Redditvision Song Contest 19

Redditvision Song Contest 19 is the nineteenth edition and of the Redditvision Song Contest. It is hosted in Nicosia, Cyprus for the first time following u/stardust112's victory in Copenhagen the previous edition with Years & Years' "Sanctify"

A total of 55 countries participated in the edition, a decrease from the 57 that had signed up in edition 18.

Visual design
The theme "Sun, Sea, and Sound" was revealed on the 25 May 2018 in combination with the song submission post on Reddit. The theme combines an oceanic theme, alluding to Cyprus's location as an Island, and modern geometric shapes to form a sea made of triangles; with the main logo being a bright orange sun. The slogan, according to host u/stardust112, represents "the combination of music together with the beautiful beachfront of Cyprus, representing this edition of the contest as a whole." The recaps were made with the help of u/FlohNumba1 and u/Kaylaboe.

Allocation draw
The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on 29th of May 2018 at 11:15 CEST, in the official discord's "#Live" channel. The fifty-six semi-finalists had been allocated into eight pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by contest participant u/201-. Drawing from different pots is supposed to help reduce the chance of so-called "bloc voting" and increase suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined in which semi-final the six automatic finalist countries (hosts Cyprus and the rest of the top six in edition 18: Australia, France, Iran, New Zealand, and Samoa) would vote.

The draw only decided the halves in which the countries would participate, not their actual running order positions. These were at a later date chosen by the host.

Participants
A total of 56 users claimed a country this edition. Three users made their debut: u/DavidESCIre, u/DarkCartoon and u/Jamie_on_Reddit. This edition also saw the return of several users: u/I_WANT_PATATA (last seen in #10), u/Notorious_Park and u/ollieg99 (both having been absent since #14), u/chikabow and u/Lime_Berry (participated last in #16) and u/ani_shira and u/mysadsacklife returning after a one-edition hiatus.

Brunei, São Tomé and Príncipe and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines all participated for the first time.

Semi-final 1
Iran and New Zealand voted in this semi-final. The Philippines were drawn to perform in the first half of the semi-final, but did not submit their entry before the deadline.

Semi-final 2
Cyprus and France voted in this semi-final.

Semi-final 3
Australia and Samoa voted in this semi-final.

Grand Final
Thirty countries participated in the final; the six automatic qualifiers being joined with the 24 qualifiers from the semi-finals. All eliminated delegations were eligible to vote. Cook Islands and u/TrueHrafninn failed to vote in the final.