Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010

In December 2009 it was announced that LRT would formally withdraw from the 2010 Contest owing to problems in finding the required funds to send a Lithuanian entry to the Contest. A total of 300,000 litas (€90,000) was required by LRT to send a Lithuanian delegation to the contest in Oslo, Norway.[3] However funding was given by Lithuanian company Teo LT which allowed a Lithuanian participation. According to Nerijus Ivanauskas, deputy director of Teo LT, "it was decided to support LRT for two reasons: the international image of Lithuania and Teo LT digital development".[4]

Eurovizija 2010 (Eurovision 2010) was the national final format developed by LRT in order to select Lithuania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. The competition involved a four-week-long process that commenced on 13 February 2010 and concluded with a winning song and artist on 4 March 2010. The four shows took place at the LRT studios in Vilnius and were hosted by Giedrius Masalskis. The shows were broadcast on LRT televizija as well as online via the broadcaster's website lrt.lt.

The format of the competition involved thirty-four entries competing in four shows. The first three shows were the semi-finals consisting of between eleven and twelve entries each. The top three entries advanced per semi-final, while three wildcards were selected by LRT out of the eliminated entries to advance in the competition at the conclusion of the third show. The fourth show, held on 4 March 2010, was the final where the winner was selected from the remaining twelve entries. Monetary prizes were also awarded to both the winning artist. The Lithuanian Copyright Protection Association (LATGA) sponsored a monetary prize of 15,000 LTL, awarded to the winning artist(s) in order to assist in their preparation for the Eurovision Song Contest.[5]

The results of each of the four shows were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a five-member jury panel with varying members from show to show and public televoting. The ranking developed by both streams of voting was converted to points from 1-8, 10 and 12 and assigned based on the number of competing songs in the respective show. The public could submit their votes through telephone and SMS voting. Ties were decided in favour of the entry that received the most votes from the jury.[6]

On 6 January 2010, LRT opened the submissions for artists and songwriters to submit their entries. The submission deadline concluded on 24 January 2010.[4][7] On 1 February 2010, LRT announced the 36 artists selected for the competition.[8][9] Among the artists are previous Lithuanian Eurovision contestants 4Fun, who represented Lithuania in 2007, and Sasha Song, who represented the nation in 2009. On 27 February 2010, the final changes to the list of 36 competing acts were made with the withdrawal of Donata Virbilaitė and Vanilla Soud.[10][11]

The first semi-final of the competition aired on 13 February 2010 and featured the first set of thirty-four competing entries.[12] The members of the jury consisted of Linas Rimša (composer), Neda Malunavičiūtė (singer), Mindaugas Urbaitis (member of LATGA), Darius Užkuraitis (musicologist) and Jonas Vilimas (producer). Three entries advanced to the final, while eight were eliminated.[6][13]

The second semi-final of the competition aired on 20 February 2010 and featured the second set of thirty-four competing entries. Merūnas was originally assigned to perform in the second semi-final, however, he performed in the third semi-final instead due to medical issues. The members of the jury consisted of Saulius Urbonavičius (2006 Lithuanian Eurovision entrant as part of LT United), Kazimieras Šiaulys (member of LATGA), Mindaugas Urbaitis (member of LATGA), Darius Užkuraitis (musicologist) and Jonas Vilimas (producer). Three entries advanced to the final, while eight were eliminated.[14][15] On 22 February 2010, Donatas Montvydas, who qualified from the second semi-final, was disqualified as his song "Running Fast" had previously been performed before 1 October 2009. Amberlife, who placed fourth, replaced Donatas.

The third semi-final of the competition aired on 27 February 2010 and featured the third set of thirty-four competing entries. The members of the jury consisted of Mindaugas Urbaitis (member of LATGA), Povilas Meškėla (singer), Aistė Smilgevičiūtė (1999 Lithuanian Eurovision entrant), Darius Užkuraitis (musicologist) and Jonas Vilimas (producer). Three entries advanced to the final, while nine were eliminated.[16][17] On 22 February 2010, Ramūnas Difartas, Eden and Jūratė Miliauskaitė were announced to have received the three LRT wildcards to advance to the final.[18]

The final of the competition was broadcast live on 4 March 2010 and featured the remaining twelve entries that qualified from the semi-finals. The members of the jury consisted of (member of LATGA), Darius Užkuraitis (musicologist), Jonas Vilimas (producer), Rosita Čivilytė (singer) and Artūras Novikas (conductor, composer and singer). "Eastern European Funk" performed by InCulto was selected as the winner after gaining the most points from both the jury vote and the public vote.[1][2]

• In the Semi-final 2 Lithuania came 12th with 44 points: the public awarded Lithuania 8th place with 65 points and the jury awarded 13th place with 27 points.