Aonach in the Internatia Song Contest 26

Internatia Song Contest 26
Country	Aonach
National selection
Selection process	Aobour Fest
Selected entrant	Laura Jansen & Tom Chaplin
Selected song	"Same Heart"
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (10th, 60 points)
Final result	22nd, 92 points
Aonach in the Internatia Song Contest
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Aonach participated in the Internatia Song Contest 26 in Yottobán, Chruno. The Aonachian entry was selected through the joint national final with Nicolas' Neighbour, Aobour Fest, organised by the Aonachian broadcaster Radio-Télévision de la République Aonach (RTVRA), as well as the Neighbourian broadcaster BNN. Laura Jansen & Tom Chaplin won the national final and represented the nation with the song "Same Heart" at ISC, where they came 22nd out of 27 with 92 points.

Origin of the national final

Main article: Aobour Fest

Due to poor results achieved by the Aonachian broadcaster RTVRA, it was decided by members of the Internatia Song Contest to change the selection of the Aonachian entrant. Internal selections of well-known Aonachian artists was not a formula for success at the contest since the 18th edition. Therefore, RTVRA approached the broadcaster from Nicolas' Neighbour, BNN, to come together and produce a high-quality national selection that would select both nations' entrants at the contest. Both nations have very close cultural and political ties, as well as the fact that singers from both nations being popular in the other nation.

Voting

The voting format was a positional voting system similar to that used at the Internatia Song Contest. Televoting was held in both nations for the national final. Each nation awards 12, 10, 8 & 7 points to the other nation's songs. Each nation cannot give points to its own songs, but both nations allow the televoters to vote for their own songs to see which song is the televoting favourite of each nation.

Regional juries from each of the nations competing at the Internatia Song Contest were invited to vote in the national final, and they must rank the songs from 1st to 8th place, using the same positional voting system. The song with the most points at the end is declared the overall winner. The song that came first for each nation is the song that will go to the Internatia Song Contest.

National Final

Aobour Fest 1 was hosted by RTVRA and hosted in the capital city of Aonach, Láirge, in the Palais de Musique, which also hosted the Internatia Second Chance Contest 11.

Four songs were chosen by each broadcaster and competed against each other. 10 juries from 10 nations competing at the Internatia Song Contest voted in the national final, alongside Televoting from both Aonach and Nicolas' Neighbour.

Aobour Fest 1

Order	Participant	Song	Language	Placing	Points
1	Linnea Henriksson	"Min Stad"	Swedish	7th	68
2	Elena Gheorghe	"De Neinlocuit"	Romanian	5th	72
3	The Common Linnets	"Lovers And Liars"	English	3rd	85
4	Molly Sandén	"Spread A Little Light"	English	6th	69
5	Árstíðir	" Ljóð Í Sand"	Icelandic	4th	75
6	Anna Tsuchiya	"Rose"	English	8th	62
7	Andru Donalds & Evgenia Vlasova	"Wind Of Hope"	English	2nd	93
8	Laura Jansen & Tom Chaplin	"Same Heart"	English	1st	100

Aobour Fest Voting table

Draw	Artist													Total
1	Linnea		8	5	3	7	6	6	8	6	8	6	5	68
2	Elena	8		7	4	6	5	8	4	3	5	10	12	72
3	Common Linnets		10	6	5	8	10	10	6	8	12	3	7	85
4	Molly	10		8	6	12	3	7	5	7	3	5	3	69
5	Árstíðir		12	4	8	4	8	4	7	5	10	7	6	75
6	Anna	7		3	7	5	12	3	3	4	6	4	8	62
7	Andru & Evgenia		7	12	12	3	7	12	12	12	4	8	4	93
8	Laura & Tom	12		10	10	10	4	5	10	10	7	12	10	100

Laura Jansen, who represented Nicolas' Neighbour at the Internatia Song Contest 12 won the overall selection alongside Tom Chaplin with the ballad "Same Heart", and would represent Aonach at the Internatia Song Contest 26. Andru Donalds & Evgenia Vlasova, who placed second, would represent Nicolas' Neighbour at the same contest.

At ISC

During the semi-final allocation draw in Yottobán, Aonach was drawn in the first semi-final. It was decided that Aonach would perform last in the running order i.e. 26th, following Amsteris. Aonach qualified from the semi-final and competed in the final in August 2014. During the winner's press conference for the first semi-final qualifiers, Aonach was allocated to compete in the 12th slot of the final.

Despite an excellent and emotional vocal performance from Laura Jansen, as well as from Chaplin, Aonach only managed 22nd out of 27 nations. There was outcry from the voting public, as well as from government parties about the supposed 'waste of money' sending an ISC representative due to the repeated failures of big names in the contest. RTVRA agreed to enter in the next three contests and would "see what would happen from there".