2008 New Cambria National Song Contest

The 2008 New Cambria National Song Contest is the fifth edition of New Cambria Television's popular annual music competition. It will consist of four Semi-Final rounds broadcast on Saturday evenings between 1 November and 22 November; a Wild-Card semi-final on 29 November, and a Grand Final gala to be held on 6 December. A total of 926 songs were submitted, the highest amount to date.

Format
The addition of a fourth Semi-Final round for the 2007 contest helped boost the show's ratings, interest and revenue over the previous year. On 20 March 2008, NCT announced that the format of the 2008 contest will be identical to the 2007 contest, but some rules regarding song submission and televoting would be changed.

The old rule that songwriters, composers and performers must be citizens of New Cambria was amended to include non-citizens who have been resident in New Cambria for at least five years. Submissions could not be longer than three minutes in length. From 2008 onward, the maximum number of credited composers and lyricists is two each, and the maximum number of performers on stage was increased from four to six.

The open submissions period ended on 12 September, and a total of 926 songs were received. From the 926 submissions, an independent judging panel compiled a shortlist of 36 songs to present to the contest's organizers. The 36 shortlisted songs were then whittled down to 24 semi-finalists. These 24 songs were presented to the public on 3 October, and assigned starting positions in the Semi-Finals by draw later that same day. The two highest-scoring songs in each Semi-Final will automatically qualify for the Grand Final gala on 6 December. In addition, the third- and fourth-placed songs in each Semi-Final will compete in the Wild Card Semi-Final on 29 November. The top two songs from the Wild Card Semi-Final will join the eight qualified songs in the Grand Final.

Forty percent of the total score will come from a panel of eight jurors, and the remaining 60% will come from telephone and SMS voting, the same ratio as in 2007. The jury composition rules were changed to include four entertainment industry professionals and four non-professionals. In May 2008, NCT announced that a lottery would be held to select two "fan jurors" for each event. The twelve winners were revealed on 23 August.

For the 2008 contest, the window of time during which viewers may vote is extended from five to ten minutes, and the maximum allowable votes from each individual telephone number is raised from ten to twenty. The charge for casting a vote was confirmed to be 15c, the same as the previous year.

In July 2008, contest organizers approached comedian Brad Nivens and NCT news reporter Sarah Stanhope to host the event. Nivens originally accepted, but was forced to decline the invitation two weeks later, because a previous engagement would have precluded him from hosting the first three Semi-Finals. On 20 August, an agreement was reached in which Nivens and Stanhope would co-present only the Wild Card Semi-Final and the Grand Final. It was later announced that Christopher Bear and Claire McLean would co-host the first and third Semi-Finals, and Kenneth Bowden and Jelena Jakupović would co-host the second and fourth Semi-Finals. This is the first year in which the same presenters will not host every event.

The prize money awarded to the winner was also increased for 2008, from ₤150,000 to ₤180,000, to be divided equally amongst the composer(s), songwriter(s) and performer(s). Additionally, CamCom, New Cambria's largest telecommunications company and principal sponsor of the contest, will donate ₤180,000 to the charity of the winner's choice.

Semi-Finals
In the four Semi-Final rounds, a panel of eight jurors will rank each song, and award them 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 points, with the favourite receiving 10 points. The jury will include:
 * One television production professional;
 * One music production professional;
 * Two singers, one professional and one amateur;
 * Two songwriters, one professional and one amateur; and
 * Two fans, chosen from a lottery held by NCT.

The telephone and SMS votes will be totaled and assigned the weight of 12 individual juror's votes. The songs will receive 12, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 points, with the highest-ranking song receiving 120 points.

Semi-Final One
The first Semi-Final round was held on 1 November, from the John Cabot Concert Hall in The Settlement, Cavit Island. Rehearsals for the Semi-Final were held between 29-31 October. A fire in the backstage area of the concert hall caused a brief evacuation of the venue on 30 October. A stagehand sprained a wrist trying to extinguish the fire, but no one suffered any serious injuries, and the rehearsals resumed two hours later.

The Semi-Final's co-presenters were Christopher Bear and Claire McLean, and popular Canadian rock band Faber Drive performed as the interval act between the voting period and the announcement of the results. One of the qualifiers, Douar Nevez, is unique among Song Contest entries in that its lyrics are in Breton, a Celtic language spoken in the Brittany region of France. It was the first time a Song Contest entry was not performed in English, French or Keva.

The jury for the first Semi-Final was confirmed on 28 October 2008. The eight-member panel consists of:
 * Juror 1: Michael Dugan, Assistant Director of Entertainment Programming for NCT;
 * Juror 2: Alicia Toussaint, former record producer and editor of SoundOut, an Arvant-based music magazine;
 * Juror 3: Derek Howard, professional pop singer originally from Vianney, now based in Los Angeles;
 * Juror 4: Jon Clark, amateur folk/acoustic musician from Arvant;
 * Juror 5: Maria Westerly, Canadian country-western songwriter, now retired and living in New Cambria;
 * Juror 6: Amanda Young, Averytown-based singer-songwriter;
 * Juror 7: Marcus Reeves, accountant from Arvant and winner of NCT's Fan Juror Lottery; and
 * Juror 8: Carolyn Phillips, primary schoolteacher from Milindour and winner of NCT's Fan Juror Lottery.

Semi-Final Two
The second Semi-Final round will be broadcast at 8:00pm on 8 November, from the Southport Exhibition Centre in Southport, Cape Bangor County.

Semi-Final Three
The third Semi-Final round will be broadcast at 8:00pm on 15 November, from the Treetop Theatre in Talbot, St. David's County.

Semi-Final Four
The fourth Semi-Final round will be broadcast at 8:00pm on 22 November, from the Circle Centre in Tain, North-West County.

Wild Card Semi-Final
In the Wild Card Semi-Final, the eight-member jury panel will rank the songs, and award them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10 points, with the favourite receiving 10 points.

The telephone and SMS votes will be totaled and assigned the weight of 12 individual juror's votes. The songs will receive 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 96 and 120 points, with the highest-ranking song receiving 120 points.

The Wild Card Semi-Final will be broadcast at 8:00pm on 29 November, from the Averytown Municipal Forum in Averytown, Avery County.

Grand Final Gala
In the Grand Final, the eight-member jury panel will rank the songs, and award them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 points, with the favourite receiving 10 points.

The telephone and SMS votes will be totaled and assigned the weight of 12 individual juror's votes. The songs will receive 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, 108 and 120 points, with the highest-ranking song receiving 120 points.

The Grand Final will be broadcast at 8:00pm on 29 November, from the Brock Carter Memorial Arena in Arvant, St. George's County.