Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Beovizija 2018 was the eighth edition of the Beovizija national final organised by RTS in order to select the Serbian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The selection was held on 20 February 2018, hosted by Dragana Kosjerina, Kristina Radenković, Branko Veselinović and Aca Stojanović.[4] The show was broadcast on RTS1, RTS HD, RTS Svet and RTS Planeta as well as streamed online via the broadcaster's website rts.rs.[5]

Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries between 19 August 2017 and 10 November 2017. Artists were required to be Serb citizens and submit entries in one of the official languages of the Republic of Serbia, while songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit songs.[6] At the closing of the deadline, 75 submissions were received. A selection committee consisting of RTS music editors reviewed the submissions and selected seventeen entries to proceed to the national final. The selected competing entries were announced on 22 January 2018 and among the competing artists was Rambo Amadeus who represented Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.[7]

The final took place at the Sava Centar in Belgrade on 20 February 2018 where seventeen songs competed. The winner, "Nova deca" performed by Sanja Ilić and Balkanika, was decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of Vojislav Borisavljević (composer), Ivana Peters (singer-songwriter), Dušan Alagić (composer), Dejan Petrović (trumpeter) and Željko Vasić (singer), and the Serbian public via SMS voting.[8] Former Eurovision contestants Jelena Tomašević, who represented Serbia in 2008, Regina, which represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2009, Marko Kon, who represented Serbia in 2009, Milan Stanković, who represented Serbia in 2010, Moje 3, which represented Serbia in 2013, Sergej Ćetković, who represented Montenegro in 2014, Knez, who represented Montenegro in 2015, Bojana Stamenov, who represented Serbia in 2015, Sanja Vučić, who represented Serbia in 2016, Jacques Houdek, who represented Croatia in 2017, and Tijana Bogićević, who represented Serbia in 2017, were featured as guest performers during the show.[9]

Sanja Ilić and Balkanika during a rehearsal before the second semi-final

Sanja Ilić and Balkanika took part in technical rehearsals on 1 and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May. This included the jury show on 9 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Serbian performance featured the members of Balkanika performing choreographed movements on stage with the stage lighting predominately displaying blue, black and gold colours.[15][16] The director of the Serbian performance was Gorčin Stojanović and the choreography was completed by Milan Gromilić. An additional vocalist, Iva Banićević, was also part of the performance. The black stage costumes for the performance were designed by designer Nevena Ivanović.[17][18] In regards to the recurring ropes on the costumes, Sanja Ilić and Balkanika stated: "The ropes on our clothes symbolize the connections between the old and new generation, between old and new tradition".[19]

At the end of the show, Serbia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Serbia placed ninth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 117 points: 72 points from the televoting and 45 points from the juries.

Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Serbia was drawn to compete in the first half.[20] Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Serbia was subsequently placed to perform in position 10, following the entry from the United Kingdom and before the entry from Germany.

Sanja Ilić and Balkanika once again took part in dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. The members of Balkanika performed a repeat of their semi-final performance during the final on 12 May. Serbia placed nineteenth in the final, scoring 113 points: 75 points from the televoting and 38 points from the juries.

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.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Serbia and awarded by Serbia in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

The following members comprised the Serbian jury:[23]

• Radivoje Radivojević (jury chairperson) – composer
• Bojana Stamenov – singer, represented Serbia in the 2015 contest
• Dejan Cukić – singer, composer
• Tijana Milošević – concertmaster
• Bane Krstić – singer, composer

Detailed voting results from Serbia (Semi-final 2)[21]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		B. Stamenov	D. Cukić	T. Milošević	R. Radivojević	B. Krstić	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Norway	1	4	10	4	5	3	8	5	6
02	Romania	8	5	9	7	14	10	1	15
03	Serbia
04	San Marino	16	17	17	17	15	17		17
05	Denmark	13	6	8	9	2	6	5	7	4
06	Russia	17	14	11	16	10	14		4	7
07	Moldova	12	16	16	14	6	13		6	5
08	Netherlands	10	3	2	2	7	2	10	12
09	Australia	6	13	6	3	3	5	6	8	3
10	Georgia	15	12	7	8	8	11		14
11	Poland	11	10	15	15	17	15		16
12	Malta	5	7	3	13	9	7	4	13
13	Hungary	7	8	12	12	16	12		1	12
14	Latvia	9	11	5	10	4	8	3	11
15	Sweden	2	2	1	1	1	1	12	10	1
16	Montenegro	3	1	4	6	12	4	7	2	10
17	Slovenia	4	9	14	5	11	9	2	3	8
18	Ukraine	14	15	13	11	13	16		9	2

Detailed voting results from Serbia (Final)[22]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		B. Stamenov	D. Cukić	T. Milošević	R. Radivojević	B. Krstić	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Ukraine	22	24	19	20	17	22		18
02	Spain	17	21	20	15	18	20		20
03	Slovenia	11	8	12	12	15	13		3	8
04	Lithuania	25	20	25	21	16	23		24
05	Austria	9	6	4	10	3	7	4	14
06	Estonia	4	13	3	11	12	8	3	11
07	Norway	2	5	13	7	6	5	6	8	3
08	Portugal	24	23	23	19	19	24		25
09	United Kingdom	23	16	24	18	9	17		22
10	Serbia
11	Germany	6	1	8	3	2	2	10	12
12	Albania	12	12	5	13	10	10	1	13
13	France	20	18	22	25	24	25		17
14	Czech Republic	21	19	16	16	23	21		6	5
15	Denmark	18	9	15	14	14	15		7	4
16	Australia	14	15	9	9	8	12		16
17	Finland	7	22	17	17	13	14		23
18	Bulgaria	15	14	10	22	25	16		9	2
19	Moldova	5	10	7	4	4	6	5	10	1
20	Sweden	3	2	2	1	1	1	12	19
21	Hungary	16	11	14	24	20	18		1	12
22	Israel	1	17	11	8	21	9	2	4	7
23	Netherlands	13	4	1	5	7	4	7	15
24	Ireland	19	7	21	6	11	11		21
25	Cyprus	10	25	18	23	22	19		2	10
26	Italy	8	3	6	2	5	3	8	5	6