The Origin Song Contest 03

The Origin Song Contest 03 Connected Emotions
Dates
Semi-final 1 date	21 October 2017
Semi-final 2 date	28 October 2017
Final date	9 December 2017
Host
Venue	PostFinance Arena Bern, Switzerland
Broadcaster	SRF
Opening act	Semi-final 1: "Coming For You" performed by Nuela Charles Semi-final 2: "Fragments" performed by Pegasus Final: "Cet Air La" performed by Ginta Biku
Interval act	Semi-final 1: "We Are The Ones" performed by Bastian Baker Semi-final 2: "Joy & Sorrow" performed by Kadebostany Final: "On Fire" performed by Stefanie Heinzmann and "-5 Points", a parody of The Origin Song Contest #03
Participants
Entries	37
Debuting	Austria Cyprus FYR Macedonia Germany Liechtenstein
Returning	Ireland Lithuania
Withdrawing	Andorra Croatia Norway Spain Ukraine
Voting
System	Semi-finals: Countries award 12,10, 8-1 points to their ten favourite songs and deduct 1, 2 and 3 points from their three least favourite songs. Final: Countries award 12,10, 8-1 points to their ten favourite songs and deduct 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 points from their five least favourite songs.
Winner	Germany "Strangled Love"
The Origin Song Contest
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The Origin Song Contest 03, often referred to as TOSC 03, was the third edition of The Origin Song Contest. It was held in Bern, Switzerland, following the country's victory at the second edition with the song "Crumbling Down" by Nuela Charles. It was the first time Switzerland has hosted the contest. SRF chose the PostFinance Arena in Bern as the venue for the contest, along with Susanne Wille as host.

Thirty seven countries participated. Austria, Cyprus, FYR Macedonia, Germany and Liechtenstein all debuted. Andorra, Croatia, Norway, Spain and Ukraine withdrew from the edition whilst Ireland and Lithuania returned after a one-edition absence.

Debutant Germany won the edition with the song "Strangled Love" by Jannine Weigel, with 160 points, a margin of 8 points on the runner-up Moldova. Italy finished third, with Latvia coming fourth and Slovenia and San Marino finishing off the top 6. Sweden was the best performing big six member, finishing tenth, whilst the host country Switzerland placed last. Lithuania was the first country to finish below 0 points, however in the final, so did Switzerland, Cyprus and Hungary.

Location

For more information, see Bern.

Bern is the de facto capital city of Switzerland. With a population of 141,762 (November 2016), Bern is the fifth-most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities, had a population of 406,900 in 2014. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000. Bern is also the capital of the canton of Bern, the second-most populous of Switzerland's cantons.

The official language of Bern is Swiss German, but the most spoken language is the dialect, Bernese German. In 1983, the historic old town in the centre of Bern became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bern is ranked among the world’s top ten cities for the best quality of life.

Bidding Phase

Four Swiss cities applied to host the contest. These were Bern with both the PostFinance Arena and the Stade de Suisse, Geneva with the Geneva Arena, Lugano with the Pista La Resega and Zürich with the Hallenstadion.

The host city was revealed as Bern, with the PostFinance Arena, on 3rd September 2017.

City	Venue	Capacity	Notes
Bern	PostFinance Arena	17,031	Hosted the European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in 2016.
	Stade de Suisse	45,000	The second biggest all-seater football stadium in Switzerland. Required the construction of a roof to host the contest.
Geneva	Geneva Arena	9,500	Hosts concerts and indoor sporting events, such as tennis and basketball.
Lugano	Pista La Resega	7,800	Mainly used for ice hockey.
Zürich	Hallenstadion	15,000	Has hosted concerts for lots of international artists.

Format

Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place at Bern City Hall on 30th September 2017. The first part of the draw determined in which semi-final the Big Six would have to vote. The second part of the draw decided in which half of the respective semi-finals each country would perform, with the exact running order determined by the producers of the show at a later date. Fifteen countries would participate in the first semi-final, and sixteen would participate in the second. From each semi-final, ten countries would join the "Big 6" in the final, where a total of twenty-six countries would participate.

The thirty-one semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, based on their geographical place and cultural similarities. Drawing from different pots helps in reducing the chance of so-called neighbour voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined.

The six pots were the following:

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3
Albania Bosnia-Herzegovina Bulgaria FYR Macedonia Serbia	Denmark Faroe Islands Finland Iceland Estonia	Austria Hungary Liechtenstein Slovakia Slovenia
Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
Belgium France Germany Ireland Monaco Italy	Greece Cyprus Portugal Romania San Marino	Belarus Latvia Lithuania Moldova Poland

Previews and Betting Odds

The entries from each participating country were previewed in short recaps called Previews. The countries were divided into the previews based on when they revealed their entry: the first countries to reveal their entries were in the first preview. Broadcasters can rank each entry in the recap.

The betting odds were based around the country's average rank in its preview. The betting odds represented the chance a country had to win the contest. Finland came first in the betting odds with odds of 2.35, followed by Slovenia and Belarus both with odds of 2.43. The lowest countries in the betting odds were Austria, Lithuania and Iceland with odds of 5.16, 5.38 and 5.83 respectively.

The bottom three all failed to qualify, although Iceland nearly qualified, placing 11th in their semi-final and needing five more points to qualify. For the first time, the betting odds did not correctly predict the winner, with betting odds winner Finland placing 7th and actual winner Germany coming 8th in the betting odds. In the final, the positions of Monaco and Cyprus were predicted correctly, with the least accurate being Latvia, finishing fourteen places higher, and Belarus, placing fourteen lower. The non-qualifier with the highest odds was FYR Macedonia with odds of 4.19, placing 21st overall.

Participating Countries

Thirty-seven countries participated, marking the biggest edition to date and an increase of two on the previous edition. Austria, Cyprus, FYR Macedonia, Germany and Liechtenstein made their debut, whilst Ireland and Lithuania returned having been absent last edition. Five nations withdrew having participated last edition: Andorra failed to confirm in time, whilst Croatia and Ukraine withdrew due to lack of the contest's popularity and a change in delegation respectively. Norway and Spain were two of four countries who were sanctioned by the OBU following cheating in the previous editions and new delegations were not found in time.

Results

Semi-final 1

The Czech Republic, Sweden and Switzerland also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified to the final.

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
01	Albania	Besa ft. Elinel	"Mos m'le me ra"	5	85
02	Serbia	Ana Kokić	"Ljubav na papiru"	12	37
03	Lithuania	Beissoul & Einius	"Adopted Child of Love"	15	-15
04	France	Shy'm	"Si tu m'aimes encore"	8	65
05	San Marino	Le Deva	"Un'altra idea"	2	103
06	Belarus	ZØYA	"I Still Believe"	6	84
07	Austria	PÆNDA	"Hold My Breath"	14	3
08	Portugal	Aurea	"Nothing Left to Say"	13	33
09	Bulgaria	Divna	"#KillaBee"	11	43
10	Belgium	Mustii	"Feed Me"	3	99
11	Greece	Xenia Ghali ft. Raquel Castro	"Places"	10	51
12	Faroe Islands	FRUM ft. Steso	"Birdstone"	4	85
13	Finland	Sini Yasemin	"Mun Kaa"	7	76
14	Hungary	Barbi Opitz	"Végem"	9	59
15	Slovenia	July Jones	"Jump in the Water"	1	128

Semi-final 2

The Netherlands, Russia and the United Kingdom also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified to the final.

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
01	Moldova	Irina Rimes	"My Favourite Man"	4	82
02	Iceland	Milkywhale	"Rhubarb Girl"	11	42
03	Liechtenstein	J-MOX, MELINA & Mahout	"Hunter"	6	63
04	Denmark	Amanda	"Tror vi er nem'"	16	8
05	Poland	Bovska	"Long Way"	8	51
06	Cyprus	Finding Kate	"Get Over You"	7	60
07	Italy	Joan Thiele	"Save Me"	2	125
08	Monaco	Pomme	"De là-haut"	9	49
09	Slovakia	Dominika Mirgová & Rakby	"L.A.S.K.A."	15	31
10	Ireland	LYRA	"Whitelady"	5	80
11	Bosnia-Herzegovina	Naida Bešlagić	"Toksična"	13	37
12	Romania	Raluka	"Du-mă spre noi"	12	40
13	Latvia	Franco Franco	"By the Lake"	3	99
14	Germany	Jannine Weigel	"Strangled Love"	1	137
15	FYR Macedonia	Elena Milenkovska	"Dojdi so mene"	14	37
16	Estonia	ELYSA	"Green Light"	10	47

Final

Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all thirty-seven participating countries eligible to vote.

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
01	United Kingdom	Mollie King	"Hair Down"	16	56
02	Greece	Xenia Ghali ft. Raquel Castro	"Places"	20	11
03	Netherlands	Isabel Provoost	"Nothing"	23	7
04	San Marino	Le Deva	"Un'altra idea"	6	106
05	Czech Republic	Annet Charitonová ft. Ben Cristovao	"Taktomabyt"	12	63
06	Finland	Sini Yasemin	"Mun Kaa"	7	100
07	France	Shy'm	"Si tu m'aimes encore"	22	9
08	Cyprus	Finding Kate	"Get Over You"	24	-5
09	Switzerland	Damian Lynn	"When We Do It"	26	-10
10	Sweden	Sondr ft. Peg Parnevik	"Live Love Learn"	10	64
11	Slovenia	July Jones	"Jump in the Water"	5	120
12	Italy	Joan Thiele	"Save Me"	3	127
13	Latvia	Franco Franco	"By the Lake"	4	126
14	Liechtenstein	J-MOX, MELINA & Mahout	"Hunter"	19	16
15	Monaco	Pomme	"De là-haut"	15	59
16	Belarus	ZØYA	"I Still Believe"	17	52
17	Hungary	Barbi Opitz	"Végem"	25	-7
18	Faroe Islands	FRUM ft. Steso	"Birdstone"	13	62
19	Germany	Jannine Weigel	"Strangled Love"	1	160
20	Russia	Polyna	"Tiger"	21	11
21	Ireland	LYRA	"Whitelady"	11	64
22	Belgium	Mustii	"Feed Me"	8	73
23	Poland	Bovska	"Long Way"	18	49
24	Albania	Besa ft. Elinel	"Mos m'le me ra"	14	61
25	Estonia	ELYSA	"Green Light"	9	65
26	Moldova	Irina Rimes	"My Favourite Man"	2	152

Voting Grids

Semi-final 1

Semi-final 1 split positive/negative results
Place	Positive	Points	Negative	Points
1	Slovenia	128	Albania	0
2	San Marino	105	Slovenia	0
3	Belgium	102	San Marino	2
4	Faroe Islands	90	Belgium	3
5	Belarus	88	Belarus	4
6	Albania	85	Finland	4
7	Finland	80	Faroe Islands	5
8	France	70	France	5
9	Hungary	68	Greece	5
10	Greece	56	Portugal	6
11	Bulgaria	54	Serbia	7
12	Serbia	44	Hungary	9
13	Portugal	39	Bulgaria	11
14	Austria	23	Austria	20
15	Lithuania	12	Lithuania	27

12 points

No.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
3	Belgium	Greece, Lithuania, Sweden
	San Marino	Belgium, France, Hungary
2	Albania	Bulgaria, San Marino
	Bulgaria	Albania, Faroe Islands
	Faroe Islands	Finland, Switzerland
	Slovenia	Belarus, Serbia
1	Belarus	Czech Republic
	France	Austria
	Hungary	Slovenia
	Serbia	Portugal

Semi-final 2

Semi-final 2 split positive/negative results
Place	Positive	Points	Negative	Points
1	Germany	138	Ireland	1
2	Italy	127	Germany	1
3	Latvia	100	Latvia	1
4	Moldova	90	Italy	2
5	Ireland	81	Romania	3
6	Liechtenstein	70	Estonia	6
7	Cyprus	67	Liechtenstein	7
8	Monaco	60	Slovakia	7
9	Poland	59	Cyprus	7
10	Estonia	53	Moldova	8
11	B&H	52	Poland	8
12	Iceland	51	FYR Macedonia	9
13	FYR Macedonia	46	Iceland	9
14	Romania	43	Monaco	11
15	Slovakia	38	B&H	15
16	Denmark	27	Denmark	19

12 points

No.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
4	Germany	Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Ireland, Netherlands
3	Italy	Estonia, Moldova, Slovakia
	Latvia	Italy, Poland, Russia
2	Ireland	Iceland, United Kingdom
	Poland	Cyprus, Latvia
1	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Liechtenstein
	Estonia	Denmark
	FYR Macedonia	Monaco
	Liechtenstein	Romania
	Moldova	Germany

Final

Final split positive/negative results
Place	Positive	Points	Negative	Points
1	Germany	173	San Marino	4
2	Moldova	167	Latvia	7
3	Slovenia	138	Italy	8
4	Italy	135	Albania	10
5	Latvia	133	Ireland	10
6	Finland	118	Germany	13
7	San Marino	110	Sweden	14
8	Belgium	95	Estonia	15
9	Monaco	84	Moldova	15
10	Czech R.	83	Belarus	16
11	Faroe Islands	83	Liechtenstein	16
12	Estonia	80	Finland	18
13	UK	80	Slovenia	18
14	Sweden	78	Czech R.	20
15	Ireland	74	Faroe Islands	21
16	Poland	72	Belgium	22
17	Albania	71	Poland	23
18	Belarus	68	UK	24
19	France	50	Monaco	25
20	Greece	45	Netherlands	28
21	Russia	43	Russia	32
22	Hungary	37	Greece	34
23	Netherlands	35	Cyprus	38
24	Cyprus	33	Switzerland	39
25	Liechtenstein	32	France	41
26	Switzerland	29	Hungary	44

12 points

No.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
5	Germany	Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Ireland, Italy
4	Finland	Iceland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia
	Moldova	Belgium, Faroe Islands, France, Liechtenstein
3	Belgium	Greece, Monaco, Estonia
	Poland	Cyprus, Latvia, Sweden
	Slovenia	Belarus, Hungary, Moldova
2	Estonia	Denmark, Serbia
	Faroe Islands	Finland, Switzerland
	Latvia	Lithuania, Russia
1	Albania	Bulgaria
	Belarus	Poland
	France	Austria
	Ireland	United Kingdom
	Italy	Czech Republic
	Monaco	Netherlands
	San Marino	Slovenia
	Sweden	Germany
	Switzerland	San Marino

Other Countries

Every edition, the Origin Broadcasting Union invites all its active members to participate at the contest. The countries below have declined their invitations to participate, with the reasons stated.

• Andorra: RTVA was forced to withdraw having failed to make a confirmation announcement before the deadline.
• Croatia: Despite qualifying in the previous edition, HRT confirmed Croatia would not participate, due to lack of popularity of the contest within the country.
• Norway: The Norwegian delegation between the first and second edition was disqualified following the OBU noticing suspicious voting patterns, and was not replaced in time for the edition.
• Spain: The Spanish delegation between the first and second edition was disqualified following the OBU noticing suspicious voting patterns, and was not replaced in time for the edition.
• Ukraine: UA:PBC announced that Ukraine would not participate this edition, due to change in delegation. A return next edition has not been ruled out.