Airai 2089

Oceanivision Airai 2089 is set to be the 18th annual edition held in Airai, Palau following Palau's victory in Traralgon the previous year. This was the frist time that Palau won the contest, marking the first new country to win since Queensland in 2083. Victoria and the Solomon Islands are still the only two countries to win more than once, this year could change it though.

Only four cities were in contention to host this year: Airai, Elab, Karaeru, and Mecherchar, all located on the main island of Palau. These 4 were narrowed to just Karaeru and Airai, with Airai ultimately being chosen.

21 countries participated, every one of them from 2088. Micronesia is the only exception due to internal broadcaster problems.

This year was to first to bring in actual song titles. (So for the purpose sake, every year had songs, but this year was the first that I actually put work in and gave each country a made-up song)

Brunei achieved its first "long-awaited" victory with the song Gurun Memisahkan Cinta Kita (*A Desert Separates Our Love* in Indonesian). The country gathered 93 points from the song, the third time a winning country has surpassed 90 points, and the fourth time out of every entry; 90 points hasn't been achieved since the Solomon Islands' third win in O'io 2085. Malaysia came in 2nd, a record-breaking placement for the country. Queensland came third, with Kiribati and The Marshall Islands tying for 4th, Kiribati technically came in 4th as they had a larger amount of countries give points to them.

## Participants

### Allocation Draw

Each country randomly draws a number, that number being their performing placement. The host draws their placement first, then the automatic qualifiers draw their placements, finally, every other country draws theirs.

### Grand Final

All countries voted. The final took place on 11 August 2089. \*indicates an automatic qualifier

### Official Rankings

1. **Brunei**
2. Malaysia
3. Queensland
4. Kiribati (Tie-4th)
5. The Marshall Islands (Tie-4th)
6. Singapore (Tie-6th)
7. Tuvalu (Tie-6th)
8. Timor\*
9. New Kanangri
10. Pacifica Islands\*
11. Indonesia
12. Kalimari
13. Solomon Islands
14. Northern Desert
15. Victoria\*
16. Vanuatu
17. New Guinea\*
18. Tonga
19. Tasmanija
20. Palau\*
21. Fiji

## Withdrawing/Uncertain

* East African Islands - RTV-EAI confirmed on 01 September 2088 that the East African Islands would not debut in 2089.
* The Maldives - MV-RTV applied for an OBU membership on 01 September 2088, which was accepted on 01 October 2088 making them eligible to debut in 2090.
* Micronesia - RTMC confirmed on 29 November 2088 that Micronesia would not participate in 2089. The broadcaster stated that there were multiple internal broadcaster problems since last year, so they cannot participate until they are fixed.
* New Zealand - NZBC confirmed on 30 October 2088 that New Zealand would not participate in 2089.
* The Philippines - PPRTV is not eligible to debut until 2090.
* Siam - BCSiam applied for an OBU membership on 01 September 2088, which was accepted on 01 October 2088 making them eligible to debut in 2090.
* South Mesa - SMERT confirmed on 23 November 2088 that South Mesa would not debut for 2089.
* Sri Lanka - LankaCT applied for an OBU membership on 01 November 2088, which was accepted on 01 December 2088 making them eligible to debut in 2090.

## Other Countries

These are countries that aren't part of the OBU but are still in association with them.

* Alaska broadcasts the event and has applied to participate in the event (they are very avid fans of the contest), but have been declined by the OBU citing that the country is too distant and may disrupt voting. The OBU mentioned that it's possible for Alaska to join in the future, but only when the contest becomes more solid and the participants increase in number.
* California broadcasts the event
* Chile broadcasts the event
* Costa Rica broadcasts the event
* Mexico broadcasts the event
* Okhotsk broadcasts the event
* Peru broadcasts the event

## Trivia

* This year's contest was held on 05 September 2022
* 2089 continued to use computer-based randomization for voting, although country names would not be added, instead just a simple "Every Country" took each country's place
* 2089 used a physical draw to determine the placements in the Grand Final
* The order of revealing points was the normal 01-21, points were checked every 7 delegations to make sure everything was up-to-date
* Brunei,  Malaysia,  Singapore, Timor, and Tuvalu all obtained the most amount of points than they ever have
	+ Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore all achieved their best placements as well
* Palau went from first to second to last, while Fiji went from 2nd to last, both very unfortunate feats
* The maximum amount of countries that could perform was not present at that point as 21/23 of the countries that have participated prior to 2089 confirmed their entries [weirdly worded]