Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Country	Azerbaijan
National selection
Selection process	Land of Fire
Selection date(s)	2 February 2008
Selected entrant	Elnur Hüseynov and Samir Javadzadeh
Selected song	"Day After Day"
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (6th, 96 points)
Final result	8th, 132 points
Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
2008 • 2009►

Azerbaijan's selection for an entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 took place in the form of a national selection on 2 February 2008. Initially, the Azeri broadcaster held castings calls for artists interested to represent the nation at the international competition. Behind closed doors, several candidates were selected by a jury to advance to the next round. These candidates were condensed to three participants: Elnur Hüseynov, Aynur Isgandarli, and the band Unformal.^[1]

National final

İTV spearheaded a selection campaign and developed a show that is set to feature Eurovision stars such as Eurovision Song Contest 2004 winner Ruslana, Eurovision Song Contest 2007 winner Marija Serifovic, and Eurovision Song Contest 2003 winner Sertab Erener.^[2] In addition to terrestrial broadcast, the final will be transmitted on Turkish television TRT (TRT2, TRT Türk, TRT International), Georgian GEGT and a live television bridge with Lithuanian LRT.^[3][4] The show will also be streamed live through the official Eurovision website channel, ESCtv.^[2]

The national final started at 17:30 CET and the winners press conference was set to start at 19:30 CET.^[5] The winner of the national competition was decided by a combination of jury and televoting results, however, the selection determined the performer; it was an option for the song to be changed.^[6]

The winner was Elnur Hüseynov feat. Samir Javadzadeh with the song Day After Day.

At Eurovision

Azerbaijan made its début in the Eurovision taking part in the first semi-final on 20 May 2008. It qualified as the fourth country pulled out and will be in the Eurovision final on Sunday 24 May 2008. Azerbaijan was drawn 20th in the Final.^[7] In the final the Azerbaijani duet Elnur Hüseynov and Samir Javadzadeh finished 8th with 132 points.

Points awarded to Azerbaijan

Points awarded by Azerbaijan^[8]

Semi final 1 12 points  Greece 10 points  Israel 8 points  Russia 7 points  Norway 6 points  Romania 5 points  Moldova 4 points  Bosnia and Herzegovina 3 points  Poland 2 points  Netherlands 1 point  Slovenia

Final 12 points  Turkey 10 points  Ukraine 8 points  Russia 7 points  Israel 6 points  Greece 5 points  Norway 4 points  Georgia 3 points  Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 points  Serbia 1 point  Albania

Spokespersons

For the 2008 contest the spokesperson for the Azerbaijan broadcast was Leyla Aliyeva.^[9]

References

See also

• Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest

Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest   Participation 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016   Artists 2000s Elnur & Samir Aysel & Arash 2010s Safura Ell & Nikki Sabina Babayeva Farid Mammadov Dilara Kazimova Elnur Hüseynov   Songs 2000s "Day After Day" "Always" 2010s "Drip Drop" "Running Scared" "When the Music Dies" "Hold Me" "Start a Fire" "Hour of the Wolf" (Note: Entries scored out are when Azerbaijan did not compete)