust in 1944, the Battle of Budapest in 1945, and the Revolution of 1956.

Cited as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, its extensive World Heritage Site includes the banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter, Andrássy Avenue, Heroes' Square and the Millennium Underground Railway, the second oldest in the world. Other highlights include a total of 80 geothermal springs, the world's largest thermal water cave system, second largest synagogue, and third largest Parliament building. The city attracts about 4.3 million tourists a year, making it the 25th most popular city in the world (and the 6th in Europe) according to Euromonitor.

Considered a financial hub in Central Europe, the city ranked 3rd (out of 65 cities) on Mastercard's Emerging Markets Index, and ranked as the most livable Central/Eastern European city on EIU's quality of life index. It is also ranked as "Europe's 7th most idyllic place to live" by Forbes, and as the 9th most beautiful city in the world by UCityGuides. It is the highest ranked Central/Eastern European city on Innovation Cities' Top 100 index.

Budapest is home to the headquarters of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), and the first foreign office of the China Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA).

Break
One day after the results of the 18th edition, the manager announced that the contest would take a break before the edition started. The contest will reopen after the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, which will be held on 18 May 2013.

Semi-final Allocation Draw
The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on 18 May 2013 at the Budapest Sports Arena.

The participating countries, excluding the host, Hungary were split into seven pots, based on voting history and geographical location. From these pots, 18 were allocated to compete in the first semi-final, 18 were allocated to compete in the second semi-final and 18 were allocated to compete in the third semi-final.

The pots were as follows:

The host country, Hungary will vote in all three semi-finals.

Running Order
The draw to decide the running order of the songs in each Semi-Final was held on 19 May 2013. Also, it was decided that Hungary will compete on spot number 17 in the Grand Final.

Grand Final Allocation Draw
The draw to determine the running order of the songs in the Grand Final was held on 25 May 2013. Twenty-nine countries will perform in the Grand Final.

Participants
Fifty-five countries have confirmed participation in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 19 with five countries returning and eight withdrawing.

The 19th edition will see the return of Austria, who previously was represented by Fawni in the OESC #17. Faroe Islands will also return, which was previously represented by Aura Dione in the OESC #16. Own Eurovision Song Contest 19 will also see the return of Lithuania, who was previously represented in OESC #16 by Santra and Vaida Kisseliut. Slovakia decided to return, they were represented last time by Miro Jaros and Petra Humenanska in the OESC #16. Turmenistan is the sixth country returning, last time it was represented by Myahri in the OESC #15 contest.

Albania, Belgium, Egypt, Jordan, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia and Uzbekistan withdrew from the competition. Though, at first Israel stated that it will return in the contest, later it was confirmed that Israel will not be taking part in the 19th edition.

Returning artists
Twenty-one previous contestants returned in the competition. Former winner, Aura Dione return in the competition for Faroe Islands, previously she had won the contest for Denmark in the Own Eurovision Song Contest 9, Kristína Peláková, winner of the Own Eurovision Song Contest 3 return for Slovakia.

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

Semi-Final 1
Notes
 * The nine countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to the votes from each voting country, qualifies for the Grand Final.
 * (host) will vote in this semi-final.
 * On May 23, 2013 the first nine qualifiers were announced.
 * 1. The country won a ticket to the Second Chance Round.

Semi-Final 2

 * The nine countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to the votes from each voting country, qualifies for the Grand Final.
 * (host) will vote in this semi-final.
 * On May 24, 2013 the nine qualifiers were announced.

Notes
 * 2. The country won a ticket to the Second Chance Round.

Semi-Final 3

 * The nine countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to the votes from each voting country, qualifies for the Grand Final.
 * (host) will vote in this semi-final.
 * On May 24, 2013 the nine qualifiers were announced.
 * withdrew from the competition.
 * has won the wildcard.

Notes
 * 3. The country withdrew from the competition for personal reasons.
 * 4. The country won a ticket to the Second Chance Round . The country won the Second Chance Round.

Second Chance Round

 * the tenth placed countries from each semi-final competes in the second chance.
 * the winner of this round will get the final ticket for the Grand Final.
 * the Second Chance Round took place on May 25, 2013.

Grand Final
The twenty-nine finalists are:
 * the host country -
 * the top nine countries from the first semi-final.
 * the top nine countries from the second semi-final.
 * the top nine countries from the third semi-final.
 * the winner from the Second Chance Round.

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

Voting Ceremony
The order in which each country announced their votes was determined in a draw. Similar to the last editions an algorithm was used to generate as much suspense as possible. The spokespersons are shown alongside each country.

Spokepersons

 * 1) [[File:Sweden.png]] Eric Saade
 * 2) [[File:Italy.png]] Fabio Cannavaro
 * 3) [[File:Germany.png]] Lena Meyer-Landrut
 * 4) [[File:Scotland.png]] Emeli Sandé
 * 5) [[File:Slovenia.png]] Omar Naber
 * 6) [[File:Northern Ireland.png]] Rebecca Creighton
 * 7) [[File:FYR Macedonia.png]] Tamara Todevska
 * 8) [[File:Monaco.png]] Séverine Ferrer
 * 9) [[File:Bosnia and Herzegovina.png]] Maya Sar
 * 10) [[File:Morocco.png]] Sofia Marikh
 * 11) [[File:Denmark.png]] Nanna Øland Fabricius
 * 12) [[File:Slovakia.png]] Soňa Šimorová
 * 13) [[File:Spain.png]] Eleanor of All the Saints
 * 14) [[File:Greenland.png]] Jesper Nohrstedt
 * 15) [[File:Switzerland.png]] Kerstin Cook
 * 16) [[File:Luxembourg.png]] No Angels
 * 17) [[File:Ukraine.png]] Zlata Ognevich
 * 18) [[File:Russia.png]] Ivan Ohlobystin
 * 19) [[File:Portugal.png]] David Carreira
 * 20) [[File:Latvia.png]] Lauris Reiniks
 * 21) [[File:Vatican City.png]] Marco Mengoni
 * 22) [[File:Wales.png]] Bonnie Tyler
 * 23) [[File:Georgia.png]] Moran Mazor
 * 24) [[File:Lebanon.png]] Brighitte Yahgi
 * 25) [[File:Cyprus.png]] Constantinos Christoforou
 * 26) [[File:Estonia.png]] Birgit Õigemeel
 * 27) [[File:Kosovo.png]] Nora Istrefi
 * 28) [[File:Greece.png]] Kostantinos Argiros
 * 29) [[File:Croatia.png]] Klapa s Mora
 * 30) [[File:Poland.png]] Lidia Kopania
 * 31) [[File:Faroe Islands.png]] Margaret Berger
 * 32) [[File:Andorra.png]] Joel Molina
 * 33) [[File:Armenia.png]] Emma Bejanyan
 * 34) [[File:Åland Islands.png]] Danny & Gina
 * 35) [[File:The Netherlands.png]] Armin Van Buuren
 * 36) [[File:Romania.png]] Elena Ionescu
 * 37) [[File:Ireland.png]] Una Healy
 * 38) [[File:Bulgaria.png]] Ivelin Popov
 * 39) [[File:Turkmenistan.png]] Sohbet Jumayew
 * 40) [[File:Hungary.png]] Gigi Radics
 * 41) [[File:Azerbaijan.png]] Farid Mammadov
 * 42) [[File:Belarus.png]] Julia Bykova
 * 43) [[File:Moldova.png]] Aliona Munteanu
 * 44) [[File:Algeria.png]] Nadia Zighem
 * 45) [[File:Czech Republic.png]] András Nyilas
 * 46) [[File:Lithuania.png]] Jurgita Jurkute
 * 47) [[File:Kazakhstan.png]] Kesh You
 * 48) [[File:Austria.png]] Natalia Kelly
 * 49) [[File:Turkey.png]] Hande Yener
 * 50) [[File:Malta.png]] Davinia Pace
 * 51) [[File:Finland.png]] Krista Siegfrids
 * 52) [[File:France.png]] David Guetta
 * 53) [[File:England.png]] Sharon Osbourne
 * 54) [[File:Iceland.png]] Eyr Ingi Gunnlaugsson

Cities

 * 1) [[File:Sweden.png]] Stockholm
 * 2) [[File:Italy.png]] Venice
 * 3) [[File:Germany.png]] Hamburg
 * 4) [[File:Scotland.png]] Edinburgh
 * 5) [[File:Slovenia.png]] Maribor
 * 6) [[File:Northern Ireland.png]] Belfast
 * 7) [[File:FYR Macedonia.png]] Skopje
 * 8) [[File:Monaco.png]] Monte Carlo
 * 9) [[File:Bosnia and Herzegovina.png]] Mostar
 * 10) [[File:Morocco.png]] Marrakesh
 * 11) [[File:Denmark.png]] Luder
 * 12) [[File:Slovakia.png]] Bratislava
 * 13) [[File:Spain.png]] El Bonillo
 * 14) [[File:Greenland.png]] Nuuk
 * 15) [[File:Switzerland.png]] Bern
 * 16) [[File:Luxembourg.png]] Luxembourg
 * 17) [[File:Ukraine.png]] Kiev
 * 18) [[File:Russia.png]] Kolomna
 * 19) [[File:Portugal.png]] Lisbon
 * 20) [[File:Latvia.png]] Riga
 * 21) [[File:Vatican City.png]] Vatican City
 * 22) [[File:Wales.png]] Cardiff
 * 23) [[File:Georgia.png]] Tbilissi
 * 24) [[File:Lebanon.png]] Beirut
 * 25) [[File:Cyprus.png]] Nicosia
 * 26) [[File:Estonia.png]] Tallinn
 * 27) [[File:Kosovo.png]] Prizren
 * 28) [[File:Greece.png]] Livadeia
 * 29) [[File:Croatia.png]] Zagreb
 * 30) [[File:Poland.png]] Warsaw
 * 31) [[File:Faroe Islands.png]] Torshavn
 * 32) [[File:Andorra.png]] Andorra La Vella
 * 33) [[File:Armenia.png]] Yerevan
 * 34) [[File:Åland Islands.png]] Jomala
 * 35) [[File:The Netherlands.png]] Amsterdam
 * 36) [[File:Romania.png]] Iași
 * 37) [[File:Ireland.png]] Dublin
 * 38) [[File:Bulgaria.png]] Sofia
 * 39) [[File:Turkmenistan.png]] Ashgabad
 * 40) [[File:Hungary.png]] Szeged
 * 41) [[File:Azerbaijan.png]] Baku
 * 42) [[File:Belarus.png]] Minsk
 * 43) [[File:Moldova.png]] Chisinau
 * 44) [[File:Algeria.png]] Algiers
 * 45) [[File:Czech Republic.png]] Karlovy Vary
 * 46) [[File:Lithuania.png]] Kaunas
 * 47) [[File:Kazakhstan.png]] Astana
 * 48) [[File:Austria.png]] Vienna
 * 49) [[File:Turkey.png]] Istanbul
 * 50) [[File:Malta.png]] Qormi
 * 51) [[File:Finland.png]] Helsinki
 * 52) [[File:France.png]] Nice
 * 53) [[File:England.png]] London
 * 54) [[File:Iceland.png]] Reykjavik

Marcel Bezençon Awards
Marcel Bezençon Awards were given for first time in this edition. 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.