European Singing Competition 28

## European Singing Competition

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 Next: 29

**European Singing Competition 28**, often referred to as ESC #28, is the twenty-eighth edition of European Singing Competition. The contest took place in Kaunas, Lithuania. This is the first time that Lithuania hosted the contest. The event was hosted by GJan and Donny Montell. The event was hosted in the Zalgiris Arena with a capacity of 20.000.The host broadcaster was LRT.

As in the previous editions every nation was obliged to send a staging proposal alongside the song. It was announced that juries and televoters would give two separate scores in the semifinals as well.

Forty-five countries participated in the twenty-eighth edition. The participating countries, except of the host Lithuania, the United States, France, Italy, Greece and Germany, competed in two semi-finals. Egypt, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Romania and Spain got promoted after qualifying from the Pre-Qualification Round 5.

The winner was Norway with the song "En Livredd Mann" by Mørland which scored 543 points, winning by a margin of 31 points in front of Italy. The podium was completed by Monaco, which finished on the third place. The host country Lithuania ended 25th. Norway got its first ever victory, apart from them Greenland achieved its first ever top 10 result, getting 7th and surpassing their previour best result, the 11th place. Both debuting nations (New Zealand and Wales) made it to the grand final where the former got 9th and the latter 19th. The 28th edition was the first one where Denmark and San Marino failed to reach the Grand Final. Denmark got 16th in the first semifinal and San Marino 12th in the same semi.

## Location

The contest took place for the first time in the Lithuania.

### Bidding phase and host city selection

**Key**:

     Host venue

 Vilnius

## Returning Artists

Lyra returned for Ireland for the 2nd time. Parov Stelar made his second appearence for Liechtenstein. Both Julie and Nina returned for Greenland as a duo after competing seperately in the past. Natassa Bofiliou returned for Cyprus alongside Alkinoos Ioannidis after competing as a solo act for Greece in the past. Hooverphonic returned for Belgium. The edition also saw the return of Sophia Somajo, who is now representing Sweden alongside Alan Walker. Emel Mathlouthi also returned for Tunisia. Sandy returned for Egypt after getting in the top 5 of the PQR.

## Participating countries

### **Semi-final Allocation Draw**

The thirty-eight semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, based on their geographical place and cultural similarities. Drawing from different pots helps in reducing the chance of so-called neighbour voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined.

The six pots were the following:

* Gibraltar
* Lebanon
* Tunisia
* Croatia
* Montenegro
* Serbia
* Slovenia
* Finland
* Greenland
* Norway
* Sweden
* Belarus
* Georgia
* Kazakhstan
 Pot 5
 * Cyprus
* Israel
* Monaco
* San Marino
* Spain
* Hungary
* Liechtenstein
* Romania
* Switzerland
* Ireland
* Luxembourg
* The Netherlands
* Wales
* Australia
* Latvia
* New Zealand
* Ukraine

### **Semi-final 1**

Twenty countries participated in the first semi-final. The ten highlighted ones qualified for the final. Every country in this semifinal voted alongside  Germany, the host  Lithuania and the  United States.

### **Semi-final 2**

Nineteen countries participated in the second semi-final. The ten highlighted ones qualified for the final. Every country in this semifinal voted alongside  France,  Greece and  Italy.

### **Grand Final**

26 countries competed in the final. All 45 countries voted in the final.

## Voting

### Semifinal 1

##### 12 Points

Televoting
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the second semi-final:

##### 12 Points

Jury
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's jury in the second semi-final:

### Semifinal 2

##### 12 Points

Televoting
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the second semi-final:

##### 12 Points

Jury
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's jury in the second semi-final:

### Final

##### 12 Points

Televoting
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's televote in the second semi-final:

##### 12 Points

Jury
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's jury in the second semi-final: