Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Prior to the 2008 contest, ARD had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Germany fifty-one times since its debut in 1956.^[1] It has won the contest on one occasion: in 1982 with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" performed by Nicole. Germany, to this point, has been noted for having competed in the contest more than any other country; they have competed in every contest since the first edition in 1956 except for 1996 when it was eliminated in a pre-contest elimination round. In 2007, the German entry "Frauen regier'n die Welt" performed by Roger Cicero placed nineteen out of twenty-four competing songs.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, ARD organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since 1996, ARD had delegated the participation in the contest to its member Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). NDR confirmed that it would participate in the 2008 contest on 26 September 2007.^[2] Since 1996, NDR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Germany. On 22 December 2007, the broadcaster announced that it would organise a multi-artist national final to select the German entry.^[3]

Der deutsche Vorentscheid 2008 – Wer singt für Deutschland? (English: The German Preliminary Decision 2008 – Who sings for Germany?) was the competition that selected the German entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. The competition took place on 6 March 2008 at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, hosted by Thomas Hermanns. Five acts competed during the show with the winner being selected through a public televote. The show was broadcast on Das Erste as well as online via the broadcaster's Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.de.^[4] The national final was watched by 3.47 million viewers in Germany with a market share of 11%.^[5]

Five acts were selected by a panel consisting of representatives of NDR from proposals received by the broadcaster from record companies.^[6] The five participating acts were announced on 10 January 2008.^[7] A celebrity also supported each of the artists: Cinema Bizarre by actor Tetje Mierendorf, Carolin Fortenbacher by Katja Ebstein (who represented Germany in 1970, 1971, and 1980), Marquess by comedian Oliver Pocher, No Angels by Tagesschau news anchor Marc Bator, and Tommy Reeve by singer and presenter Kim Fisher.^[8]

The televised final took place on 6 March 2008. The winner was selected through two rounds of public televoting, including options for landline and SMS voting. In the first round of voting, the top two entries were selected to proceed to the second round. In the second round, the winner, "Disappear" performed by No Angels, was selected.^[9] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Roger Cicero (who represented Germany in 2007) as well as former winners of the Eurovision Song Contest Charlotte Perrelli (Sweden 1999), Ruslana (Ukraine 2004), Marija Šerifović (Serbia 2007) performed their respective entries.^[4]