Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Austria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Cesár Sampson was internally selected by the Austrian broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) on 5 December 2017 to perform Nobody but You at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal.

Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country Austria
National selection
Selection processInternal Selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 5 December 2017
Song presentation: 9 March 2018
Selected entrantCesár Sampson
Selected song"Nobody but You"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (4th, 231 points)
Final result3rd, 342 points
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2017 • 2018 • 2019►

Background
Main article: Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2018 contest, Austria had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty times since its first entry in 1957.[1] The nation had won the contest on two occasions: in 1966 with the song "Merci, Chérie" performed by Udo Jürgens and in 2014 with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" performed by Conchita Wurst.[2][3] Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Austria had featured in five finals. Austria's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on eight occasions, most recently in the 2012.[4] Austria has also received nul points on four occasions; in 1962, 1988, 1991 and 2015.[5]

The Austrian national broadcaster, Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), broadcasts the event within Austria and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. ORF confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 16 August 2017.[6] From 2011 to 2013, ORF had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Austria, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. For the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, ORF held an internal selection to choose the artist and song to represent Austria at the contest. In 2015 and 2016, the broadcaster returned to selecting the Austrian entry through a national final. For the 2017 contest, ORF opted for an internal selection to select their artist and song.

On 16 August 2017, ORF announced that they would opt for an internal selection again in order to select their act and entry for the 2018 Contest.[6]

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On 5 December 2017, ORF announced Cesár Sampson as the Austrian entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 during radio show Ö3-Wecker, aired on Ö3.[7] It was also confirmed shortly after that the Austrian entry for 2018 would written by Boris Milanov and Sebastian Arman, who have been behind multiple Eurovision entries including the Bulgarian entries in 2011, 2016 and 2017. The song will be presented to the public on 9 March 2018 during Ö3-Wecker.[8]

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. Austria was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[9]

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. Austria was set to perform in position 13, following the entry from Croatia and preceding the entry from Greece.[10]

Semi-final

Austria performed thirteenth in the first semi-final, following Croatia and preceding Greece. At the end of the night, Austria was one of the ten countries announced as qualifying for the grand final, making it their fifth appearance in the final in a row since 2014. Following the semi-final, Cesar Sampson participated in a press conference with the other qualifying nations, during which they drew to see which half of the final they'd perform in. Austria was drawn to perform in the first half of the grand final.[11] It was later revealed that Austria placed fourth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 231 points: 116 points from the televoting and 115 points from the juries.

Final

Austria performed fifth in the grand final, following Lithuania and preceding Estonia. They earned 342 points, with 271 coming from the jury vote (where they finished first, Austria's second time winning a jury vote in the semi-final era) and 71 coming from the televote (where they finished thirteenth). This averaged out to a third place, Austria's highest score since their victory in 2014.

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.

Points awarded to Austria
Points awarded to Austria (semi-final 1) [12]
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 to Austria (final)[13]
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 Austria

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Austrian jury:[14]

  • Nathanaele Koll (Nathan Trent) – Chairperson – singer-songwriter, represented Austria in the 2017 Contest
  • Monika Ballwein – singer, producer, vocal coach, composer
  • Hannes Tschürtz – founder and general manager of Ink Music
  • Regina Mallinger (Ina Regen) – singer-songwriter
  • Florian Cojocaru – songwriter, producer, label-owner
Split voting results from Austria (Semi-final 1) [12][15]
Draw Country Jury Televote
M. Ballwein H. Tschürtz I. Regen N. Trent F. Cojocaru Average Rank Points Rank Points
01 Azerbaijan14161617141674
02 Iceland1781214131517
03 Albania4438656101
04 Belgium16113114714
05 Czech Republic51022438210
06 Lithuania15751579212
07 Israel2141211256
08 Belarus16181718171816
09 Estonia8271298383
10 Bulgaria698937465
11 Macedonia18171816161718
12 Croatia1213137181392
13 Austria
14 Greece10151410121413
15 Finland1314911101211
16 Armenia3563121015
17  Switzerland1111116810138
18 Ireland73105565112
19 Cyprus912154151147
Split voting results from Austria (final) [13][16]
Draw Country Jury Televote
M. Ballwein H. Tschürtz I. Regen N. Trent F. Cojocaru Average Rank Points Rank Points
01 Ukraine22222213222222
02 Spain1216207171523
03 Slovenia14331296520
04 Lithuania23111421131615
05 Austria
06 Estonia5979109216
07 Norway15121517161717
08 Portugal164614111125
09 United Kingdom18151918192019
10 Serbia17252525252438
11 Germany6741121056
12 Albania365844792
13 France11182115181821
14 Czech Republic71394883112
15 Denmark21242420242565
16 Australia914161961414
17 Finland24191322202124
18 Bulgaria131021035613
19 Moldova25202324152312
20 Sweden2285123818
21 Hungary20211223141983
22 Israel4113211247
23 Netherlands12311162110111
24 Ireland10510657474
25 Cyprus1981822312101
26 Italy8171711713210

References
  1. "Eurovision Song Contest 1957". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  2. "Eurovision Song Contest 1966". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  3. "Austria wins Eurovision Song Contest". bbc.co.uk/news. BBC. 11 May 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  4. "Eurovision Song Contest 2012 Semi-Final (1)". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  5. "History by Country – Austria". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  6. Jiandiani, Sanjay (16 August 2017). "Austria: ORF confirms participation in Eurovision 2018". esctoday.com. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  7. Gallagher, Robyn (8 December 2017). "HAIL CESAR! ORF REVEALS CESAR SAMPSON WILL REPRESENT AUSTRIA AT EUROVISION 2018". Wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  8. Jiandani, Sanjay (27 February 2018). "Austria: ORF to premiere Cesar Sampson's Eurovision entry on 9 March". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  9. 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.
  10. "Running order for Eurovision 2018 Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  11. "Eurovision 2018: Results of Semi-Final 1 allocation draw". ESCToday. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  12. "2018 First Semi-Final Scoreboard - Austria". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  13. "2018 Grand Final Scoreboard - Austria". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  14. Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  15. "2018 First Semi-Final Detailed Voting Results - Austria". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  16. "2018 Grand Final Detailed Voting Results - Austria". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
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