2009 New Cambria National Song Contest Semi-Finals

The Semi-Finals for the 2009 New Cambria National Song Contest began on 7 November, and ran for five consecutive Saturdays before the Grand Final Gala on 12 December. Forty songs competed in the Semi-Finals, from which fifteen qualified to the Grand Final.

Format[]

The format for the Semi-Finals changed substantially from the previous year. A total of ten songs competed in each weekly round, from which three directly qualified for the Grand Final, and another three received an invitation to compete in the Wild Card Semi-Final. The results were produced from a 50/50 mixture of telephone/SMS voting and a three-person jury of professional musicians.

Semi-Final One[]

**Semi-Final One**
Date:	7 November 2009
Presenters:	Noah Kavanagh
Venue:	John Cabot Concert Hall, The Settlement, Cavit Island
Interval Act:	Film: "Lives of the Islanders"
Viewing Figures:	~ 1,080,500
Televotes Cast:	122,514
Qualifiers:	"Goodbye, Love" "Laisser-nous croire" "Day After Day"
Wild Cards:	"The Island" "Bez tebe" "The Way it Used to Be"

The first Semi-Final was held on 7 November. The John Cabot Concert Hall hosted the first round, as it has the past two years. Dress rehearsals were held on 6 November.

The three-person expert jury was:

Aaron Kenney, composer
Antonia Stevens, television presenter
Jon Wilkerson, radio producer

Rank	№	Song	Performer	J1	J2	J3	Jury		Televote		Σ
1	08	Laisser-Nous Croire	Amélie Bourque	6	10	10	26	10	26,880	9	19
2	10	Day After Day	Kenneth St. John	5	7	8	21	8	41,872	10	18
3	06	Goodbye, Love	Margaret Carroll	9	9	8	26	9	14,837	8	17
4	05	The Way It Used To Be	Velocity	8	4	7	19	5	11,850	7	12
5	03	The Island	Stephen Simon	10	6	3	19	6	8,044	6	12
6	04	Bez Tebe	Hajrudin Ademović	7	8	6	21	7	3,300	2	9
7	07	Words Of Love	Amy Sutherlyn & Marc Davies	4	2	4	10	3	4,870	5	8
8	09	Insomnia	Drake Wolfe	3	3	5	11	4	4,786	4	8
9	01	Sirens	Max Hiller & Ashlee Rue	2	5	2	9	2	4,577	3	5
10	02	Deeper And Deeper	Three	1	1	1	3	1	1,498	1	2

Semi-Final Two[]

**Semi-Final Two**
Date:	14 November 2009
Presenters:	Noah Kavanagh
Venue:	Black Box Theatre, St. Saviour, Trinity County
Interval Act:	Percussion Concussion
Viewing Figures:	~ 1,246,500
Televotes Cast:	122,003
Qualifiers:	"Ahet" "Meant to Be" "The Fire is Burning"
Wild Card:	"N'avoue jamais" "Breathe Out" "Perdu Dans l'Infini"

The second Semi-Final was held in St. Saviour on 14 November.

The members of the three-person expert jury were:

Amelia Howard, television presenter
Kenneth Anhevo, radio DJ
Jim Dugan, music critic

Rank	№	Song	Performer	J1	J2	J3	Jury		Televote		Σ
1	08	The Fire is Burning	Selma Kljajić & James Skerritt	8	9	10	27	10	25,863	9	19
2	03	Meant to Be	Dan Kagan	9	4	5	18	7	28,288	10	17
3	02	Ahet	Sarah Jađehe	6	10	9	25	9	17,259	7	16
4	09	Breathe Out	Caroline French	7	8	3	18	6	21,486	8	14
5	10	Perdu Dans l'Infini	Serge Fortescue	10	7	8	25	8	4,326	4	12
6	01	N'avoue jamais	Pascal Ammon	4	6	7	17	5	15,811	6	11
7	06	Child of Creation	Elizabeth Rowe	5	1	4	10	3	6,915	5	8
8	05	Come Closer	Modern Antiquity	3	5	1	9	2	1,118	3	5
9	04	Night of My Dreams	Theresa Bodkin	1	3	6	10	4	410	1	5
10	07	Dance with Me	Julie Jonsson	2	2	2	6	1	527	2	3

Semi-Final Three[]

**Semi-Final Three**
Date:	21 November 2009
Presenters:	Noah Kavanagh
Venue:	Rozenn Opera House, New Breizh, Stone County
Interval Act:	Sarah-Anne Kerrigan NCPB Concert Orchestra
Viewing Figures:	~ 1,163,400
Televotes Cast:	129,879
Qualifiers:	"Looking for You" "Completely" "Timeless"
Wild Card:	"Ask Me" "Always Thinking of You" "Alone"

The third Semi-Final was held in New Breizh on 21 November. The recently renovated Rozenn Opera House hosted the National Song Contest for the first time.

The members of the three-person expert jury were:

John Skilling, musician and TV personality
Erica Weaver, composer
Amelia Đanevo, singer/songwriter

Rank	№	Song	Performer	J1	J2	J3	Jury		Televote		Σ
1	09	Timeless	Aurora	2	5	9	16	6	32,193	9	15
2	07	Completely	Kevin Altan	9	1	4	14	3	32,288	10	13
3	05	Looking for You	Brian Trask	10	3	1	14	4	20,147	8	12
4	03	Alone	Lisa Barnum	6	4	6	16	5	18,959	7	12
5	01	Ask Me	Cecilia Thomason	5	9	3	17	8	5,879	4	12
6	02	Always Thinking of You	Micah Williams	7	10	7	24	10	1,299	2	12
7	08	Never Again	Bridgette Deane	1	8	8	17	7	2,095	3	10
8	04	Đanek Jahvija	Mađalo	4	7	10	21	9	680	1	10
9	10	Tonight is the Night	Alec Evans & Juliet McDonald	3	6	5	14	2	8,905	6	8
10	06	Un monde sans musique	Emmanuel Bard & Camille Richard	8	2	2	12	1	7,434	5	6

Semi-Final Four[]

**Semi-Final Four**
Date:	28 November 2009
Presenters:	Noah Kavanagh
Venue:	Averytown Municipal Forum, Averytown, Avery County
Interval Act:	Street Trad
Viewing Figures:	~ 1,191,300
Televotes Cast:	145,672
Qualifiers:	"Forgive" "Wrong or Right" "A Country Apart"
Wild Card:	"Point of No Return" "Ehvija Đa" "Along for the Ride"

The fourth Semi-Final was held in Averytown on 28 November.

The three-person expert jury consisted of:

Ed Cooney, songwriter
Jenna Shea, singer
Juliana Roe, orchestra conductor

Rank	№	Song	Performer	J1	J2	J3	Jury		Televote		Σ
1	04	A Country Apart	Jake Dunigan	9	10	8	27	9	37,946	10	19
2	03	Wrong or Right	James Clooney	8	8	9	25	8	19,728	9	17
3	02	Forgive	Jacqueline Clayson	10	9	10	29	10	10,487	4	14
4	09	Ehvija Đa	Eric Hađevo	7	7	6	20	7	13,770	6	13
5	08	Point of No Return	Emily Pearce	4	2	4	10	4	18,483	8	12
6	10	Along for the Ride	AOA	5	3	7	15	5	15,837	7	12
7	06	No One Knows	Hillary Williams	6	6	5	17	6	10,908	5	11
8	07	One Small Step	Nobody's Favorite	2	4	2	8	2	9,650	3	5
9	01	Enchanted	Max Seymour & Jenna Robard	1	5	3	9	3	7,990	2	5
10	05	Get Grazy	Amy, Jessie & Claire	3	1	1	5	1	873	1	2

Wild CardSemi-Final[]

**Wild Card Semi-Final**
Date:	5 December 2009
Presenters:	Noah Kavanagh
Venue:	Brock Carter Memorial Arena, Arvant, St. George's County
Interval Act:	Karen Johns
Viewing Figures:	~ 1,300,700
Televotes Cast:	199,981
Qualifiers:	"Bez tebe" "Perdu dans l'infini" "The Way it Used to Be"

The fourth Semi-Final was held in Arvant on 5 December.