The Origin Song Contest 06

Final date
 Venue
 Interval act
 Entries
 Debuting
 System
 Nul points

**The Origin Song Contest 06**, often referred to as TOSC 06, was the sixth edition of The Origin Song Contest. The contest was hosted in Gothenburg, Sweden, following Sweden's victory in the fifth edition with the song "Hardcore" by Esther Vallee. It was the first time the contest was hosted in Sweden, with the Scandinavium chosen by SVT as the venue and Carina Berg chosen as host.

Thirty nine countries participated in the contest. Armenia debuted in the contest while Italy, Moldova and Russia returned having last participated in the fourth edition. Croatia also returned having not been seen since four editions ago. Meanwhile, six countries withdrew: Andorra, Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Malta and San Marino. The contest was also the first edition where North Macedonia participated under their new name; they participated in previous editions as *FYR Macedonia*.

The contest was won by Belarus with the song "Toi et moi" by the band Parade of Planets, which received a record 244 points, placing 103 points ahead of second-placed Ukraine. Ireland came third, while the Czech Republic, Faroe Islands and Denmark completed the top six. The host country Sweden finished in twenty-fourth position, while Greece came last with -23 points. The contest was the first since the third edition where no pre-qualified country placed in the top six again, with Latvia coming closest in seventh place, while Poland became the first country in the contest's history to score zero points.

## Format

### Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to allocate the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on 1st February 2019. The first part of the draw determined in which semi-final the "big 6" would have to vote. 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. Seventeen countries would participate in each semi-final, with ten qualifying from each show to result in a final of 26 songs.

The thirty-three semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, which were decided by analysing potential voting patterns between the countries. Drawing from different pots helps in reducing the chance of "bloc-voting". 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:

* Faroe Islands
* Germany
* Moldova
* North Macedonia
* Finland
* Italy
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Portugal
* Azerbaijan
* Croatia
* Monaco
* Serbia
 Pot 4
 * Austria
* Belarus
* Iceland
* Romania
* Slovenia
* Turkey
* Estonia
* Slovakia
* Switzerland
* United Kingdom
* Ireland
* Netherlands
* Russia
* Spain

## Participating countries

### Returning artists

Federica Abbate, who represented San Marino in the previous edition, returned to the contest, this time representing Italy. Tea Tairović represented Serbia alongside Ivana Krunić in the fifth edition; this time she participated with DJ Shone. Karmen returned to represent Romania for the second time, after representing the country on their debut in the first edition. LYRA, who represented Ireland in the third edition, represented her country for the second time.

## Results

### Semi-final 1

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

### Semi-final 2

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

## Other countries

All countries with a broadcaster that is a member of the Origin Broadcasting Union are invited to participate. The following countries declined to participate, citing the reasons stated.

* Andorra: Although Andorra originally were listed on the forty confirmed participants the country had to withdraw due to scheduling issues and a lack of time, reducing the participant count to thirty nine.
* Bulgaria: The Bulgarian Head of Delegation left their post after the previous edition and therefore Bulgaria was forced to withdraw until a replacement is found.
* France: No official confirmation was received from France Télévisions and therefore France was unable to participate.
* Hungary: Duna TV had stated they may not have time to participate in the contest and this was reaffirmed by the broadcaster, who also cited an unexpected non-qualification as a factor influencing their decision.
* Malta: No official confirmation was received from PBS and therefore Malta was unable to participate.
* San Marino: The Sammarinese Head of Delegation left their post after the previous edition and therefore San Marino was forced to withdraw until a replacement is found.

## Incidents

### Albanian entry

Originally, it was announced that Alle Farben and ILIRA would represent Albania with the song "Fading". However, shortly after the song was revealed it was brought to the OBU's attention that the song was a sample of the song "Porcelain" by Swedish singer Skott, originally released in 2016. Therefore, the song was forced to be withdrawn from participation and was replaced by "Emrin Tim" by Arissa.