Eurovision Song Contest 2008

It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the 2007 contest with the song "Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), the contest was held at the Belgrade Arena, and (for the first time) consisted of two semi-finals on 20 and 22 May, and a final on 24 May 2008. The three live shows were presented by Serbian television presenter Jovana Janković and musician Željko Joksimović.

Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Confluence of Sound
Dates
Semi-final 1	20 May 2008 (2008-05-20)
Semi-final 2	22 May 2008 (2008-05-22)
Final	24 May 2008 (2008-05-24)
Host
Venue	Belgrade Arena Belgrade, Serbia
Presenter(s)	Jovana Janković Željko Joksimović
Directed by	Sven Stojanović
Executive supervisor	Svante Stockselius
Executive producer	Sandra Šuša
Host broadcaster	Radio Television of Serbia (RTS)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/belgrade-2008
Participants
Number of entries	43
Number of finalists	25
Debuting countries	Azerbaijan  San Marino
Returning countries	None
Non-returning countries	Austria
Participation map      Finalist countries     Countries eliminated in the semi-finals     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2008
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
Winning song	Russia "Believe"
2007 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 2009

Forty-three countries participated in the contest, the highest ever number of participants in the contest beating the record of forty-two set the year before. Azerbaijan and San Marino participated for the first time, while Austria did not participate, mainly due to questions on the semi-final organisation as well as the politicization of the contest.

The winner was Russia with the song "Believe", performed by Dima Bilan who wrote it with Jim Beanz. Ukraine, Greece, Armenia and Norway rounded out the top five. Armenia achieved their best result to date this year. Of the "Big Four" countries Spain placed the highest, finishing sixteenth, while the United Kingdom ended up in last place for the second time in their Eurovision history, after 2003.

The official website, eurovision.tv, streamed national finals for this year's contest live on ESCTV for the first time. Furthermore, for the first time the winner has been awarded the perpetual glass microphone trophy of the Eurovision Song Contest. The trophy is a handmade piece of sandblasted glass in the shape of a 1950s microphone.

 

Serbia gained the right to host the contest after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland. Since Serbia was the winner of the preceding contest, the 2008 contest was subsequently held there. The Belgrade Arena in Belgrade was chosen as the venue for the contest, and is among the largest indoor arenas in Europe, with a total capacity of 25,000 seats.

On 14 September 2007, the Mayor of Helsinki handed over the "Eurovision keys" to the Deputy of Belgrade. This ceremony is meant to be a tradition from the 2008 contest and onward, and the ring contains a key from every city that has ever hosted the competition.

Potential change of location

Following the unilateral Kosovo declaration of independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, which has resulted in protests and unrest across the country, the location of the event was considered to be changed. Ukraine was considered an option since they came second in Eurovision Song Contest 2007. YLE were another option, as they hosted the previous year's competition in Helsinki, Finland. Greece's Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) also offered the EBU to host the contest in Athens, Greece again. It was later decided that the contest would stay in Belgrade, with the EBU giving support. RTS would gain a guarantee of safety and security from the government of Serbia for all visitors and participants of the contest. The delegations of Albania, Croatia and Israel had special security. In the end, the contest was held without any incidents.

Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members.

On 21 December 2007, the EBU confirmed that 43 countries would be present in Belgrade. San Marino, as well as the newest EBU member, Azerbaijan, made its debut at the 2008 contest. Austria did not compete; its broadcaster, ORF, said "we've already seen in 2007 that it's not the quality of the song, but the country of origin that determines the decision."

Automatic grand finalists Germany and Spain exercised voting rights at the first semi-final. France, the United Kingdom and Serbia exercised voting rights at the second semi-final. Spain and France each broadcast only the semi-final in which they participated; Germany, Serbia and the UK screened both semi-finals (with Germany broadcasting on a delay).

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language	Songwriter(s)
Albania	RTSH	Olta Boka	"Zemrën e lamë peng"	Albanian	Adrian Hila Pandi Laço
Andorra	RTVA	Gisela	"Casanova"	English	Jordi Cubino
Armenia	AMPTV	Sirusho	"Qélé, Qélé" (Քելե Քելե)	English, Armenian	H.A. Der-Hovagimian Sirusho
Azerbaijan	İTV	Elnur and Samir	"Day After Day"	English	Zahra Badalbeyli Govhar Hasanzadeh
Belarus	BTRC	Ruslan Alehno	"Hasta la vista"	English	Taras Demchuk Eleonora Melnik
Belgium	VRT	Ishtar	"O Julissi"	Imaginary	Michel Vangheluwe
Bosnia and Herzegovina	BHRT	Laka	"Pokušaj"	Bosnian	Elvir Laković "Laka"
Bulgaria	BNT	Deep Zone and Balthazar	"DJ, Take Me Away"	English	Dian Savov
Croatia	HRT	Kraljevi ulice and 75 Cents	"Romanca"	Croatian	Miran "Hadži" Veljković
Cyprus	CyBC	Evdokia Kadi	"Femme Fatale"	Greek	Nicos Evangelou Vangelis Evangelou
Czech Republic	ČT	Tereza Kerndlová	"Have Some Fun"	English	Gordon Pogoda Stano Šimor
Denmark	DR	Simon Mathew	"All Night Long"	English	Nis Bøgvad Svend Gudiksen Jacob Launbjerg
Estonia	ERR	Kreisiraadio	"Leto svet"	Serbian, German, Finnish	Tarmo Leinatamm Peeter Oja Priit Pajusaar Glen Pilvre Hannes Võrno
Finland	YLE	Teräsbetoni	"Missä miehet ratsastaa"	Finnish	J. Ahola
France	France Télévisions	Sébastien Tellier	"Divine"	English	Amandine de la Richardière Sébastien Tellier
Georgia	GPB	Diana Gurtskaya	"Peace Will Come"	English	Kim Breitburg Karen Kavaleryan
Germany	NDR	No Angels	"Disappear"	English	Remee Hanne Sørvaag Thomas Troelsen
Greece	ERT	Kalomira	"Secret Combination"	English	Konstantinos Pantzis Poseidonas Yiannopoulos
Hungary	MTV	Csézy	"Candlelight"	English, Hungarian	Jánosi Imre Mózsik Viktor Rakonczai
Iceland	RÚV	Euroband	"This Is My Life"	English	Örlygur Smári Paul Oscar Peter Fenner
Ireland	RTÉ	Dustin the Turkey	"Irelande Douze Pointe"	English	Dustin the Turkey Simon Fine Darren Smith
Israel	IBA	Boaz	"The Fire in Your Eyes"	Hebrew	Dana International Shai Kerem
Latvia	LTV	Pirates of the Sea	"Wolves of the Sea"	English	Claes Andreasson Jonas Liberg Johan Sahlén Torbjörn Wassenius
Lithuania	LRT	Jeronimas Milius	"Nomads in the Night"	English	Vytautas Diškevičius Jeronimas Milius
Macedonia	MRT	Tamara, Vrčak and Adrijan	"Let Me Love You"	English	Rade Vrčakovski "Vrčak"
Malta	PBS	Morena	"Vodka"	English	Gerard James Borg Philip Vella
Moldova	TRM	Geta Burlacu	"A Century of Love"	English	Oleg Baraliuc Viorica Demici
Montenegro	RTCG	Stefan Filipović	"Zauvijek volim te" (Заувијек волим те)	Montenegrin	Grigor Koprov Ognen Nedelkovski
Netherlands	NOS	Hind	"Your Heart Belongs to Me"	English	Bas van den Heuvel Hind Laroussi Tahiri Tjeerd van Zanen
Norway	NRK	Maria	"Hold On Be Strong"	English	Mira Craig
Poland	TVP	Isis Gee	"For Life"	English	Isis Gee
Portugal	RTP	Vânia Fernandes	"Senhora do mar (Negras águas)"	Portuguese	Andrej Babić Carlos Coelho
Romania	TVR	Nico and Vlad	"Pe-o margine de lume"	Romanian, Italian	Andreea Andrei Adina Șuteu Andrei Tudor
Russia	RTR	Dima Bilan	"Believe"	English	Jim Beanz Dima Bilan
San Marino	SMRTV	Miodio	"Complice"	Italian	Nicola Della Valle Francesco Sancisi
Serbia	RTS	Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugić	"Oro" (Оро)	Serbian	Dejan Ivanović Željko Joksimović
Slovenia	RTVSLO	Rebeka Dremelj	"Vrag naj vzame"	Slovene	Josip Miani-Pipi Igor "Amon" Mazul
Spain	RTVE	Rodolfo Chikilicuatre	"Baila el Chiki Chiki"	Spanish, English	Rodolfo Chikilicuatre and friends
Sweden	SVT	Charlotte Perrelli	"Hero"	English	Fredrik Kempe Bobby Ljunggren
Switzerland	SRG SSR	Paolo Meneguzzi	"Era stupendo"	Italian	Vincenzo Incenzo Pablo Meneguzzo
Turkey	TRT	Mor ve Ötesi	"Deli"	Turkish	Mor ve Ötesi
Ukraine	NTU	Ani Lorak	"Shady Lady"	English	Karen Kavaleryan Philipp Kirkorov
United Kingdom	BBC	Andy Abraham	"Even If"	English	Andy Abraham Andy Watkins Paul Wilson

Returning artists

Bold indicates a previous winner.

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Roberto Meloni (member of Pirates of the Sea)	Latvia	2007 (member of Bonaparti.lv)
Dima Bilan	Russia	2006
Gisela	Andorra	2002 (for   Spain, as backing vocalist for Rosa)
Charlotte Perrelli	Sweden	1999

Other countries

Active EBU members

Active EBU member broadcasters in Austria, Monaco, Slovakia and Tunisia confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU.

Presenters

 

On 4 March 2008 it was revealed that Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović would be the presenters of the contest. Janković served as an anchor of the RTS morning show and hosted the allocation draw ceremony held earlier that year, while Joksimović represented Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 and hosted the allocation draw with Janković in January.

Visual design

 

RTS ran a competition that led to the creation of the 2008 contest's branding, logo and the stage. On 1 October 2007, the logo titled "Mama 2008" was announced as the winner among 455 submissions. The stage design, titled "Confluence" was also declared as the winner among 70 submissions. However, due to the negative responses to the design, the logo was subsequently changed, and the new logo was presented in January 2008. The stage design was also eventually changed.

The theme of the contest was based around the "confluence of sound". This was symbolic as Belgrade lies on the confluence of two European rivers, the Sava and Danube. The replacement logo, a treble clef, formed the graphical basis of the design created by Boris Miljković.

The postcards in the first and second semi-final were based around the creation of the flag of the nation that was to perform next. Each post card had a short story related to each country and its people. During each postcard a short letter was displayed. All were in the national language of the artist's country, with the exception of the Serbian postcard, which consisted of "Welcome to Belgrade" and "Welcome to Serbia" in various languages. The postcards were brought to an end by a stamp with this year's Eurovision logo.

 

According to RTS the stage represented native identities, history and modern themes, symbols and universally recognised messages. The confluence-themed stage also contained a large number of television and LCD display screens. The stage had settings for all new electronic possibilities including some movable parts of the stage. It was designed by Chicago-based David Cushing.

The first semi-final was created around a city theme. The contest opened with a panorama of the city of Belgrade forming in the stage's background with two waves sliding down the stage to meet in the centre – at the confluence, the overall theme of the contest.

The second semi-final was based around the theme of water, which was enhanced by the look of the stage during the interval act where the water formed the main colours of the stage.

The grand final was based on the theme of the confluence. Construction of the stage lasted several days and was carried out by various teams from across Europe. Pyrotechnics were heavily used for the entries from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Finland, Germany, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Switzerland. The stage received positive feedback from the media and fans describing it as "one of the best looking stages in the history of the competition".^{[citation needed]}

 

Expansion to two semi-finals

At a press conference in Helsinki in May 2007, Svante Stockselius, executive supervisor of the contest for the EBU, announced that the competition's format may be expanded to two semi-finals in 2008 or 2009. On 28 September 2007 it was announced that the EBU had approved the plan of hosting two semi-finals in 2008.

According to the executive supervisor of the contest Svante Stockselius, there were multiple ideas on how the two semi-finals would be organized, such as prerecording both semi-finals and airing them simultaneously on Thursday 22 May, with each broadcaster airing the semi-final their country competes or votes in; or prerecording one semi-final, while the other one is held live, and airing them simultaneously on Thursday 22 May, with each broadcaster airing the semi-final their country votes in. In both cases, the results sequences would be held live.

Although originally this option was not being considered due to the additional costs to such a production, it was later decided that the two semi-finals would be held on different days, both live, on Tuesday 20 May and 22 May 2008.

Semi-final allocation draw

 

Based on research conducted by the EBU's tele-voting partner Digame, the semi-finalists were sorted into the two heats through the drawing of lots, which was seeded to keep countries that have a significant history of voting for each other apart.^{[citation needed]} Each broadcaster had to broadcast the semi-final in which they took part, with the broadcasting of the other semi-final being optional. The draw for the semi-final allocation occurred in the City Assembly of Belgrade on Monday 28 January 2008 at 13:00 CET and was conducted by the hosts of the contest Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović.

First, two envelopes with 'Semi-Final 1' and 'Semi-Final 2' were drawn. Then, three countries from each pot were chosen randomly to take part in the first semi-final and the other three in the second one. The country left in Pot 5 took part in the first envelope that is drawn. While, the country left in Pot 6 in the second one.

The automatic grand finalist countries chose whether they would broadcast both semi-finals or just one, but viewers from these countries could only vote in one. From the draw conducted, it was decided which of the five grand finalist countries would broadcast and have voting rights in either of the events. The semi-finals were webcast live through Eurovision.tv. The top nine songs from the televoting qualified for the grand final, and a tenth was determined by the back-up juries. Twenty-five songs competed in the grand final.

On 24 January 2008, all 38 countries in the semi-finals were separated into the following pots based on voting history and geographical location:

Running order

The draw to decide the running order of the songs in each semi-final and the grand final was conducted at the Heads of Delegation meeting on 17 March 2008.

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final was held on 20 May 2008. Germany and Spain voted in this semi-final.

Results of the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Montenegro	Stefan Filipović	"Zauvijek volim te"	23	14
2	Israel	Boaz	"The Fire in Your Eyes"	104	5
3	Estonia	Kreisiraadio	"Leto svet"	8	18
4	Moldova	Geta Burlacu	"A Century of Love"	36	12
5	San Marino	Miodio	"Complice"	5	19
6	Belgium	Ishtar	"O Julissi"	16	17
7	Azerbaijan	Elnur and Samir	"Day After Day"	96	6
8	Slovenia	Rebeka Dremelj	"Vrag naj vzame"	36	11
9	Norway	Maria	"Hold On Be Strong"	106	4
10	Poland	Isis Gee	"For Life"	42	10 ‡
11	Ireland	Dustin the Turkey	"Irelande Douze Pointe"	22	15
12	Andorra	Gisela	"Casanova"	22	16
13	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Laka	"Pokušaj"	72	9
14	Armenia	Sirusho	"Qélé, Qélé"	139	2
15	Netherlands	Hind	"Your Heart Belongs to Me"	27	13
16	Finland	Teräsbetoni	"Missä miehet ratsastaa"	79	8
17	Romania	Nico and Vlad	"Pe-o margine de lume"	94	7
18	Russia	Dima Bilan	"Believe"	135	3
19	Greece	Kalomira	"Secret Combination"	156	1

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final was held on 22 May 2008. The United Kingdom, France and Serbia voted in this semi-final.

Results of the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Iceland	Euroband	"This Is My Life"	68	8
2	Sweden	Charlotte Perrelli	"Hero"	54	12 ‡
3	Turkey	Mor ve Ötesi	"Deli"	85	7
4	Ukraine	Ani Lorak	"Shady Lady"	152	1
5	Lithuania	Jeronimas Milius	"Nomads in the Night"	30	16
6	Albania	Olta Boka	"Zemrën e lamë peng"	67	9
7	Switzerland	Paolo Meneguzzi	"Era stupendo"	47	13
8	Czech Republic	Tereza Kerndlová	"Have Some Fun"	9	18
9	Belarus	Ruslan Alehno	"Hasta la vista"	27	17
10	Latvia	Pirates of the Sea	"Wolves of the Sea"	86	6
11	Croatia	Kraljevi ulice and 75 Cents	"Romanca"	112	4
12	Bulgaria	Deep Zone and Balthazar	"DJ, Take Me Away"	56	11
13	Denmark	Simon Mathew	"All Night Long"	112	3
14	Georgia	Diana Gurtskaya	"Peace Will Come"	107	5
15	Hungary	Csézy	"Candlelight"	6	19
16	Malta	Morena	"Vodka"	38	14
17	Cyprus	Evdokia Kadi	"Femme Fatale"	36	15
18	Macedonia	Tamara, Vrčak and Adrijan	"Let Me Love You"	64	10
19	Portugal	Vânia Fernandes	"Senhora do mar (negras águas)"	120	2

Final

The grand finalists were:

• the "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom);
• the host country (Serbia);
• the top nine countries from the first semi-final plus one wildcard from the juries;
• the top nine countries from the second semi-final plus one wildcard from the juries.

The grand final was held on 24 May 2008 and was won by Russia.

Results of the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Romania	Nico and Vlad	"Pe-o margine de lume"	45	20
2	United Kingdom	Andy Abraham	"Even If"	14	25
3	Albania	Olta Boka	"Zemrën e lamë peng"	55	17
4	Germany	No Angels	"Disappear"	14	23
5	Armenia	Sirusho	"Qélé, Qélé"	199	4
6	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Laka	"Pokušaj"	110	10
7	Israel	Boaz	"The Fire in Your Eyes"	124	9
8	Finland	Teräsbetoni	"Missä miehet ratsastaa"	35	22
9	Croatia	Kraljevi ulice and 75 Cents	"Romanca"	44	21
10	Poland	Isis Gee	"For Life"	14	24
11	Iceland	Euroband	"This Is My Life"	64	14
12	Turkey	Mor ve Ötesi	"Deli"	138	7
13	Portugal	Vânia Fernandes	"Senhora do mar (negras águas)"	69	13
14	Latvia	Pirates of the Sea	"Wolves of the Sea"	83	12
15	Sweden	Charlotte Perrelli	"Hero"	47	18
16	Denmark	Simon Mathew	"All Night Long"	60	15
17	Georgia	Diana Gurtskaya	"Peace Will Come"	83	11
18	Ukraine	Ani Lorak	"Shady Lady"	230	2
19	France	Sébastien Tellier	"Divine"	47	19
20	Azerbaijan	Elnur and Samir	"Day After Day"	132	8
21	Greece	Kalomira	"Secret Combination"	218	3
22	Spain	Rodolfo Chikilicuatre	"Baila el Chiki Chiki"	55	16
23	Serbia	Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugić	"Oro"	160	6
24	Russia	Dima Bilan	"Believe"	272	1
25	Norway	Maria	"Hold On Be Strong"	182	5

Spokespersons

The voting order and spokespersons during the grand final were as follows:

Semi-final 1

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the first semi-final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
5	Armenia	Belgium,   Greece,   Netherlands,   Poland,   Russia
4	Greece	Azerbaijan,   Germany,   Romania,   San Marino
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Montenegro,   Norway,   Slovenia
2	Russia	Armenia,   Israel
	Finland	Andorra,   Estonia
1	Andorra	Spain
	Montenegro	Bosnia and Herzegovina
	Norway	Finland
	Poland	Ireland
	Romania	Moldova

Semi-final 2

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the second semi-final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
6	Ukraine	Belarus,   Bulgaria,   Czech Republic,   Georgia,   Portugal,   Turkey
3	Denmark	Hungary,   Iceland,   Sweden
2	Georgia	Cyprus,   Ukraine
	Macedonia	Croatia,   Serbia
	Portugal	France,    Switzerland
1	Albania	Macedonia
	Cyprus	United Kingdom
	Latvia	Lithuania
	Lithuania	Latvia
	Sweden	Denmark
	Switzerland	Malta
	Turkey	Albania

Final

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the grand final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
8	Armenia	Belgium,   Czech Republic,   France,   Georgia,   Greece,   Netherlands,   Poland,   Russia
7	Russia	Armenia,   Belarus,   Estonia,   Israel,   Latvia,   Lithuania,   Ukraine
6	Greece	Albania,   Cyprus,   Germany,   Romania,   San Marino,   United Kingdom
4	Serbia	Bosnia and Herzegovina,   Montenegro,   Slovenia,    Switzerland
2	Azerbaijan	Hungary,   Turkey
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Croatia,   Serbia
	Denmark	Iceland,   Norway
	Norway	Finland,   Sweden
	Romania	Moldova,   Spain
1	Albania	Macedonia
	Germany	Bulgaria
	Iceland	Denmark
	Latvia	Ireland
	Spain	Andorra
	Sweden	Malta
	Turkey	Azerbaijan
	Ukraine	Portugal

Most countries sent commentators to Belgrade or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, provide voting information.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Show(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Albania	RTSH
Andorra	RTVA	ATV		Meri Picart [ca] and Josep Lluís Trabal
Armenia	AMPTV
Azerbaijan	İTV		All shows
Belarus	BTRC	Belarus-1, Belarus-TV	All shows	Denis Kurian
Belgium	VRT	Eén	SF1/Final	Bart Peeters and André Vermeulen
		Eén+ [nl]	SF2
	RTBF	La Une	SF1/Final	Jean-Pierre Hautier and Jean-Louis Lahaye [fr]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	BHRT	BHT 1	All shows	Dejan Kukrić
Bulgaria	BNT			Elena Rosberg and Georgi Kushvaliev
Croatia	HRT	HRT 2	Semi-final	Duško Ćurlić
		HRT 1	Final
Cyprus	CyBC	RIK 1	All shows	Melina Karageorgiou
Czech Republic	ČT	ČT2	SF1	Kateřina Kristelová [cs]
		ČT1	SF2/Final
Denmark	DR	DR1	All shows	Nikolai Molbech
Estonia	ERR	ETV	All shows	Marko Reikop
		Raadio 2	SF1/Final	Mart Juur and Andrus Kivirähk
Finland	YLE	YLE TV2	All shows	Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Peltola [fi]
		YLE FST5		Thomas Lundin [sv]
		YLE Radio Suomi		Sanna Kojo and Jorma Hietamäki
		YLE Radio Vega
France	France Télévisions	France 4	SF2	Peggy Olmi [fr] and Yann Renoard
		France 3	Final	Jean Paul Gaultier and Julien Lepers
Georgia	GPB
Germany	ARD	NDR Fernsehen	Semi-finals	Peter Urban
		Das Erste	Final
Greece	ERT	NET	All shows	Betty and Mathildi Maggira
				Maria Kozakou
Hungary	MTV	m1	SF2/Final	Gábor Gundel Takács [hu]
Iceland	RÚV	Sjónvarpið	All shows	Sigmar Guðmundsson [is]
Ireland	RTÉ	RTÉ Two	Semi-finals	Marty Whelan
		RTÉ One	Final
		RTÉ Radio 1	SF1/Final	Larry Gogan
Israel	IBA		All shows
Latvia	LTV		All shows	Kārlis Streips [lv]
Lithuania	LRT
Macedonia	MRT
Malta	PBS	TVM	All shows
Moldova	TRM
Montenegro	RTCG	TVCG 2	Semi-finals	Dražen Bauković and Tamara Ivanković
		TVCG 1	Final
		TVCG MNE	All shows
Netherlands	NPO	Nederland 1	All shows	Cornald Maas
Norway	NRK	NRK1	SF1/Final	Hanne Hoftun [no]
		NRK3	SF2
Poland	TVP	TVP1, TVP Polonia	SF1/Final	Artur Orzech
Portugal	RTP	RTP1	All shows	Isabel Angelino [pt]
Romania	TVR	TVR 1, TVRi	All shows	Leonard Miron
Russia	RTR	Russia-1, RTR Planeta	All shows	Dmitry Guberniev and Olga Shelest [ru]
San Marino	SMRTV	SMRTV	All shows	Gigi Restivo and Lia Fiorio
		Radio San Marino [it]		Emilia Romagna
Serbia	RTS	RTS1, RTS Sat	All shows	Dragan Ilić and Mladen Popović[citation needed]
Slovenia	RTVSLO	SLO 2 [sl]	Semi-finals	Andrej Hofer [sl]
		SLO 1 [sl]	Final
		Val 202	All shows	Aida Kurtović
Spain	RTVE	La 2	SF1	José Luis Uribarri
		La 1	Final
Sweden	SVT	SVT1	All shows	Kristian Luuk and Josef Sterzenbach [sv]
			Final	Carl Bildt
	SR			Carolina Norén
Switzerland	SRG SSR	SF zwei	SF2/Final	Sven Epiney
		HD suisse	Final
		TSR 2	SF2/Final	Jean-Marc Richard and Nicolas Tanner
		TSI 2	SF2	Sandy Altermatt [it]
		TSI 1	Final
Turkey	TRT	TRT 1, TRT Int	All shows
		TRT Türk	Final	Bülend Özveren
Ukraine	NTU	Pershyi Natsionalnyi	All shows	Timur Miroshnychenko
United Kingdom	BBC	BBC Three	Semi-finals	Paddy O'Connell and Caroline Flack
		BBC One, BBC HD	Final	Sir Terry Wogan
		BBC Radio 2		Ken Bruce

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Show(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Australia	SBS	SBS TV	Semi-finals	Julia Zemiro, Paddy O'Connell and Caroline Flack
			Final	Julia Zemiro and Terry Wogan
Austria	ORF	ORF 1	Final	Andi Knoll
Gibraltar	GBC	GBC TV	Final
New Zealand	Triangle Television	Triangle Stratos	All shows

High-definition broadcasts

RTS broadcast the event in 1080i high-definition (HD) and 5.1 surround sound. The new high-definition television system was in place at the Belgrade Arena by April 2008. This is the second year that the event was broadcast live in HD. BBC HD broadcast the contest in High Definition in the United Kingdom. Swedish broadcaster SVT broadcast both the semi-final and the grand final on SVT HD.^{[citation needed]} Lithuanian broadcaster LRT broadcast both the semi-final and the grand final in 1080i high-definition (HD) on their channel LTV.^{[citation needed]} The same occurred on Swiss HD channel HD suisse; on this channel viewers were able to choose the language of the commentary while viewing a semi-final or grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest.^{[citation needed]} However, all other countries broadcast the show only in standard definition, and the event will only be available to buy on a standard-definition DVD; it will not be released on HD-DVD or Blu-ray.

International broadcasts

•   Australia – Although Australia was not eligible to enter, the contest was broadcast on SBS. The first semi-final was broadcast on Friday 23 May at 19:30 local time, with the second semi-final on Saturday 24 May 2008 at 19:30 local time, and the Final on Sunday 25 May 2008 at 19:30 local time, amongst a weekend of Eurovision-themed programming. SBS local host Julia Zemiro provided introductory and concluding segments with SBS otherwise broadcasting the BBC's coverage and commentary. In recent years the contest has been one of SBS's highest-rating programmes in terms of viewer numbers. The grand final rated well for SBS with 427,000 viewers tuning in for the grand final with 421,000 for the second semi-final and 272,000 for the first semi-final.
•   Austria – In Austria, ORF broadcast the contest live and received high TV ratings. However, it did not broadcast the semi-finals on 20 and 22 May.
•   Gibraltar – Gibraltar screened only the final on GBC.
•   Italy – No Italian broadcaster proper showed the contest, but San Marinese SMRTV, which broadcast live the full event on both TV and radio, is available in some parts of Italy: Romagna (and a small part of Emilia, including Bologna), northern Marche, and southern Veneto, including Venice.

A live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest was available worldwide via satellite through European streams such as TVRi, ERT World, ARMTV, TVE Internacional, TRT International, TVP Polonia, RTP Internacional, RTS Sat and SVT Europa.^{[citation needed]} The official Eurovision Song Contest website also provided a live stream without commentary via the peer-to-peer medium Octoshape.

In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. The OGAE, "General Organisation of Eurovision Fans" voting poll also took place before the contest.

Marcel Bezençon Awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final. For the only time, the awards were divided into four categories: Artistic Award which was voted by previous winners of the contest, Composers Award, Poplight Fan Award which was voted by fans on the Swedish website poplight.se, and Press Award.

Category	Country	Song	Performer(s)	Songwriter(s)
Artistic Award	Ukraine	"Shady Lady"	Ani Lorak	Philipp Kirkorov Dimitris Kontopoulos Karen Kavaleryan
Composers Award	Romania	"Pe-o margine de lume"	Nico and Vlad	Andrei Tudor Andreea Andrei Adina Şuteu
Poplight Fan Award	Armenia	"Qélé, Qélé"	Sirusho	H.A. Der-Hovagimian Sirusho Harutyunyan
Press Award	Portugal	"Senhora do mar (negras águas)"	Vânia Fernandes	Andrej Babić Carlos Coelho

OGAE

OGAE, an organisation of over forty Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, conducts an annual voting poll first held in 2002 as the Marcel Bezençon Fan Award. After all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry in the 2008 poll was Sweden's "Hero" performed by Charlotte Perrelli; the top five results are shown below.

Country	Song	Performer(s)	OGAE result
Sweden	"Hero"	Charlotte Perrelli	308
Switzerland	"Era stupendo"	Paolo Meneguzzi	216
Serbia	"Oro"	Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugić	178
Iceland	"This Is My Life"	Euroband	145
Norway	"Hold On Be Strong"	Maria Haukaas Storeng	145

Barbara Dex Award

The Barbara Dex Award is a humorous fan award given to the worst dressed artist each year. Named after Belgium's representative who came last in the 1993 contest, wearing her self-designed dress, the award was handed by the fansite House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016 and is being carried out by the fansite songfestival.be since 2017.

Country	Performer(s)
Andorra	Gisela

 

Eurovision Song Contest: Belgrade 2008 was the official compilation album of the 2008 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by EMI Records and CMC International on 12 May 2008.The album featured all 43 songs that entered in the 2008 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.

Charts

Notes