On 12 March 2008, the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo announced an open contest to choose a national anthem for the country in
Pristina's newspapers and on the official website of the Assembly. The rules include: • "Composition should be distinguishable: – should be unique and original" Choosing the text for the anthem would have been a difficult task because the majority of the
population in Kosovo are
Albanians,
Serbs being the second largest ethnic group. The government has emphasised that no ethnic group should be discriminated against, declaring the state a "democratic, secular and multiethnic republic" thus making it difficult to find lyrics that do not favour one ethnic group over another one. Similar problems were encountered when choosing the
flag. Furthermore, the rules also state that the proposal "Should not present or be similar to the hymn or popular song of any country, or hymn of any political party, movement or Institution of Republic of Kosovo, or to implicate any faithfulness towards any ethnic community of Republic of Kosovo." • The proposals must be submitted by 31 March 2008. • The composer of the adopted piece will be awarded €10,000 and two other qualified proposals will receive €7,000 and €5,000. ==De facto lyrics==