Eight entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 9 February 2008 where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting.

In the first round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final.

Norway had won the contest on two occasions: in 1985 with the song "La det swinge" performed by Bobbysocks!

[2] The broadcaster has traditionally organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix, which has selected the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in all but one of their participation.

18 songs were selected to compete in a five-week-long process that commenced on 12 January 2008 and concluded with the final on 9 February 2008.

In addition to the public call for submissions, NRK reserved the right to directly invite certain artists and composers to compete.

In each semi-final the top two directly qualified to the final, while the third and fourth placed songs proceeded to the Last Chance round.

[19] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2007 Norwegian Eurovision entrant Guri Schanke appeared as a special guest.

The results of the public televote were then revealed by Norway's five regions and added to the jury scores, leading to the victory of "Hold On Be Strong" performed by Maria Haukaas Storeng with 195,661 votes.

Maria Haukaas Storeng specifically promoted "Hold On Be Strong" as the Norwegian Eurovision entry on 25 April 2008 by performing during the UK Eurovision Preview Party, which was held at the Scala venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Paddy O'Connell.

[29][30] Maria Haukaas Storeng later signed a record deal with Universal Music and released her latest album in Norway before competing at Eurovision in Belgrade.

[32] According to the rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top nine songs from each semi-final as determined by televoting progress to the final, and a tenth was determined by back-up juries.

[39][40] The five backing vocalists on stage with Maria Haukaas Storeng were Håvard Gryting, Jorunn Hauge, Karianne Kjærnes, May Kristin Kaspersen and Øystein Nesbakken.

[41] At the end of the show, Norway was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final.

[55] In November 2008, Storeng performed in the musical Grease at the Oslo Spektrum, playing the character of Betty Rizzo.

She becomes one of the many number of artists who have competed at Eurovision to go on to perform in Grease, with others including Sally-Ann Triplet, who represented the United Kingdom in 1980 and 1982, and Olivia Newton-John, who represented the United Kingdom in 1974 and became famous for acting in the film version of the musical.

[56][57] After receiving such a strong placing from a Norwegian-composed song, NRK decided to close off Melodi Grand Prix to foreign composers, something which the broadcaster was once reluctant to do.

She was rumoured to be competing in the contest as a duet with another former Eurovision artist, Anna Sahlene, who represented Estonia in 2002 with "Runaway".

[61][62] This news was confirmed by Sveriges Television (SVT), with Storeng and Sahlene competing in the fourth semi-final, held on 28 February 2009, with the song "Killing Me Tenderly".