Europavision Song Contest 2018

The Wonderful Song Contest 13 will be the thirdteen edition of the Wonderful Song Contest. The contest took place in Plovdiv after their victory in the 12th edition with the song Antilopa by TITA. A total of 52 countries competed in Wonderful Song Contest 12. Nobody debuted in the contest, while nobody returned to the contest. Nobody withdraw from the contest however some of them have not ruled out a return to the contest.

The top 6 from the last edition Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Serbia, United Kingdom, Slovakia and Sweden are directly qualified to the final, while the other competing countries are split into two semi finals. The Semi Final allocation draw took place on 1st February in the WBU headquarters in Prague, where the other competing countries were split into two semi finals. The running order was announced on 1st February.

The contest was won by Bulgaria and the winning song was Antilopa performed by Tita. After finishing Bulgaria finally won the contest for the first time. Azerbaijan and Serbia finished 2nd and 3rd respectively and they will be directly qualified to the final of the 12th edition which will take place in Istanbul. A total of 0 countries failed to submit their votes in the final which means they won't be able to compete in the next edition.

Hosting Information
On 30th January it was announced that Plovdiv will serve as the host city of the Wonderful Song Contest 13.

Bidding phase
Only one main venue was announced as possible venue for the competition to be held. It was O2 which is located in Plovdiv. It has a capacity of 99,000 and several big concerts and sport events take place here.
 * The host city had to be near a major airport.
 * The venue must be available for at least six weeks before the contest and one week after the conclusion of the contest
 * The venue must not be open-air, but an air-conditioned building with a capacity of at least 10,000 and a minimum ceiling height of 15 metres (49 ft), insulated for sound and light.
 * The green room must be located as close to the arena as possible (or within it), with a capacity of 300.

Presenters
On 30.01. it was announced TITA will be the host of Wonderful Song Contest 13

Mihaela Marinova born 7 May 1998 is a Bulgarian singer and songwriter mostly known from her participation in the 2014 season of Bulgarian X Factor where she finished in third place. Later in 2015 her debut single become the most played song on Bulgarian radio and television.

Rules and Voting.
 * The singer must have connection with the country.
 * The song can't be overused and worldchart.
 * The song can't be cover, instrumental or opera.
 * All competing countries are obliged to vote in their own semi final. Failing to do so will result in a disqualification of the entry and risk to lose their spot in the final.
 * The automically qualified countries were assigned one semi final they are obliged to vote in.
 * The competing countries are free to broadcast and vote in the other semi final if they wish to do so. Their votes will be counted towards with the international jury along with the votes from the finalists.
 * There will be 10 qualifiers from each semi final.

Semi-final 1
Twenty countries will participate in the first semi-final. 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇮🇹 Italy and 🇪🇸 Spain will vote in this semi-final.

Semi-final 2
Twenty countries will participate in the first semi-final. 🇫🇷 France, 🇺🇦 Ukraine and 🇬🇧 United Kingdom will vote in this semi-final.

Final
Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all 46 participating countries eligible to vote. The running order for the final was revealed after the second semi-final qualifiers' press conference on 7 July.

Commentators

 * - Sia (SBS, all shows)


 * - Blanche (VRT, all shows)


 * - Hera Björk & Yohanna (RÚV, all shows)


 * - Dimitar Atanasovski - (MRT, all shows)


 * - Sergej Četković (RTCG, all shows)


 * - Waylon (AVROTROS, all shows)


 * - Luisa Sobral (RTP, all shows)


 * - Mel B, Zayn Milak & Pixie Lott (BBC, all shows)

Other Countries

 * - Kazakhstan was close to confirming participation but the day before it closed, they decided that they couldn't debut. However, they said that they may in they may join in the near future.


 * - Bebe Rexha said she wanted to take part straight away. Kosovo later decided that they couldn't join and withdrew.


 * - On the first day of confirmation, the country had declined the invitation and we have heard nothing since. It looks like Morocco has no interest in taking part.