Edition 30

The thirtieth edition of the **Global Music Festival**​ took place at Independence Park in Kingston, Jamaica. It was the second time the country and city hosted the contest, after Jamaica's second victory in the twenty-ninth edition with the song "Came Here for Love" performed by Sigala & Ella Eyre - which scored 357 points. This edition consisted of three semi-finals which were all launched on the 26 March 2018 and a grand final which took place from the 01 April 2018. All four of the shows in this edition were hosted by singer Grace Jones and previous participant Samantha J.

This edition was our first Decennial Edition - which was announced to take part every ten editions (explained further in the competition's rules). The first edition of the Decennial's saw two rule changes and a theme. So for edition thirty participants needed to send songs from the countries with whom they share a land border with (excluding those who are island nations who could borrow from nearby countries). Then, the rule changes stipulated that the power six would be changed to the participants/countries with the lowest qualification statistics; and that each participant needed to send their bottom three (assigning negative points to each), as well as their top ten - shaking the final points up!

Sixty-three countries participated in this edition of the contest: Seeing only one withdrawal from Kosovo, due to failing to submit an entry before the deadline.

The power six for this edition were the Åland Islands, Belgium, the Faroe Islands, Latvia, Morocco and Ukraine - these were the delegations that with the lowest qualification rates (as explained in the rule changes for the Decennial Edition). Their placement in the power six means that they received an automatic place to perform in the final of this edition, while also being allowed to vote in one of the semi-finals in this edition.

 Slogan
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Participants
 Winner

## Pots for the Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on the 26 March 2018. The fifty-four semi-finalists were allocated to five pots, based on the previous results of each participating country, calculated by the averages of the past results. Drawing from each pot helps to create an equal split of successful and not-so successful countries in each semi-final to give countries an equal chance of qualification.

Malta, Finland and Ireland were not included in the pots because the head of delegations for these countries are on the admin team and are in charge of the first, second and third semi-finals respectively; as a result, the countries were automatically assigned to another semi-final: Malta were assigned to semi-final two, and Finland were assigned to semi-final three, and Ireland were assigned to semi-final one.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (Åland Islands, Belgium, the Faroe Islands, Latvia, Morocco and Ukraine) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals. Belgium and the Faroe Islands were assigned to vote in the first semi-final, Latvia and Morocco were assigned to vote in the second semi-final, and the Åland Islands and Ukraine were assigned to vote in the third semi-final.

## ​Semi Final One

 Belgium and the  Faroe Islands from the power six were randomly allocated to vote in this semi-final, as well as, the countries who participated in this semi-final - as always countries not in this semi-final had the choice whether they wanted to vote in this semi-final or not.  Ireland were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Ireland is on the admin team and is the organiser for the third semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result. After the results were announced, there were discussions about selecting one of the non-qualifiers to progress to the final as a wildcard entry -  Ghana were chosen.

## ​Semi Final Two

 Latvia and  Morocco from the power six were randomly allocated to vote in this semi-final, as well as, the countries who participated in this semi-final - as always countries not in this semi-final had the choice whether they wanted to vote in this semi-final or not.  Malta were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Malta is on the admin team and is the organiser for the first semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result. After the results were announced, there were discussions about selecting one of the non-qualifiers to progress to the final as a wildcard entry -  South Korea were chosen.

## ​Semi Final Three

 Åland Islands and  Ukraine from the power six were randomly allocated to vote in this semi-final, as well as, the countries who participated in this semi-final - as always countries not in this semi-final had the choice whether they wanted to vote in this semi-final or not.  Finland were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Finland is on the admin team and is the organiser for the second semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result. After the results were announced, there were discussions about selecting one of the non-qualifiers to progress to the final as a wildcard entry -  Mexico were chosen.

## ​Grand Final

Thirty countries participated in the final of this edition of the **Global Music Festival**​ - the power six, the seven qualifiers from the three semi-finals and the three wildcard entries (one from each semi-final). All sixty-three participating countries were eligible to vote in the final; however, only the thirty finalists were obligated to vote! The running order for the final was announced shortly after the semi final results on the 01 April 2018. The results for the final were released on the 06 April 2018.