E8

Eight edition of African Contest took place in Casablanca, Morocco, after Bouchra won back in Accra.

33 countries took part in this edition, marked green (qualifiers) and red (non-qualifiers) on the map. Chad, Mauritius, Melilla and South Sudan made their first appearance in the contest. This is the first edition which consisted of more than one show, following the introduction of a semi final.



Congo won this edition, scoring 142 points. They were represented by Madame Monsieur and Youssoupha with their song "Tournera". Somalia and Canary Islands joined Congo in this edition's top 3.

Host city
The contest was held in Morocco, after their victory in Ghana the previous edition. Their head of delegation decided to host the show in Morocco's biggest city, Casablanca. This was the first edition that wasn't hosted in the host country's capital city.

Format
The eight edition used a format different from the one used in the first seven editions, due to high number of participants.

A semi final with 16 qualifiers was introduced. 10 heads of delegations were pre-qualified for the final - top 6 of the previous edition, and the 4 team members. In case a team member finished in the top 6, the AQ rights would go to the HoD that placed 7th, 8th or 9th, etc. In this case, Egypt and South Africa placed in the top 6, giving the AQ rights to 7th and 8th place of E7.

The final would then include 26 participants.

Automatic qualifiers
Although Tanzania was originally supposed to be an automatic qualifier, there was a misunderstanding and they still performed in the semi final, ending 9th and qualifying for the final. This caused the final having 25, instead of 26 participants. In both semi final and grand final, each participant had to vote, awarding 1-8, 10, 12 points to 10 of their favorite songs, in order to determine the 16 qualifiers and the winner of the edition. The 10 automatic qualifiers were not obligated to vote in the semi final.
 * - 6th place in E7
 * - team member
 * - team member
 * - 8th place in E7
 * - 3rd place in E7 (as Malawi)
 * - Winner of E7
 * - 4th place in E7
 * - team member
 *  - Runner-up of E7 (as Zimbabwe)
 * - team member

Semi Final
The semi final took place on 18 June 2018. Twenty-four countries participated in this semi final. Eritrea and Melilla were disqualified for not voting. The results were announced on 24 June. Highlighted countries qualified for the final.

Grand Final
The final took place on 25 June 2018. Twenty-five countries participated. Congo won with a total of 142 points, followed by Somalia and Canary Islands that also reached the top 3. You can see full rankings in the table below.