2009 New Cambria National Song Contest

The 2009 New Cambria National Song Contest will the the sixth running of New Cambria Television's popular annual music competition. It will take place over six successive Saturdays from 7 November to 12 December 2009. Preparations for the 2009 edition of the contest began in January 2009. A number of changes to the contest's format will be introduced, including increasing the number of songs selected to participate and the way the finalists are selected.

Popular New Cambria comedian Brad Nivens and NCT morning program hostess Jelena Jakupović will co-present the Grand Final and Wild Card Semi-Final, while journalist and writer Noah Kavanagh will present the Semi-Finals. Blake Underwood confirmed on 3 April that NCT had approached him about directing the 2009 contest, and he accepted. Underwood served as director of the shows twice before, in 2006 and 2008.

Logo and Theme
NCT commissioned proposals for the logo and theme to be used during the contest, and also opened up the selection process. The last date to submit logo designs was 20 March. NCT published some of the candidate entries received on its website, a few of which are shown below.

Venues
Construction on the National Indoor Arena, a new, state-of-the-art performance and sporting venue in Southport, was completed on 31 March 2009, and it was rumoured that the contest's Grand Final would be held there, rather than the Brock Carter Memorial Arena in Arvant, which has hosted every Grand Final since 2004. On 2 April 2009, NCT confirmed that the NIA would host the Grand Final, and the BCMA would host the Wild-Card Semi-Final.

While Grand Final's location is somewhat of a given, the venues of the four Semi-Finals were open to much more speculation. NCT announced the venues on 9 May 2009. The historic Rozenn Theatre in New Breizh is the only venue to never have hosted a NSC event before. In 2008, it underwent restoration to its original 1931 construction, and a renovation from a cinema to a stage theatre. With a seating capacity of only 1,500, the Rozenn is by far the smallest venue to ever host a NSC event.

Format
On 30 January 2009, the 2009 edition's first press conference was held at television centre in Arvant. At the conference, the official rules were made public for the first time. The rules for the 2009 contest feature several fundamental changes to the format of the shows.

Song Selection

 * The number of songs selected to compete in the contest will be 40, rather than the traditional 24. There will be ten songs in each semi-final.

Semi-Finals

 * The jury will comprise three music professionals who will award the songs 10-1 points in descending order of preference. The song that earns the highest combined score will receive 10 points from the jury. The second-highest will receive 9 points, the third, 8 points and so on down to 1 point.
 * The viewing public will cast their votes via telephone or SMS. Viewers outside New Cambria where the events are screened live may also have the opportunity to vote. The song with the highest number of televotes will receive 10 points, the second-highest, 9 points, the third-highest, 8 points, the four and so on down to 1 point.
 * The three songs with the highest combined jury and televote scores will qualify for the Grand Final Gala. The fourth-, fifth- and sixth-placed songs in each Semi-Final will participate in the Wild Card Semi-Final. The four lowest-ranked songs are eliminated from the competition.
 * In the event two or more songs receive the same score, preference will be given to the song with the higher televote score.

Final

 * The Grand Final Gala will feature 15 songs:
 * Three from each of the four Semi-Finals;
 * Three from the Wild Card-Semi Final;
 * An eleven-member jury panel will provide 50% of the total scores in the Grand Final:
 * Ten of the jurors will be entertainment industry professionals.
 * The eleventh jury will consist of nine music professionals from all over the world.
 * The jury members will each award 10-1 points to their top 10 songs in descending order.
 * The viewing public will contribute 50% of the scores with their telephone and SMS votes. These votes will be totaled and assigned points equal to that of eleven juries.  Thus, the favorite song from the televote will receive 110 points, and the tenth favorite will receive 11 points.

Entries
NCT accepted entries between 28 June and 7 August. A total of 1,077 songs were received, a new record and a 16% increase over the previous year.

Returning Entrants
Several performers in the 2009 contest's Semi-Finals have previously competed in the contest. They include:
 * Kevin Altan (2005)
 * Jacqueline Clayson (2006)
 * Sarah Jađehe (2008)
 * Dan Kagan (2008)
 * Mađalo (2005)
 * Emily Pearce (2008)
 * Brian Trask (2004)
 * Hillary Williams (2004)
 * Micah Williams (2008)

Grand Final Gala
The Grand Final will be broadcast live at 8:00pm on Saturday, 12 December. The Final will be staged at the National Indoor Arena in Southport.

Semi-Finals

 * ''See Article: 2009 New Cambria National Song Contest Semi-Finals

The Semi-Final rounds will be held on 7, 14, 21 and 28 November. The Wild Card Semi-Final will be held on 5 December at the Brock Carter Memorial Arena in Arvant.