Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

The Belarusian national final took place on 26 December 2014. Fifteen songs participated in the competition and the winner was selected through a jury and a public televote.[5] The show was broadcast on Belarus 1 and Belarus 24 as well as online via the broadcaster's official website tvr.by and the Eurovision Song Contest's official website eurovision.tv.[6][7]

Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries to the broadcaster between 21 October 2014 and 21 November 2014. At the closing of the deadline, over 110 entries were received by the broadcaster.[8] Auditions were held on 4 and 5 December 2014 at the BTRC "600 Metrov" studio where a jury panel was tasked with selecting up to fifteen entries from the 89 attendees to proceed to the televised national final. The auditions were webcast online at the official BTRC website. The jury consisted of Vasily Rainchik (musician/composer), Alexander Tikhanovich (singer), Elena Treshchinskaya (head of the radio station "Radius FM"), Olga Ryzhikova (television host), Evgeniy Papkovich (executive producer of the BTRC channel Belarus 1), Andrey Kholodinskiy (music editor at the radio station "Radio-Roks") and Marianna Drabovich (head of the Department of Arts, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus). Fifteen finalists were selected and announced on 5 December 2014 during BTRC's programme Panorama.[6][9]

The televised final took place on 26 December 2014 at the "600 Metrov" studio in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova and Denis Dudinskiy.[10] Prior to the competition, a draw for the running order took place on 7 December 2014. A combination of votes from seven jury members made up of music professionals (7/8) and a public telephone vote (1/8) selected the song "Time" performed by Uzari & Maimuna as the winner. The jury consisted of Gennady Davydko (BTRC Chairman), Eduard Zaritskiy (People's Artist of Belarus/composer), Marianna Drabovich (head of the Department of Arts, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus), Andrei Mikheev (music critic), Sergei Andrianov (journalist), Elena Treshchinskaya (head of the radio station "Radius FM") and Dmitry Novik (television presenter).[11]

In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances by 2014 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Teo, 2013 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Alyona Lanskaya, Drozdy, Victoria Aleshko, Misters, Eliz, Dubravin & Krasovskiy, Aura, 4L and Olga Gornichar.[11]

Uzari and Maimuna at a dress rehearsal for the first semi-final

Uzari and Maimuna took part in technical rehearsals on 12 and 15 May,[18][19] followed by dress rehearsals on 18 and 19 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries.[20]

The stage show featured the vocalist, Uzari, dressed in black and the violinist, Maimuna, dressed in white. The lighting transitioned from red to blue as the performance progressed. The background LED screens displayed an electrocardiogram as well as vibrating strings and strikes of lightning.[18][19] On stage, Uzari was joined by three backing vocalists: Yury Seleznyov, Artyom Akhmash and Denis Lis.[21]

At the end of the show, Belarus failed to qualify to the final and was not announced among the top ten nations.[22] It was later revealed that Belarus had placed twelfth, receiving a total of 39 points.[2]

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.[23]

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Belarus had placed thirteenth with the public televote and seventh with the jury vote in the first semi-final. In the public vote, Belarus scored 32 points, while with the jury vote, Belarus scored 65 points.[24]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belarus and awarded by Belarus in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:[2][25][26][27]