Outernatia Song Contest 9

The Outernatia Song Contest 9 was the ninth edition of the Outernatia Song Contest. The contest took place in Rhea, Gandhara, following Myriam Fares' win in the 7th edition with the song "Aman". The contest was held on 31 May 2015 at the Minna Theater, and was presented by Rita Hayek and Malek Maktabi.
A record breaking twenty-one countries participated, with six countries making their first appearance, and Xara Khanate returning. Monteverde, however, withdrew with no further statements being given by their national broadcaster TVM.
After a tense voting process, Noxus won the contest for the first time, with Lilit Hovhannisyan's song "De El Mi". Noxus received only one point more than Ponásikwa, the smallest margin between a winning and a second-placed song to date. V became third.
==Location==
On 31 March 2015, Gandhari public broadcaster RTG announced that it had chosen Rhea as the host city for the contest. The contest was held at the Minna Theater, which hosted several editions of the Gandhari national preselection Nights of Gandhara. It has an overall capacity of approximately 17,000 people.
===Bidding phase===
Two other cities, Manas and Kazmi, were also considered as possible host city of the contest. RTG requested proposals from the three cities concerning how they plan to organise the contest. Manas offered to host the contest in the International Convention Center, while Kazmi offered the Javeria Theater as a potential venue for the contest. The bid from Kazmi came together with plans to expand and upgrade the facility and surrounding infrastructure to meet the requirements set by host broadcaster RTG. The bids from Manas and Kazmi, together with the bid from Rhea to host the contest in the Minna Theater, were accepted. RTG ultimately chose the Minna Theater as the venue to stage the contest.
==Format==
The rules for the contest were released in April 2015, which detailed that twenty-one countries would participate, making it the largest number of participants to take part in the contest up to this point. The draw for running order was held on 3 May 2015 in Rhea, with Polland opening the show and Auspikitan performing last. There was also a change in the tie-break rules, which would now resolve such a case in favour of the nation that received a higher number of top scores (12 points) rather than taking into account the number of countries that voted for an entry. 
===Graphic design===
On 31 March 2015, RTG released the logo for the Outernatia Song Contest 9, together with the slogan. The logo features three belly dancers in green, as belly dancing has its origins in the Middle East and plays an important role in the Gandhari culture. The slogan was revealed to be "Through love, thorns became roses" (Arabic: من خلال الحب الأشواك تصبح زهو).
In this contest, the scoreboard and the recap were designed by graphic designers from V. The stage design was created by Mohisa al-Mansouri. The stage used several light and video effects, including a video screen stage floor that could be used to give each entry a unique look.
===Tie-break rules===
During the previous editions of the contest the official rules of the Internatia Song Contest were followed. Under these rules, in the event of more than one country scoring the same total number of points, a count is made of the numbers of countries who awarded points to each of the tied countries, and the one who received points from the most countries is declared the winner. This edition, however, different tie-break rules were used. The rules did not include counting the numbers of countries awarding any points to tied countries, but only the amount of maximum points (12 points) each country received was counted. This caused some controversy after the show, because under the rules of the Internatia Song Contest Ponásikwa would have received 10 points instead of 8 points from the International Jury, which means that Ponásikwa would have won. The tie-break rules were approved by the OBU, but it was announced after the show that official rules will be made for upcoming contests in order to prevent the inconsistency of tie-break rules from edition to edition. 
===Presenters===
On 1 April 2015, RTG announced that Rita Hayek and Malek Maktabi were the hosts of the contest. Rita Hayek previously presented the first edition of Nights of Gandhara, the Gandhari national preselection for the Outernatia Song Contest 3. Both presenters speak fluently English and French. 
===National host broadcaster===
During an initial meeting between the host broadcaster RTG and the OBU in late March 2015, the representatives of the core organising team were selected. Hamad al-Jazari, who is the Head of Entertainment at RTG, was announced as the executive producer.
==Participants==
Six countries made their debut this edition, the highest number of debutants since the first edition. Returning to the contest was Xara Khanate, who did not compete the previous edition. Monteverde withdrew from the contest. The deadline to apply to participate was on 2 May 2015.
===Invitation of Tikata===
On 2 April 2015, RTG announced that it had invited Tikata to take part in the contest, represented by A+ channel, an Associate Member of the OBU. Although Tikata is officially not eligible to enter, as only Outernatian countries can take part, the OBU accepted the participation of Tikata as a one-off event in honour of the strong ties between Tikata and Outernatia.
Since this contest, the OSC host can use a wild card to invite a country not eligible to take part.
==Results==
Draw	Country	Artist 	Song 	Place	Points
01 	 	Ich Troje 	"Dokąd idziesz Polsko" 	18 	31
02 	 	MIKA 	"Last Party" 	8 	77
03 	 	We Are the In Crowd 	"Reflections" 	7 	77
04 	 	Gülşen 	"Bangır Bangır" 	5 	82
05 	 	Denise Rosenthal 	"Fiesta" 	19 	30
06 	 	Evermore 	"Follow The Sun" 	2 	95
07 	(host) 	Samira Said 	"Mazal" 	16 	35
08 	 	Margaux Avril 	"L'Air De Rien" 	4 	86
09 	 	Carina Dahl 	"If That's The Only Way"	12 	62
10 	 	Lilit Hovhannisyan 	"De El Mi" 	1 	96
11 	 	Tove Styrke 	"White Light Moment" 	13 	50
12 	 	Woodkid 	"The Great Escape" 	15 	42
13 	 	Vaults 	"Vultures" 	3 	91
14 	 	Yvonne Catterfeld 	"Pendel" 	11 	68
15 	 	Maia Hirasawa 	"Lights Are Out" 	9 	74
16 	 	Safiye 	"Come Come" 	21 	19
17 	 	Melissa Horn 	"Du är nog den" 	6 	80
18 	 	Galymzhan Zholdasbaj	"Kök Zhötel" 	17 	33
19 	Rascia 	Ana Stanić 	"Nostalgija" 	20 	25
20 	 	Indiana 	"Heart On Fire" 	14 	50
21 	 	Halsey 	"Hurricane" 	10 	73
==Scoreboard==
	 	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results	Results
	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
	Polland 	31 	 	8 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	4 	2 	10 	5 	 	1 	 	 	 	1 	
	Zeme Kūku 	77 	2 	 	5 	 	12 	7 	5 	7 	 	6 	12 	7 	 	 	2 	 	 	 	6 	 	 	6
	Waticania 	77 	1 	12 	 	5 	10 	10 	 	 	6 	3 	2 	 	3 	 	 	1 	 	 	 	 	12 	12
	Xara Khanate 	82 	3 	5 	 	 	 	12 	7 	 	7 	8 	 	10 	 	 	 	12 	7 	1 	 	10 	 	
	RC Laranjeiras 	30 	 	 	 	6 	 	 	3 	8 	 	2 	 	 	 	 	3 	2 	4 	 	2 	 	 	
	Ponásikwa 	95 	12 	4 	12 	 	8 	 	 	 	4 	 	7 	8 	10 	1 	 	7 	10 	3 	1 	 	 	8
	Gandhara 	35 	 	 	 	2 	 	 	 	 	5 	12 	 	1 	 	3 	 	 	8 	 	 	4 	 	
	Victoria 	86 	4 	 	4 	 	2 	4 	10 	 	8 	 	10 	3 	5 	7 	 	 	 	5 	8 	5 	8 	3
	Kimmystan 	62 	 	 	 	 	7 	5 	12 	 	 	 	8 	12 	 	 	1 	 	 	 	10 	2 	3 	2
	Noxus 	96 	5 	1 	 	12 	3 	8 	4 	5 	2 	 	 	6 	 	 	8 	10 	12 	10 	 	8 	2 	
	Republica Libera 	50 	 	 	8 	3 	5 	 	 	 	10 	4 	 	 	 	 	6 	 	 	2 	 	12 	 	
	Tikata 	42 	 	10 	2 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	4 	 	7 	4 	7 	 	 	 	7 	 	 	1
	V 	91 	 	7 	3 	1 	 	3 	6 	6 	 	5 	6 	 	 	12 	10 	6 	 	8 	3 	 	10 	5
	Timivar 	68 	8 	6 	 	8 	 	 	 	10 	 	 	3 	 	1 	 	4 	 	6 	12 	4 	 	6 	
	Dulcet Ebullience	74 	10 	 	7 	 	4 	6 	 	4 	 	 	5 	 	12 	 	 	5 	3 	4 	 	 	7 	7
	Gebze 	19 	 	2 	 	4 	 	1 	 	 	 	10 	 	2 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
	Thorway 	80 	7 	3 	6 	 	 	 	 	12 	 	 	 	 	4 	6 	12 	0 	 	7 	12 	7 	4 	
	Lettuce 	33 	 	 	 	10 	 	 	2 	 	 	7 	 	 	6 	2 	 	3 	2 	 	 	1 	 	
	Rascia 	25 	 	 	 	7 	1 	 	1 	3 	1 	 	 	 	 	5 	 	 	 	 	 	3 	 	4
	Fierce 	50 	 	 	1 	 	6 	 	 	2 	12 	 	 	 	 	 	 	8 	5 	6 	5 	 	5 	
	Auspikitan 	73 	6 	 	10 	 	 	2 	8 	1 	3 	1 	1 	5 	8 	8 	 	4 	 	 	 	6 	 	10
===12 points===
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another:
N.	Contestant 	Nation(s) giving 12 points
3 	Thorway 	Dulcet Ebullience, Rascia, Victoria
3 	Waticania 	Auspikitan, International Jury, Zeme Kūku
2 	Kimmystan 	Gandhara, Tikata
2 	Noxus 	Thorway, Xara Khanate
2 	Ponásikwa 	Polland, Waticania
2 	Xara Khanate 	Gebze, Ponásikwa
2 	Zeme Kūku 	RC Laranjeiras, Republica Libera
1 	Dulcet Ebullience	V
1 	Fierce 	Kimmystan
1 	Gandhara 	Noxus
1 	Republica Libera 	Fierce
1 	Timivar 	Lettuce
1 	V 	Timivar
==References==
Category:Outernatia Song Contest