Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

"Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka (Eurovision Song Contest national selection) was the national final format developed by LRT in order to select Lithuania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The competition involved a ten-week-long process that commenced on 7 January 2017 and concluded with a winning song and artist on 11 March 2017.[4] The first nine shows took place at the LRT studios in Vilnius, while the final took place at the Švyturys Arena in Klaipėda. The shows were hosted by Ieva Stasiulevičiūtė and Gabrielė Martirosianaitė, and were broadcast on LRT televizija, LRT Lituanica and LRT Radijas as well as online via the broadcaster's website lrt.lt.

For the 2017 competition, eight heats were held between 7 January and 25 February 2017. The first four heats consisted of between twelve and thirteen entries each resulting in the elimination of twenty-five entries all together. The remaining twenty-four entries participated in the fifth and sixth heats consisting of twelve entries each on 4 and 11 February where four of the entries were eliminated each heat, leaving sixteen entries remaining. During the seventh and eighth show, the remaining sixteen entries participated in the seventh and eighth heats consisting of eight entries each on 18 and 25 February and half of the entries were eliminated, while the remaining eight entries advanced to the competition's semi-final. In the semi-final, an additional two entries were eliminated and the top six proceeded to the final. An online repechage vote among six of the eliminated entries took place on 6 March where one advanced to the final. In the final, the winner was selected from the remaining seven entries.

The results of each of the ten shows were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel 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. During the first six shows, the jury votes were determined by a four-member Lithuanian panel. From the seventh heat onwards, the jury votes consisted of a combination of a Lithuanian jury panel consisting of four members and an international jury panel consisting of three members. The public could their votes through telephone and SMS voting. Initially, ties in all shows but the final were to be decided in favour of the entry that received the most votes from the public, however, during some shows, ties were decided in favour of the entry that received the most points from the jury, while in the final, a tie would be decided in favour of the entry that was awarded the most points by the jury.

On 12 October 2016, LRT opened two separate submission forms: one for artists and another for songwriters to submit their songs. The submission deadline for both applications concluded on 1 December 2016. Artists that applied to compete with a song were required to indicate which song they wanted to compete with on their application.[5] On 28 December 2016, LRT announced the 51 artists selected for the competition during a press conference. Among the artists are previous Lithuanian Eurovision contestants Sasha Song, who represented Lithuania in 2009, and Vilija Matačiūnaitė, who represented the nation in 2014.[6] On 26 January 2017, the final changes to the list of 51 competing acts were made with the withdrawal of the singers Soliaris and Ruslanas Kirilkinas.[7][8]

The first show of the competition aired on 7 January 2017 and featured twelve of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 4 January 2017. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director), Sigutė Stonytė (singer) and Neda Malūnavičiūtė (flautist). The top six entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom six were eliminated.

The second show of the competition aired on 14 January 2017 and featured thirteen of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 10 January 2017. The members of the jury consisted of Justė Arlauskaitė (singer), Kazimieras Šiaulys (music critic and journalist), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director) and Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer). The top six entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom seven were eliminated.

The third show of the competition aired on 21 January 2017 and featured thirteen of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 17 January 2017. The members of the jury consisted of Justė Arlauskaitė (singer), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director), Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer) and Sigutė Stonytė (singer). The top six entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom seven were eliminated.

The fourth show of the competition aired on 28 January 2017 and featured eleven of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 24 January 2017. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director), Gintaras Rinkevičius (director) and Povilas Meškėla (singer). The top six entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom five were eliminated.

The fifth show of the competition aired on 4 February 2017 and featured twelve of the twenty-four remaining entries in the competition. The show was filmed on 31 January 2017. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director), Gintaras Rinkevičius (director) and Nomeda Kazlaus (opera singer). The top eight entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom four were eliminated.

The sixth show of the competition aired on 11 February 2017 and featured twelve of the twenty-four remaining entries in the competition. The show was filmed on 7 February 2017. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director), Vytautas Lukočius (conductor) and Povilas Meškėla (singer). The top eight entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom four were eliminated.

The seventh show of the competition aired on 18 February 2017 and featured eight of the sixteen remaining entries in the competition. The show was filmed on 15 February 2017. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director), Nomeda Kazlaus (opera singer) and Gediminas Zujus (producer). International jury members included Will Wells (American producer and musician, touring member of Imagine Dragons), Denis Ingoldsby (British producer) and Sean-Poul de Fré Gress (Danish rapper). Half of the entries advanced to the semi-final, while the remaining half were eliminated.

The eighth show of the competition aired on 25 February 2017 and featured eight of the sixteen remaining entries in the competition. The show was filmed on 17 February 2017. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Nomeda Kazlaus (opera singer), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director) and Dalia Ibelhauptaitė (director and playwright). International jury members included Will Wells (American producer and musician, touring member of Imagine Dragons), Denis Ingoldsby (British producer) and Sasha Jean Baptiste (Swedish staging director). Half of the entries advanced to the semi-final, while the remaining half were eliminated.

The semi-final of the competition aired on 4 March 2017 and featured the remaining eight entries that qualified from the eighth show. The show was filmed on 28 February 2017. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Dalia Ibelhauptaitė (director and playwright), Povilas Meškėla (singer) and Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director). International jury members included Will Wells (American producer and musician, touring member of Imagine Dragons), Denis Ingoldsby (British producer) and Sasha Jean Baptiste (Swedish staging director). The top six entries advanced to the final, while the bottom two were eliminated.

On 6 March 2017, LRT opened the online repechage round in order to bring back one entry to the competition. Only one vote was allowed per IP. "Get Frighten" performed by Gytis Ivanauskas was announced as the winner and returned to the competition.

The final of the competition took place on 11 March 2017 and featured the remaining six entries that qualified from the semi-final and the entry that qualified from the online repechage. Jury voting in the final was decided by a six-member Lithuanian panel and a three-member international panel. The members of the Lithuanian panel consist of Kazimieras Šiaulys (music critic and journalist), Dalia Ibelhauptaitė (director and playwright), Nomeda Kazlaus (opera singer) and Donatas Montvydas (singer-songwriter). The international panel consisted of Lauris Reiniks (Latvian singer-songwriter), Peter Freudenthaler (lead singer of the German group Fools Garden) and Denis Ingoldsby (British producer). "Rain of Revolution" performed by Fusedmarc was selected as the winner after gaining the most points from both the jury vote and the public vote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Donny Montell opened the show with "Screw Me Up" and the 2016 Lithuanian Eurovision entry "I've Been Waiting for This Night" and SunStroke Project performed the 2017 Moldovan Eurovision entry "Hey, Mamma!" as the interval act.[9]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Lithuania and awarded by Lithuania in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:[10][11]

The following five members comprised the Lithuanian jury: [12]

• Vytenis Pauliukaitis – Chairperson – television and entertainment director
• Giedrė Kilčiauskienė – singer
• Viktorija Navickaitė – journalist
• Rafailas Karpis – singer
• Vaidas Stackevičius – music producer

Split voting results from Lithuania (semi-final 2)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		V. Pauliukaitis	G. Kilčiauskienė	V. Navickaitė	R. Karpis	V. Stackevičius	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Serbia	15	10	12	15	14	15		17
02	Austria	13	6	3	9	2	7	4	12
03	Macedonia	17	11	13	14	15	16		14
04	Malta	14	8	11	6	12	10	1	15
05	Romania	3	16	17	17	9	14		5	6
06	Netherlands	11	3	9	2	5	6	5	11
07	Hungary	16	9	5	10	10	9	2	6	5
08	Denmark	2	7	7	4	8	5	6	13
09	Ireland	4	4	4	1	11	3	8	7	4
10	San Marino	12	15	16	16	17	17		16
11	Croatia	10	17	10	13	7	12		9	2
12	Norway	1	1	1	3	1	1	12	4	7
13	Switzerland	5	5	6	5	4	4	7	10	1
14	Belarus	6	14	15	8	6	8	3	3	8
15	Bulgaria	8	2	2	7	3	2	10	2	10
16	Lithuania
17	Estonia	9	13	14	12	13	13		1	12
18	Israel	7	12	8	11	16	11		8	3

Split voting results from Lithuania (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		V. Pauliukaitis	G. Kilčiauskienė	V. Navickaitė	R. Karpis	V. Stackevičius	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Israel	9	15	19	12	25	16		15
02	Poland	14	13	14	11	20	13		11
03	Belarus	7	21	24	13	14	15		10	1
04	Austria	8	7	8	7	12	6	5	21
05	Armenia	5	9	12	14	10	8	3	19
06	Netherlands	12	8	16	6	13	9	2	20
07	Moldova	21	23	6	10	16	14		3	8
08	Hungary	26	24	11	18	9	17		9	2
09	Italy	4	3	3	5	5	3	8	6	5
10	Denmark	11	12	13	8	17	11		23
11	Portugal	1	1	1	1	1	1	12	1	12
12	Azerbaijan	15	17	10	17	7	12		17
13	Croatia	22	25	20	22	6	22		14
14	Australia	17	10	9	9	15	10	1	13
15	Greece	16	22	25	21	26	25		26
16	Spain	20	16	15	24	22	23		25
17	Norway	3	2	2	2	2	2	10	5	6
18	United Kingdom	19	14	17	20	24	20		22
19	Cyprus	10	20	22	19	19	18		18
20	Romania	23	26	23	25	11	24		7	4
21	Germany	24	11	18	15	23	19		24
22	Ukraine	18	19	21	16	21	21		16
23	Belgium	6	6	5	23	3	7	4	2	10
24	Sweden	13	5	4	3	4	5	6	8	3
25	Bulgaria	2	4	7	4	8	4	7	4	7
26	France	25	18	26	26	18	26		12