on the same day. Both the artist and song were selected by a jury panel consisting of representatives of the three broadcasters in Switzerland: the Swiss-German broadcaster Schweizer Fernsehen (SF), the Swiss-French broadcaster Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR) and the Swiss-Italian broadcaster Televisione svizzera di lingua italiana (TSI), as well as the radio station from SF Schweizer Radio DRS and the music channel VIVA Switzerland. Among the artists that submitted a song included Gimma, Jürgen Drews and Peach Weber. In regards to his selection as the Swiss entrant, Meneguzzi stated: "I'm very happy and honoured to represent my homeland at Eurovision 2008. I'm anxious to go to the stage and to perform my song. I hope to meet new friends, new fans from many different nationalities who will vote for me and many new feelings we'll live together. [...] See all of you in Belgrade!". "Era stupendo", which was written by Paolo Meneguzzi together with Mattias Brånn and Vincenzo Incenzo, was presented to the public on 12 January 2008 during the annual SwissAward show broadcast on SF1, TSR 2 and TSI 2. The official music video of the song was released on 18 March 2008. Controversy After the release of the song, there was speculation that "Era stupendo" was a plagiarism of "It Can Only Get Better" by Swedish singer Amy Diamond who was competing in the 2008 Swedish national final Melodifestivalen 2008. Accusations arose that the beginnings of both songs were too similar to be a coincidence, however the song was not disqualified by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organiser of the contest. Promotion Promoting his song, Meneguzzi appeared on a Eurovision TV special on Maltese television in April 2008. A CD single featuring the song was published, which peaked at number 11 on the Swiss Singles Chart in June 2008. At Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 took place at the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia. It consisted of two semi-finals held on 20 and 22 May, respectively, and the final on 24 May 2008. According to the Eurovision rules at the time, all participating countries, except the host nation and the "Big Four", consisting of , , and the , were required to qualify from one of the two semi-finals to compete for the final; the top 10 countries from the respective semi-finals would proceed to the final. On 28 January 2008, an allocation draw was held