Country Contest 18

Semi-final 1 date
 Semi-final 2 date
 Final date
 Host broadcaster
 Number of entries
 Debuting countries
 Withdrawing countries
 Voting system

The **Country Contest 18** will be the eighteenth edition of the contest. Once again, the CCU invited no guest countries, due to the announcement of the *World Country Contest*.

This edition marked the first time Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova and Ukraine qualified to the grand final, and also the first time Portugal failed to qualify for the grand final. However, Belarus did not manage to qualify for the final for the first time.

## Format

### Future editions hiatus

On 26 May 2018, the CCU announced that after hosting many editions in the past months (the highest?), that the Country Contest would be on hiatus for an undefinite amount of time. Reasons cited for this hiatus included were to focus on other projects and keep the interest of the contest alive, which the CCU stated "would not be the case" if so many editions took place in a short amount of time.

On 14 June 2018, the CCU stated, "The Country Contest has been a great journey, for 18 editions spanning 3 years. However, the contest could not continue at it's current format, due to financial issues. A new format will be announced in coming weeks, thereof."

## Semi-final 1

France, Germany and Iceland also voted here. The top ten overall countries qualified to the Grand Final.

## Semi-final 2

Greece, Macedonia and Morocco also voted here. The top ten overall countries qualified to the Grand Final.

## Final

The 20 qualifiers from the semi-finals, as well as the top 6 of previous edition took part; all participating countries in the edition voted, including the international jury and televote.

## Incidents

### **Kosovo participation**

On 10 May 2018, RÚV sent an invitation to all active CCU broadcasters, which included Kosovo's public broadcaster, RTK. The CCU later stated that, "RTK has wanted to participate for a long time, but was not given a chance regardless of whether the host country recognized Kosovo, and we thought Iceland would be a perfect opportunity to invite them." Kosovar media reported that "RTK would shortly confirm and announce a national selection." Within hours, RTK confirmed that Kosovo would make its debut, and would announce its internally selected city in coming days.

RTS stated on 11 May 2018 that "The CCU should not allow such a non-recognized country like Kosovo to enter the competition." BHRT joined this protest, announcing its withdrawal on 10 May 2018. Other countries that didn't recognize Kosovo did not publicly state anything regarding its participation.

The CCU explained on 2 July 2018 that prior to RÚV's invitation, the CCU unanimously voted with several delegations on Kosovo participating in the Country Contest 18. The CCU stated that "Kosovo's participation was a success, which not only gave the country a great result but also was watched by many in the country." The CCU stated that they would vote regarding full membership with Delegations in due course.

## Other countries

Further information: List of countries in the Country Contest
### **Active CCU members**

* Bosnia: BHRT announced on 10 May 2018 that "Bosnia and Herzegovina would withdraw in protest of Kosovo's participation."
* Latvia: LTV announced that "Latvia would withdraw due to the non-apparent ratings for the contest," but declined it was caused by bad results.
* Serbia: RTS announced on 10 May 2018 that Serbia would withdraw due to the lack of interest in the country, with the 17th edition having been the least watched contest since its debut in the 5th edition. The withdrawal was unrelated to Kosovo's debut, as RTK had confirmed its debut later that day.

### **Eligible non-participants**

* Kosovo: RTK was included in the list of broadcasters sent an invitation by RÚV, contrary to previous editions. The CCU resp