Country Contest 15

The Country Contest 15 will be the fifteenth edition of the contest. Once again, the CCU invited no guest countries, due to the announcement of the World Country Contest. 
== Format ==
=== Semi-final allocation draw ===
Once again, countries were allocated to semi-finals based on geographical distance. The pots were announced as the following:
Eastern (8)	Northern (8)	Southern (15)	Western (5)
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Following the semi-final allocation, the CCU announced that this edition would be the last to feature geographical pots. Instead, the pots would be based on each country's average position in the past five editions - in order to make sure to balance the semi-finals accordingly. This was also due to the Southern pot consisting of more countries than any other pot. However, the CCU announced on 22 April 2018 that this change would not be in effect, due to "complaints from various broadcasters and fans".
== Semi-final 1 ==
France, Italy and Switzerland also voted here. The top eight overall countries qualified to the Grand Final. The ninth and tenth qualifiers were respectively determined by the highest placed televote and jury qualifier which did not place in the top 8 overall.
Draw	Country	Place	Points
01 	 	7 	142
02 	 	10 	131
03 	 	6 	152
04 	 	1 	184
05 	 	18 	47
06 	 	14 	121
07 	 	16 	116
08 	 	5 	157
09 	 	3 	168
10 	 	9 	136
11 	 	17 	111
12 	 	4 	158
13 	 	13 	124
14 	 	11 	126
15 	 	8 	139
16 	 	12 	125
17 	 	15 	118
18 	 	2 	177
== Semi-final 2 ==
Belgium, Iceland and Malta also voted here. The top eight overall countries qualified to the Grand Final. The ninth and tenth qualifiers were respectively determined by the highest placed televote and jury qualifier which did not place in the top 8 overall.
Draw	Country	Place	Points
01 	 	18 	68
02 	 	12 	134
03 	 	6 	149
04 	 	1 	205
05 	 	14 	115
06 	 	7 	146
07 	 	15 	111
08 	 	5 	153
09 	 	10 	140
10 	 	13 	133
11 	 	11 	134
12 	 	4 	154
13 	 	17 	79
14 	 	3 	155
15 	 	16 	104
16 	 	2 	166
17 	 	8 	145
18 	 	9 	143
== Final ==
The 20 qualifiers from the semi-finals, as well as the top 6 of previous edition took part; all participating countries in the edition voted.
Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results	Split jury/televote results
Place 	Televoting 	Points 	Jury 	Points
1 	 	140 	 	171
2 	 	125 	 	143
3 	 	120 	 	117
4 	 	115 	 	117
5 	 	112 	 	112
6 	 	112 	 	110
7 	 	110 	 	107
8 	 	110 	 	105
9 	 	107 	 	105
10 	 	105 	 	102
11 	 	105 	 	102
12 	 	102 	 	100
13 	 	100 	 	100
14 	 	97 	 	97
15 	 	97 	 	92
16 	 	94 	 	89
17 	 	94 	 	89
18 	 	89 	 	87
19 	 	87 	 	87
20 	 	87 	 	87
21 	 	82 	 	79
22 	 	79 	 	79
23 	 	77 	 	77
24 	 	69 	 	74
25 	 	69 	 	66
26 	 	66 	 	48
Draw	Country	Place	Points
01 	 	20 	176
02 	 	24 	156
03 	 	1 	273
04 	 	22 	171
05 	 	17 	184
06 	 	7 	210
07 	 	10 	201
08 	 	21 	173
09 	 	19 	176
10 	 	26 	143
11 	 	12 	189
12 	 	23 	166
13 	 	11 	189
14 	 	18 	179
15 	 	5 	237
16 	 	9 	204
17 	 	16 	186
18 	 	13 	189
19 	 	14 	189
20 	 	25 	145
21 	 	2 	253
22 	 	15 	187
23 	 	4 	237
24 	 	6 	229
25 	 	3 	240
26 	 	8 	210
== Other countries ==
=== Active CCU members ===
* : BTRC announced that Belarus would take a break from the contest to "reevaluate their process of selection."
* : TRM announced that Moldova would withdraw from the contest due to lack of interest in the contest, as evident by bad ratings and failure to qualify for the final.
=== Eligible non-participants ===
* : MTVA announced that Hungary would return to the contest in hopes for a successful result.
* : As host country Italy recognizes Kosovo, RTK "may be able to show interest in participating." However, the CCU later ruled out this possibility due to "the non-agreement of a Kosovar participation by several Member Broadcasters, as proven by non-recognition of the country."
* : After last competing in the 10th contest, VR announced its return to support their neighbors, Italy, who are hosting the contest for the first time since the third edition, despite winning two prior times.