This week the 63rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest took place in Lisbon, Portugal, following the country’s victory at the 2017 contest with the song Amar pelos dois by Salvador Sobral. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP), the contest was held at the Lisbon Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May, and a final on 12 May 2018. The three live shows were presented by Portuguese television presenters Filomena Cautela, Sílvia Alberto and Catarina Furtado, and Portuguese-American actress Daniela Ruah, marking the first time that the contest was presented by four hosts.
Forty-three countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the 2008 and 2011 editions. Russia returned after their absence from the previous edition, and for the first time since 2011, no country that participated in the previous edition withdrew.
The winner was Israel with the song Toy, performed by Netta and written by Doron Medalie and Stav Beger. Cyprus, Austria, Germany and Italy rounded out the top five, with Cyprus achieving their best result to date. Israel won the public vote, and came third in the jury vote behind Austria and Sweden. Further down the table, the Czech Republicalso achieved its best result to date, finishing sixth.
The EBU reported that the contest had a worldwide audience of around 186 million viewers, surpassing the 2017 edition by over 4 million.
euro-vision.blog 