European Music Festival 2018

The European Music Festival 2018 was the third edition of the annual European Music Festival, organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It was held on 14 October 2018, at the Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. It was the first time Sweden had hosted the contest.

Twenty-four countries participated in the contest, with Armenia, Czech Republic, France, Romania and Serbia making they debut appearance in the contest.

Italy's Annalisa with the song “Il mondo prima di te” was the winner of the contest. This was Italy's first victory in the contest. France and Norway finished in second and third place. Spain and Sweden completed the top five, with the former finishing fourth and fifth. Iceland finished last.

Bidding phase and host city selection
After Sweden’s victory in 2017 contest in Kraków, the Swedish Head of Delegation Mari Ryberger stated that Sveriges Television (SVT) is keen to host the 2018 contest. On 18 October 2016, it was confirmed by the EBU that Sweden would host the 2018 contest. Between 20 and 28 October 2017, many cities across Sweden expressed interest in hosting the contest. Representatives from cities of Gothenburg, Jönköping, Karlstad, Leksand, Luleå, Malmö, Stockholm and Västerås voiced their interest.

Host broadcaster SVT launched the bidding process on 5 November 2017. In the first phase of this process, any interested cities were to present their bid through certified email by 20 November 2017, after which SVT and the EBU would proceed to send all of them a bid book with more detailed requirements for the cities to submit their plans for review.

On 22 November, SVT announced that 8 cities had submitted their bid for hosting the contest and would be provided the following day with the bid books. They had until 1 December to draft and submit their detailed plans, which 8 cities did. On 11 December, it was reported that Gothenburg, Karlstad and Stockholm would be the cities left in the running to host the contest.

On 7 January 2018, the EBU and SVT announced Stockholm as the host city, with the Avicii Arena as the chosen venue for the contest. On 12 January 2018, EBU and host broadcaster SVT announced that the contest will be held on 14 October 2018

Hosts
On 21 June 2018, it was announced that Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw would host the contest.

Opening and inverval acts
On 19 July 2018, The EBU relased information about the opening and interval acts.

The final was opened by the traditional flag parade, introducing all twenty-four finalists, accompanied by the Avicii's songs mashup. The interval acts included Loreen performing her last years winning song "Statments" - in special synth rock version and Zara Larsson performing a medley of "Only You", "I Would Like" and "Ain't My Fault".

Voting
The results will be determined by 50% online voting and 50% jury voting. The online voting is taking place during the live show and starts after the last performance and is open for 15 minutes. International viewers could vote for one country three Times from one phone number. The other half of the points was determined by a national jury from every participating country. These points are then announced live during the programme by a spokesperson representing the participating country. The spokespersons give out the points from each of the participating country.

Running order
The draw for the running order of the contest was held on 8 October in Kraków after the Opening Ceremony, with United Kingdom drawn to open the contest and Moldova drawn to close.

Participating countries
On 15 January 2018, the EBU released the official list of participants with 24 competing countries.