Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010

Due to financial instabilities in Latvia and LTV, it could have resulted in a withdrawal of the country.[1] However, LTV confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest on 15 December 2009 after securing sponsorships and a co-operation agreement with the Ventspils City Council. The broadcaster also announced that they would organise Eirodziesma 2010 in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2010 contest.[2]

Eirodziesma 2010 was the eleventh edition of Eirodziesma, the music competition that selects Latvia's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition took place on 27 February 2010 at the Jūras vārti Theatre in Ventspils and was hosted by Uģis Joksts and Kristīne Virsnīte. The show was broadcast on LTV1 as well as online via the broadcaster's official website ltv.lv and at the official Eurovision Song Contest website euroision.tv.[3]

Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 23 December 2009 and 15 January 2010.[4] Artists and songwriters were required to have Latvian citizenship or residency unlike in previous years and were able to submit up to two entries each.[5] 79 entries were submitted for the competition at the conclusion of the submission period. A jury panel appointed by LTV evaluated the submitted songs and selected ten entries.[6] The jury panel consisted of Uldis Marhilēvičs (musician and composer), Niks Matvejevs (singer), Kārlis Lācis (composer), Ance Krauze (singer), Marija Naumova (singer and Eurovision Song Contest 2002 winner), Atis Volfs (radio DJ) as well as members of the LTV Eurovision team and the LTV7 programme SeMS.[7] The ten competing artists and songs were announced during a press conference on 22 January 2010.[8][9] The running order draw for the competing entries took place on 3 February 2010 during SeMS.[10]

The final took place on 27 February 2010. Ten entries competed and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top three songs advanced to the second round, the superfinal: "What For?" performed by Aisha, "My Religion is Freedom" performed by Dons and "Because I Love You" performed by Ivo Grīsniņš Grīslis. In the superfinal, the song with the highest number of votes from the jury and the public, "What For?" performed by Aisha, was declared the winner.[11] Dons and Aisha were tied for the first place with 3 points, however Aisha won after the results of the public vote took precedence.[12][13] The jury panel that voted in the final consisted of Uldis Marhilēvičs (musician and composer), Daiga Mazvērsīte (musicologist), Niks Matvejevs (singer), Atis Volfs (radio DJ) and Intars Busulis (singer, trombonist, radio host and 2009 Latvian Eurovision entrant).

In addition to the performances of the competing songs, the show featured guest performances by Lady Sweet, Roberts Pētersons, 2005 Latvian Eurovision entrant as part of Valters & Kaža Kārlis Būmeisters and 2010 Swiss Eurovision entrant Michael von der Heide. 2010 Polish Eurovision entrant Marcin Mroziński also gave a video greeting during the show.[14][15]

• In the Semi-final 1 Latvia came 17th with 11 points: the public awarded Latvia 17th place with 12 points and the jury awarded 17th place with 15 points.