Eurasian Song Contest 1

Final date
 Host city
 Broadcaster
 Entries
 Debuting
 System
 Null points
 Winner

The **Eurasian Song Contest 1**, often referred to as **EASC 1**, was the first edition of the Eurasian Song Contest. The debut edition took place in Helsinki, Finland, after the Broadcasting Union of the Eurasian Song Contest decided to host the contest there chosen from the available competing nations.

## Location

**Helsinki** is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is the most important political, educational, financial, cultural, and research center of Finland.

Helsinki has a population of 642,045, the Helsinki urban area has a population of 1,231,595, and the Helsinki metropolitan area has a population of over 1.4 million, making it the most populous municipality and urban area in Finland. Helsinki was the World Design Capital for 2012, the venue for the 1952 Summer Olympics, and the host of the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest.

Helsinki was established as a trading town by King Gustav I of Sweden in 1550 as the town of Helsingfors, which he intended to be a rival to the Hanseatic city of Reval (today known as Tallinn). Little came of the plans as Helsinki remained a tiny town plagued by poverty, wars, and diseases. The plague of 1710 killed the greater part of the inhabitants of Helsinki. The construction of the naval fortress Sveaborg (In Finnish *Viapori*, today also *Suomenlinna*) in the 18th century helped improve Helsinki's status, but it was not until Russia defeated Sweden in the Finnish War and annexed Finland as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 that the town began to develop into a substantial city. During the war, Russians besieged the Sveaborg fortress, and about one quarter of the town was destroyed in an 1808 fire.

Russian Emperor Alexander I of Russia moved the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki in 1812 to reduce Swedish influence in Finland, and to bring the capital closer to Saint Petersburg. Following the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, the Royal Academy of Turku, at the time the country's only university, was also relocated to Helsinki, and eventually became the modern University of Helsinki. The move consolidated the city's new role and helped set it on a path of continuous growth. This transformation is highly apparent in the downtown core, which was rebuilt in neoclassical style to resemble Saint Petersburg, mostly to a plan by the German-born architect C. L. Engel. As elsewhere, technological advancements such as railroads and industrialization were key factors behind the city's growth.

## Format

### Semi-final allocation draw

The draw that determined the semi-final allocation was held on 25 February 2018 at Hotel Kämp in Helsinki. The big 6 countries were drawn first to determine in which semi-final each country would vote. The rest of the thirty-one countries were drawn next. The countries were all placed in the same pot.

### Running order

The running orders of the semi-finals were chosen randomly. When a country was drawn from a pot, its semi-final and running order place was drawn from another pot.

## Participating countries

Thirty-seven countries debuted in this edition. Six of them, Albania, Kosovo, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the host country Finland pre-qualified for the grand final.

## Results

### Semi-final 1

Sixteen countries participated in the first semi-final. Albania, Finland and Sweden were allocated to vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the grand final.

### Semi-final 2

Fifteen countries participated in the second semi-final. Kosovo, Ukraine and the United Kingdom were allocated to vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the grand final.

### Final

Twenty-six countries participated in the final.

## Voting grids

### 12 points

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country in the first semi-final.

### 12 points

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country in the second semi-final.

### 12 points

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each qualified country in the final.

### 12 points

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country in the first semi-final.

Jury
 1
 Turkey | Latvia

## Notes

1. **^** Greece originally placed 18th in the final, however, the broadcaster failed to submit their votes resulting in the losing half of their points.