The Origin Song Contest 08

Final date
 Venue
 Interval act
 Entries
 Returning
 System
 Nul points

**The Origin Song Contest 08**, often referred to as TOSC 08, was the eighth edition of The Origin Song Contest. The contest was hosted in Brussels, Belgium, after the country's victory at the seventh edition in Minsk with the song "Please to Devon" by Sylvie Kreusch. The contest was jointly hosted by Walloon broadcaster RTBF and Flemish broadcaster VRT, while Palais 12 served as the venue. Tatiana Silva was chosen as main host, while Mustii, the Belgian representative in the third edition, hosted the green room.

Forty countries participated in the contest, marking a decrease of three on the previous edition. Slovenia made their return after one edition of absence, while Austria, Georgia, Germany and Liechtenstein withdrew.

The edition was won by TAKAYA from Belarus with her song "Vbyla myloho", which gave Belarus their second victory and made the country the first to win the contest more than once. The song won with 170 points, three points ahead of runner-up Sweden and nine points ahead of third-placing Ireland. The top six was completed by the United Kingdom, Greece and Norway while, at the other end of the table, host country Belgium placed last with -18 points.

## Format

### Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to allocate the thirty-four semi-finalists into their respective semi-finals took place on 1st April 2020. The first part of the draw determined in which semi-final the "big 6" would have to vote, while the second part of the draw decided in which half of the two semi-finals each country would perform, with the exact running order determined by the producers of the show at a later date. Both semi-finals would have seventeen participating countries, with ten qualifying from each show to result in a final of 26 songs.

The semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, which were decided by analysis of previous and potential voting patterns between the countries. Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of "bloc-voting". Each time a country was drawn from a pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined.

The six pots were the following:

* Cyprus
* Finland
* Italy
* Norway
* Slovenia
* Moldova
* Monaco
* Netherlands
* North Macedonia
* Switzerland
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Romania
 Pot 4
 * Andorra
* Faroe Islands
* Greece
* Ireland
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Azerbaijan
* Croatia
* Czech Republic
* San Marino
* Spain
* France
* Russia
* Slovakia
* Sweden

## Confirmed participants

### Returning artists

NAVAJO, who co-wrote "Shoes Off", the Luxembourgish entry in the fifth edition, participated in the edition as an artist alongside Lahra.

## Results

### Semi-final 1

Albania, Ukraine and the United Kingdom also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified to the final.

### Semi-final 2

Belarus, Belgium and Poland also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified to the final.

## Other countries

* Armenia: Although ARMTV had secured funding for participation in the seventh edition, the country's Head of Delegation had no plans to keep their position in the eighth edition and stepped down in December 2019. However, a replacement was announced on 2nd February 2020, so Armenia could continue participating.
* Austria: The Head of Delegation for Austria moved to another participating country. A replacement is yet to be appointed by ORF.
* Georgia: Following a scandal and controversy surrounding the country's delegation, the Georgian Head of Delegation resigned on 1st February 2020.
* Germany: The German Head of Delegation was removed from his position by the OBU on 5th December 2019; a replacement was appointed but will not take over until the ninth edition.
* Iceland: In spite of a 100% qualification record under their current delegation, RÚV announced that their Head of Delegation would step down on 1st February 2020. However, a replacement was found for the edition, sealing Iceland's participation in the contest.
* Norway: Citing a drop in viewing figures for the contest and the country's Head of Delegation resigning from his position, on 23rd December 2019 it was announced that Norway would withdraw from the edition. Nevertheless, NRK managed to appoint a new Head of Delegation in time, meaning the country would participate.

## Incidents

### Georgian participation

On 1st February, the OBU issued a statement reprimanding the actions of the Georgian delegation in the contest. Upon the publication of this statement, the country's Head of Delegation almost immediately resigned from his position, rendering the Georgian participation (which had already been confirmed and three entries shortlisted) impossible.

### Danish broadcaster change

It was reported that following a "poor performance" by Clara in the previous edition and disputes between the Head of Delegation and broadcaster Danmarks Radio, DR had decided to cut its affiliation with the contest for future editions. As a result, it was rumoured that Denmark would not participate in the edition. However, the Origin Broadcasting Union confirmed that DR would still remain part the OBU, and it was later revealed that participation in the contest had been transferred to TV 2.

### Voting corrections

After the results, it came to light that the Czech votes for the grand final had been incorrectly included, with their -1 point being given to Monaco instead of Finland. Once corrected, this resulted in Monaco gaining one point compared to the scoreboard, bringing their total to 17, and Finland losing one point bringing their total to 38. Neither country's placement was affected by the error.