San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The Sammarinese broadcaster San Marino RTV (SMRTV) collaborated with the British company 1in360 to organize the national final with the same name in order to select the Sammarinese entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal.[1][2][3][4]

Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country San Marino
National selection
Selection process1in360
Selection date(s)First Show
9 February 2018
Second Show
16 February 2018
Final
3 March 2018
Selected entrantJessika feat. Jenifer Brening
Selected song"Who We Are"
Selected songwriter(s)Mathias Strasser
Zoë Straub
Christof Straub
Lorenzo Salvatori
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (17th, 28 points)
San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2017 2018 2019►

Background

Prior to the 2018 contest, San Marino had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eight times since its first entry in 2008.[5] Their debut entry in 2008, "Complice" performed by Miodio, failed to qualify to the final and placed last in the semi-final it competed in. San Marino subsequently withdrew from the contest in 2009 and 2010, returning in 2011 with Italian singer Senit performing "Stand By", which also failed to take the nation to the final. Between 2012 and 2014, San Marino sent Valentina Monetta to the contest on three consecutive occasions, which made her the first singer to participate in three consecutive contests since Udo Jürgens, who competed in 1964, 1965 and 1966 for Austria. Her entries in 2012 ("The Social Network Song") and 2013 ("Crisalide (Vola)") also failed to qualify San Marino to the final. However, in 2014, Monetta managed to bring San Marino to the final for the first time where she placed 24th with the song "Maybe". In 2015, the nation once again failed to qualify to the final with the song "Chain of Lights" performed by Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola. In 2016, San Marino failed to qualify with "I Didn't Know" sung by Turkish performer Serhat. In 2017 San Marino sent Valentina Monetta again, but this time she performed together with an American singer Jimmie Wilson. Their song "Spirit of the Night" failed to qualify and placed last in their semifinal scoring just 1 point.

The Sammarinese national broadcaster, San Marino RTV (SMRTV), broadcasts the event within San Marino and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. SMRTV confirmed San Marino's participation at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 17 October 2017.[6]

Before Eurovision

1in360

Format

On 15 October 2017 San Marino RTV and 1in360 announced the launch of an online talent show aimed at singers across the world to find the "internet candidate" for Eurovision Song Contest 2018 and crown him or her as San Marino's official candidate for the singing competition.

Candidates could upload covers and original songs to https://www.1in360.com. Submissions ended on 30 November 2017.[7] On 4 December it was announced that a total of 1050 covers and songs had been submitted for 1in360.[8]

On 23 December San Marino RTV and 1in360 announced a short list of eleven candidates. Eight of these candidates were nominated by the 1in360 jury in consultation with San Marino RTV. Three of the candidates were selected by wildcard.

1in360 had three shows: First Show on 9 February 2018, Second Show on 16 February 2018 and the Final on 3 March 2018. The shows were broadcast by San Marino RTV via terrestrial broadcast and satellite uplink and by 1 in 360 on its YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/1in360. The first two shows were pre-recorded, whereas the final was broadcast live from Bratislava, Slovakia. This marked the first time in Eurovision history that a national final was not actually held in the participating country.

All 11 candidates performed in all three shows. The candidates attended a songwriting camp in Vienna, Austria, at which each of them developed two songs with the help of a team of experienced songwriters and producers. Candidates were allowed to contribute ideas to both their own songs and the songs of other candidates and were encouraged to form teams.

In the first show the candidates performed acoustic versions of their songs and the judges provided feedback.

In the second show the candidates again performed acoustic versions of their songs. At the end of the second show the judges chose one song for each candidate.

The live performances from the first two shows were released as an album and as digital downloads on 19 February 2018. The fully produced versions of the songs were made available no later than 23 February 2018, giving fans a chance to listen to them ahead of the live performances.

In the final the candidates performed the fully produced versions of their chosen songs. The winner was chosen by a combination of jury and online voting. The online vote opened on 23 February 2018 and extend through the end of the finals. Both the jury vote and the online vote followed the Eurovision format, whereby the candidates will be awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points.

To avoid a repeat of the vote fraud allegations surrounding the fan vote and ensure maximum fairness and as representative a result as possible, two measures were first envisioned: The online vote was conducted via PayPal, whereby each PayPal account was limited to one vote at €1 and the jury and online vote were weighted as follows: If not more than 50,000 votes were cast, the public vote would've accounted for 10% of the overall vote tally. If more than 50,000 but not more than 100,000 votes were cast, the public vote would've accounted for 20% of the overall vote tally. If more than 100,000 but not more than 200,000 votes were cast, the public vote would've accounted for 30% of the overall vote tally. If more than 200,000 votes but not more than 250,000 votes were cast, the public vote would've accounted for 40% of the overall vote tally. And if more than 250,000 votes were cast, the public vote would've accounted for 50% of the overall vote tally. Another method has been used: online voters could invest in the songs via the crowdfunding website Global Rockstar, by investing from €20 to €8,000.[9]

It was eventually decided that the PayPal vote was not going to be used, instead the crowdfunding method would be the only online voting method, with a minimal investment to €2 instead of €20. The entry that receives the highest investments would receive 12 points from the online votes and if more than one song gets the same investments, they will receive the same score, then the rest of the pool of points will be reduced accordingly (for instance, if two songs get the maximal investments, both of them will get 12 points, the next highest-placed entry will then get 8 points and not 10). And the online vote will count for 50% of the overall vote tally.[10]

Since Zoe Straub, who wrote some of the competing songs, was part of the jury, some changes were applied to the jury vote as well: the jury present in the show was only able to provide feedback, and the actual jury vote instead came from a panel of music industry experts. Alessandro Capricchioni, the Head of Delegation for San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest, was a part of it, but not Zoe or Christof Straub.[10]

The winner went on to represent San Marino at Eurovision Song Contest 2018.

The show was presented by Nick Earles and Kristin Stein.

Judges

1in360 had four judges for the two preliminary rounds and five for the final: Zoë Straub (Austrian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016) who also funded the national final with her family,[11][12] Alessandro Capicchioni (Head of delegation for San Marino),[13] Neon Hitch (English singer and songwriter).[14][15] and Ladislav Kossár (A successful entrepreneur turned philanthropist).[13] John Kennedy O'Connor, San Marino RTV's regular Eurovision host joined the panel as the fifth judge for the final on 3 March.

The 1in360 judges
Alessandro Capicchioni

Competing artists

11 artists competed in the national selection. The artists were revealed on 23 December 2017.[16][17][18]

Artist Origin Song (English translation)
Camilla North  Norway "Free Yourself"
"Yo no soy tu chica" (I'm not your girl)
Emma Sandström  Finland "Diamonds"
"Hold On"
Franklin Calleja  Malta "Best Years of Our Lives"
"Stay"
Giovanni Montalbano  Italy "Per quello che me dai" (For what you give me)
"Immenso" (Immense)
IROL  San Marino "Stuck Without Me" feat. Jessika
"Sorry" feat. Basti
Jenifer Brening  Germany "Sorry"
"Until the Morning Light"
Jessika Muscat  Malta "Who We Are" feat. Jenifer Brening
"Out of the Twilight"
Judah Gavra  Israel "Stay"
"Moonlight"
Sara de Blue  Austria "Until the Morning Light"
"Out of the Twilight"
Sebastian Schmidt (Basti)  Germany "Moonlight"
"Stay"
Tinashe Makura  Zimbabwe "We Are One"
"Free Yourself"

Candidate songs

Song (English translation) Songwriter(s)
"Best Years of Our Lives"
"Diamonds" Emma Sandström, Stefan Moessle, Martin Kromar, Theodoros Xiromeritis
"Free Yourself" Christof Straub, Zoe Straub, Mathias Strasser, Tinashe Makura
"Hold On"
"Immenso" (Immense)
"Moonlight"
"Out of the Twilight" Christof Straub, Zoe Straub, Mathias Strasser, Sara Köll
"Per quello che me dai" (For what you give me) Christof Straub, Zoe Straub, Mathias Strasser, Giovanni Montalbano
"Sorry" Christof Straub, Zoe Straub, Mathias Strasser, Stefan Moessle, Lorenzo Salvatori, Harold Taylor
"Stay" Christof Straub, Zoe Straub, Mathias Strasser
"Stuck Without Me"
"Until the Morning Light" Christof Straub, Zoe Straub, Mathias Strasser, Stefan Moessle, Jenifer Brening
"We Are One"
"Who We Are" Christof Straub, Zoe Straub, Mathias Strasser, Stefan Moessle, Jenifer Brening
"Yo no soy tu chica" (I'm not your girl) Christof Straub, Zoe Straub, Mathias Strasser, Stefan Moessle, Jenifer Brening, Camilla Norderud

First wildcard

The first wildcard was given by the OGAE and INFE fan clubs and other fan clubs that applied for participating in the selection. The seventy-one artists that were shortlisted for the first wildcard round were announced on 24 November 2017. The artist with the most votes was Emma Sandström with 47 points.[19][20][21]

Second wildcard

The details of the second wildcard were announced by jury member and Austrian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, ZOË on 13 November 2017. On 1 December 2017 all votes on the website of the competition were reset and the audience had ten days to cast their votes. The artist with the most votes, and who received the second wildcard was announced on 11 December 2017 as Giovanni Montalbano from Italy.[23][24]

Third wildcard

The details of the third wildcard were announced by the Sammarinese national broadcaster San Marino RTV (SMRTV) and 1in360 on 26 November 2017. The artist who will get the third wildcard will be selected from the competing Sammarinese artists by the national broadcaster and 1in360.[25] IROL was announced as the third wildcard by Valentina Monetta on 20 December 2017 on SMRTV. IROL was the San Marinese spokesperson on the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.[26]

Artist
Alessandra Busignani
Alibi
Anita Simoncini
Fabrizio Valentini
Fiorella Giudi
Gianluigi Colucci
IROL
Jimmi JDKA

Shows

  Finalist

Final (3 March 2018)

Draw Country Artist Song Jury Crowdfunding Vote Points Place
1  Norway Camilla North "Yo no soy tu chica" 5 12 17 5
2  Israel Judah Gavra "Stay" 0 1 1 11
3  Zimbabwe Tinashe Makura "Free Yourself" 3 3 6 7
4  Italy Giovanni Montalbano "Per quello che mi dai" 6 12 18 4
5  San Marino
 Germany
IROL feat. Basti "Sorry" 2 0 2 10
6  Malta
 Germany
Jessika feat. Jenifer Brening "Who We Are" 10 12 22 1
7  Germany Basti "Stay" 1 4 5 9
8  Finland Emma Sandström "Diamonds" 4 2 6 7
9  Austria Sara de Blue "Out of the Twilight" 8 12 20 2
10  Germany Jenifer Brening "Until the Morning Light" 7 12 19 3
11  Malta Franklin Calleja "Stay" 12 5 17 5

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 29 January 2018, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. San Marino was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[27]

Once all the competing songs for the 2018 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. San Marino was set to perform in position 4, following the entry from Serbia and preceding the entry from Denmark.[28]

Semi-final

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final. John Kennedy O'Connor announced the scores of the San Marino jury during the live final, as he also did in 2013.

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Sanmarinese jury: [29]

  • Augusto Ciavatta – Chairperson – music teacher, organiser of international music events and competitions
  • Ilaria Ercolani – former ESC artist, singer, dancer
  • Veronica Conti – cello player
  • Nicolas Burioni (Lo Strego) – singer, songwriter
  • Claudio Podeschi – trombonist
Split voting results from San Marino (Semi-final 2)
Draw Country Jury Televote
A. Ciavatta I. Ercolani V. Conti Lo Strego C. Podeschi Average Rank Points Rank Points
01 Norway1138294747
02 Romania161221081216
03 Serbia6149715615
04 San Marino
05 Denmark81314171213112
06 Russia171112131014101
07 Moldova16112321056
08 Netherlands411314117492
09 Australia121011371174
10 Georgia9161715161514
11 Poland142154139212
12 Malta573523811
13 Hungary15151016171738
14 Latvia1084646513
15 Sweden2451511265
16 Montenegro13171611151617
17 Slovenia397968383
18 Ukraine756814101210
Split voting results from San Marino (final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
A. Ciavatta I. Ercolani V. Conti Lo Strego C. Podeschi Average Rank Points Rank Points
01 Ukraine21182520182565
02 Spain1623811151925
03 Slovenia71022385624
04 Lithuania19252217132319
05 Austria249714221814
06 Estonia513132256511
07 Norway14161912192115
08 Portugal251123751526
09 United Kingdom9173191413101
10 Serbia1320101818313
11 Germany3543921074
12 Albania15192121262422
13 France224205201218
14 Czech Republic1781541011210
15 Denmark1114172631456
16 Australia18716949217
17 Finland20221822112220
18 Bulgaria102158241612
19 Moldova11591664792
20 Sweden8114673821
21 Hungary26262625162616
22 Israel62112112112
23 Netherlands1232424231723
24 Ireland4126132110183
25 Cyprus23241210122047
26 Italy261115177438

Points awarded to San Marino

Points awarded to San Marino (Semi-final 2)
Televote
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Jury
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded by San Marino

References

  1. RTV San Marino: Eurovision Song Contest 2018
  2. Eurovision: San Marino introduces Europe-wide casting to pick 2018 contestant
  3. 1 in 360: How it works
  4. ESC Today: San Marino Introducing the new selection concept
  5. "San Marino Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  6. Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (17 October 2017). "San Marino: SMRTV confirms participation in Eurovision 2018". esctoday.com. Esctoday. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  7. "Are You Ready?". 1in360.com. 15 October 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  8. "San Marino: 1050 Songs Submitted To Eurovision 2018 National Final". eurovoix.com. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  9. "Eurovision Song Contest 2018: modalità e tempistica di selezione del partecipante sammarinese / 1 in 360 Procedure and Timetable for Selecting San Marino's ESC 2018 Participant". smtvsanmarino.sm. 24 January 2018.
  10. Granger, Anthony (5 March 2018). "San Marino: 1in360 Undergoes Changes To Ensure Fairness". eurovoix.com.
  11. "1 in 360 - announcement of judge no. 1". 1in360. 13 November 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  12. "San Marino: First Judge for 2018 Selection Revealed". eurovoix.com. 13 November 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  13. "1 in 360 - Facebook". 1in360. 9 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  14. "1 in 360 - announcement of judge no. 3". 1in360. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  15. "SAN MARINO: NEON HITCH REVEALED AS THIRD 1 IN 360 JUDGE". Wiwibloggs. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  16. "SAN MARINO: REMAINING FINALISTS FOR 1 IN 360 ANNOUNCED". wiwibloggs.com. 23 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  17. "San Marino: Full List of Finalists Revealed". eurovoix.com. 23 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  18. "San Marino: All national selection participants revealed". esctoday.com. 23 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  19. "1 in 360 - announcement of fan club wild card winner". 1in360. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  20. "SAN MARINO: EMMA WINS THE FIRST 1 IN 360 WILDCARD AND WILL SING IN THE NATIONAL SELECTION". wiwibloggs.com. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  21. "San Marino: Emma Sandström Wins Fan Club Wildcard". wiwibloggs.com. 5 December 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  22. 1 in 360: Fanvote
  23. "SAN MARINO: ZOË CONFIRMED AS 1 IN 360 JUDGE…AND ANNOUNCES SECOND WILDCARD DEADLINE". wiwibloggs.com. 13 November 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  24. "SAN MARINO: GIOVANNI MONTALBANO WINS SECOND WILDCARD AS "VOTER FRAUD" QUESTIONS EMERGE". wiwibloggs.com. 11 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  25. "Eurovision: wild card no. 3, la scelta del sammarinese" (in Italian). SMRTV. 26 November 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  26. "Eurovision, il nome dell'artista sammarinese" (in Italian). SMRTV. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  27. Jordan, Paul (29 January 2018). "Which countries will perform in which Semi-Final at Eurovision 2018?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  28. "Running order for Eurovision 2018 Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  29. Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
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