Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

The Belarusian national final took place on 16 February 2018. Ten songs participated in the competition and the winner was selected through a jury and public televote. The show was broadcast on Belarus 1, Belarus 24 and Radius FM as well as online via the broadcaster's official website tvr.by.

Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries to the broadcaster between 1 December 2017 and 26 December 2017. At the closing of the deadline, 95 entries were received by the broadcaster.[3] Auditions were held on 11 January 2018 at the BTRC "600 Metrov" studio where a jury panel was tasked with selecting up to fifteen entries to proceed to the televised national final. The auditions were webcast online at the official BTRC website. The jury consisted of Valery Dayneko (chairman of the jury, singer), Olga Salamakha (deputy director of the TV channel Belarus 1), Andrey Kalina (director of the Music Production Center), Victoria Aleshko (singer), Olga Vronskaya (artist of the Youth Theatre), Ekaterina Dulova (rector of BGAE), Tatyana Parhamovich (deputy head of the department of professional art of the Ministry of Culture of Belarus), Elena Treschinskaya (head of the radio station "Radius FM"), Denis Dudinsky (television host and singer), Grigor Abalyan (owner of the First Concert company), Natalia Tambovtseva (composer), Sergey Malinovsky (journalist) and Alexander Chernukho (journalist).[4] Eleven finalists were selected and announced on 11 January 2018.[5]

After the eleven finalists were revealed, it emerged that a Russian language version of Alekseev's entry "Forever" had been performed at several concerts he performed prior to 1 September 2017. Eurovision rules state that no entry may have been made publicly available prior to 1 September of the previous year, as it may give songs an unfair advantage.[6] BTRC also state that no songs performing in the national final may have been released before that date. Following the news, seven of the ten other competing artists wrote an open letter to BTRC, stating that they would withdraw from the national selection if Alekseev was not disqualified, also adding that they believe the show was being rigged for Alekseev to win.[7] Participant Sofi Lapina officially withdrew her song "Gravity", written by Leo Vasilets, from the competition on 16 January 2018 as BTRC had blocked several of her songs from participating because they had been made available prior to 1 September yet neglected to block Alekseev from competing.[8][9] On 17 January 2018, it emerged that participants Shuma were being investigated on whether they could remain in the competition, as their song contains lyrics from a traditional Belarusian folk song.[10]

The televised final took place on 16 February 2018 at the "600 Metrov" studio in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova and 2014 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Teo. Prior to the competition, a draw for the running order took place on 16 January 2018.[11] A 50/50 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote selected the song "Forever" performed by Alekseev as the winner.

In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances by 2017 Belarusian Eurovision contestants NAVI, Violetta Baginskaya, Angelina Pipper, Ivan Zdonyuk, Angelica Pushnova, Elizaveta Muravera, July, Michael Soul and Beatrees.[4]

Belarus performed eighth in the first semi-final, following the entry from Israel and preceding the entry from Estonia. At the end of the night, Belarus was not one of the ten countries announced as qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Belarus placed sixteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 65 points: 45 points from the televoting and 20 points from the juries.

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry 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 was permitted to 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 as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

The following five members comprised the Belarussian jury: [14]

• Iskui Abalyan – Chairperson – singer
• Alex Nabeev – singer
• Vladimir Bogdan – TV and radio host
• Tatsiana Parhamovich – deputy head of the Professional Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture
• Svetlana Statsenko – producer