The Origin Song Contest 02

Final date
 Venue
 Entries
 Debuting
 System
 Winner

**The Origin Song Contest 02**, often referred to as The Origin 02, or TOSC 02, is the second edition of The Origin Song Contest. It was held in Espoo, Finland, after their victory at The Origin Song Contest 01 with the song "Elefantin Paino" by Ellinoora. It was the first time Finland has hosted the contest. Yle selected the Metro Areena in Espoo as the venue for the edition, whilst Jaana Pelkonen was selected as host.

Thirty five countries participated. Ireland, Lithuania and Luxembourg withdrew from the edition, while Andorra, Belarus, Croatia, the Faroe Islands and Slovenia made their debut.

Switzerland won the edition with the song "Crumbling Down" performed by Nuela Charles, scoring 133 points, 17 more than the runner-up, the Czech Republic. By tie-break, the Netherlands finished third and Russia fourth both with 107 points, whilst Sweden and the United Kingdom rounded off the top 6. The Netherlands were the best scoring pre-qualifier, coming third.

## Location

*For more information, see Espoo.*

**Espoo** is the second largest city and municipality in Finland. The population of the city was 269,802 as of 1 January 2016. It is part of the Finnish Capital Region, and most of its population lives in the inner urban core of the Helsinki metropolitan area, along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and Kauniainen. Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen. The city is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, in the region of Uusimaa.

### Bidding Phase

Three Finnish cities applied to host the contest. These were Espoo with the Metro Areena, Helsinki with the Hartwall Arena and Turku with the Gatorade Center.

The host city was revealed to be Espoo on 13th May 2017.

 Helsinki | Hartwall Arena | 15,000
 Turku | Gatorade Center | 11,800

## Participants

Thirty-five countries participated, representing an increase of two compared to the previous edition. As it was the second edition, there were no returning countries. However, this edition was the debut of Andorra, Belarus, Croatia, the Faroe Islands and Slovenia. Three countries withdrew from the edition. Ireland withdrew despite confirming in order to focus on other projects, whilst Lithuania withdrew due to a lack of time and interest and Luxembourg did not submit an entry in time.

### Returning artists

Anna of the North returned to represent Norway at the edition with the song "Oslo", having represented the country at the first edition with the song "The Dreamer", achieving sixth place. This edition, she placed eighth with 87 points.

## Format

### Semi-final allocation draw

As there were two semi-finals, countries were allocated into these by geographical location to ensure fairness. The draw took place on Saturday 3rd June at the Radisson Blu hotel in Espoo.

The countries were split into pots and allocated into both their semi-final and the half of that semi-final they will perform in. The final running order was then decided based on smaller groups rather than all of the participating countries to reduce the chance of similar countries performing together.

The six pots were the following:

* Bosnia-Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Greece
* Italy
* Portugal
* Monaco
* Spain
* Moldova
* Romania
* Russia
 Pot 4
 * Belgium
* France
* Switzerland
* United Kingdom
* Hungary
* Poland
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Estonia
* Faroe Islands
* Iceland
* Latvia

### Running Order

This edition the running order for both the semi-finals and the final was produced by the OBU, in order to prevent similar songs performing together.

### Previews and Betting Odds

The entries from each participating country were previewed in short recaps called *Previews*. The countries were divided into the previews based on when they revealed their entry: the first countries to reveal their entries were in the first preview. Broadcasters can rank each entry in the recap.

Betting odds were based around the country's average rank in its preview. The betting odds represented the chance a country had to win the contest. Switzerland came first in the betting odds with odds of 2.70, followed by Norway and Poland with 2.74 and 2.76 respectively. The lowest countries in the betting odds were Croatia, San Marino and Belarus with odds of 4.95, 5.10 and 5.22.

Out of these, San Marino and Belarus both failed to qualify, however Croatia did qualify, placing seventeenth. The betting odds successfully predicted the winner once again, with the runners up placing eighth and twelfth. The positions of France and Monaco were also predicted correctly. Out of the finalists, the countries which had the most significant difference were Albania who placed fourteen places lower, and Serbia who placed thirteen higher. The non-qualifier with highest odds was Iceland who were third in their semi-final and sixth overall.

## Results

### Semi-final 1

Fourteen countries participated in the first semi-final. Monaco, the Netherlands and Sweden also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified to the final.

### Semi-final 2

Fifteen countries participated in the second semi-final. Finland, Norway and Ukraine also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified to the final.

### Final

Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all thirty-five participating countries eligible to vote.

## Voting Grids

### Semi-final 1

#### 12 points

 2
 1
 Latvia | Moldova

## Other Countries

* Ireland: On 21st April 2017, it was announced the group Picture This would represent Ireland with the song "Take My Hand". However, on 28th April, RTÉ announced Ireland would withdraw to focus on other projects within the broadcaster.

* Lithuania: On 10th May 2017, LRT announced that Lithuania would not be present at the edition, due to a lack of time and interest. A return in a future edition has not been ruled out.

* Luxembourg: On 29th May, the OBU announced that RTL did not submit a song to represent the country. Therefore, Luxembourg was forced to withdraw.

## Incidents

### Ukrainian participation doubts

On 12 March 2017 it was announced Ukraine would withdraw from the contest this edition, over an alleged dispute with the OBU regarding a potential entry for the contest. However, on 21 March it was announced by both the OBU and broadcaster UA:PBC that an agreement had been reached and Ukraine would be present at the contest.