Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

"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 2018. The competition involved a nine-week-long process that commenced on 6 January 2018 and concluded with a winning song and artist on 11 March 2018. The first eight shows took place at the LRT studios in Vilnius, while the final took place at the Žalgirio Arena in Kaunas. The shows were hosted by Mantas Stonkus and Ugnė Skonsmanaitė, and were broadcast on LRT televizija, LRT Lituanica and LRT Radijas as well as online via the broadcaster's website lrt.lt.

For the 2018 competition, six heats were held between 6 January and 17 February 2018. The first four heats consisted of between twelve and thirteen entries each resulting in the elimination of twenty-six entries all together. The remaining twenty-four entries participated in the fifth and sixth heats consisting of twelve entries each on 10 and 17 February where half of the entries were eliminated each heat, while the remaining twelve entries advanced to the competition's semi-finals. An online repechage vote among the twelve eliminated entries took place on 19 and 21 February 2018 where two advanced to the semi-finals. The remaining fourteen entries participated in the two semi-finals consisting of seven entries each on 24 February and 3 March where the top three from each semi-final proceeded to the final. In the final, the winner was selected from the remaining six entries.

The results of each of the nine 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 eight shows, the jury votes were determined by a four-member panel. In the final, a seven-member panel voted. 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 17 October 2017, 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 2017. Artists that applied to compete with a song were required to indicate which song they wanted to compete with on their application.[2] On 15 January 2018, LRT announced the 50 artists selected for the competition. Among the artists was previous Lithuanian Eurovision contestant Erica Jennings, who represented Lithuania in 2001 as part of SKAMP.[3] The final changes to the list of 50 competing acts were made with the with the replacement of Monika Marija and the addition of Silvija Pankūnaitė to the list of performers for the withdrawals of Erica Jennings and Nancy Aura, respectively.[4]

The first show of the competition aired on 6 January 2018 and featured thirteen of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 3 January 2018. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director), Dovilė Filmanavičiūtė (singer-songwriter) and Aistė Pilvelytė (singer).[5] The top six entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom seven were eliminated.

The second show of the competition aired on 20 January 2018 and featured twelve of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 16 January 2018. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Vaidas Baumila (singer), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director), Aleksandras Pogrebnojus (fashion designer) and Gerūta Griniūtė (cultural presenter and event host).[7] The top six entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom six were eliminated.

The third show of the competition aired on 27 January 2018 and featured twelve of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 23 January 2018. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Beata Nicholson (presenter and journalist), Viktoras Diawara (singer and producer) and Giedrė Kilčiauskienė (singer).[8] The top six entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom six were eliminated.

The fourth show of the competition aired on 3 February 2018 and featured twelve of the competing artists. The show was filmed on 30 January 2018. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Leon Somov (producer and composer), Arnoldas Lukošius (keyboardist) and Vytautas Rumšas (actor).[9] The top six entries advanced in the competition, while the bottom seven were eliminated.

The fifth show of the competition aired on 10 February 2018 and featured twelve of the twenty-four remaining entries in the competition. The show was filmed on 6 February 2018. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director), Dovilė Filmanavičiūtė (singer-songwriter) and Tomas Sinickis (musician, singer-songwriter).[10] Half of the entries advanced to the semi-finals, while the remaining half were eliminated.

The sixth show of the competition aired on 17 February 2018 and featured twelve of the twenty-four remaining entries in the competition. The show was filmed on 13 February 2018. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Vaidas Stackevičius (producer), Monika Linkytė (singer-songwriter) and Vaidas Baumila (singer).[11] Half of the entries advanced to the semi-finals, while the remaining half were eliminated.

On 19 February 2018, LRT opened the online repechage round in order to bring back two entries to the competition. Only one vote was allowed per IP and the voting took place until 21 February 2018.[12][13] "Broken Shadows" performed by Greta Zazza and "Positive Thoughts" performed by Rūta Loop was announced as the winners and returned to the competition.[14]

The first semi-final of the competition took place on 24 February 2018 and featured seven of the remaining fourteen entries that qualified from the fifth and sixth shows and the online repechage. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Dalia Ibelhauptaitė (director and playwright), Tomas Sinickis (musician, singer-songwriter) and Giedrė Kilčiauskienė (singer).[15] The top three entries advanced to the final, while the bottom four were eliminated.

The second semi-final of the competition took place on 3 March 2018 and featured seven of the remaining fourteen entries that qualified from the fifth and sixth shows and the online repechage. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Arnoldas Lukošius (keyboardist), Dalia Ibelhauptaitė (director and playwright) and Darius Užkuraitis (LRT Opus director).[16] The top three entries advanced to the final, while the bottom four were eliminated.

The final of the competition took place on 11 March 2018 and featured the remaining six entries that qualified from the two semi-finals. The members of the jury consisted of Ramūnas Zilnys (music reviewer), Dalia Ibelhauptaitė (director and playwright), Sasha Song (singer-songwriter), Vytautas Rumšas (actor), Leon Somov (producer and composer), Dovilė Filmanavičiūtė (singer-songwriter) and Milda Adomaitienė (music teacher).[17] "When We're Old" performed by Ieva Zasimauskaitė was selected as the winner after gaining the most points from the jury vote and the public vote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2001 Lithuanian Eurovision entrants SKAMP opened the show, while Ari Ólafsson and Saara Aalto performed the 2018 Icelandic Eurovision entry "Our Choice" and the 2018 Finnish Eurovision entry "Monsters", respectively, as the interval acts. Aalto performed a modified version of her entry which contained one verse in Lithuanian.

Lithuania performed sixth in the first semi-final, following the entry from the Czech Republic and preceding the entry from Israel. At the end of the night, Lithuania was one of the ten countries announced as qualifying for the grand final, the first time they had qualified since 2016. Following the show, Ieva Zasimauskaitė joined the other qualifying acts for a press conference in which they drew to see which half of the final they would perform. Lithuania was drawn to perform in the first half of the final, and was drawn to perform in fourth place in the final. It was later revealed that Lithuania placed ninth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 119 points: 62 points from the televoting and 57 points from the juries.

Ieva Zasimauskaitė is a follower of the Hare Krishna movement, which makes her the first Hindu contestant at Eurovision.[20]

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 Lithuanian jury: [21]

• Lauras Lučiūnas – Chairperson – music producer
• Jurga Šeduikytė Bareikienė – singer, actress, journalist
• Dovilė Filmanavičiūtė – singer, journalist
• Mindaugas Urbaitis – composer, professor
• Leonas Somovas – composer, singer, music producer

Split voting results from Lithuania (Semi-final 1)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		J. Š. Bareikienė	D. Filmanavičiūtė	M. Urbaitis	L. Somov	L. Lučiūnas	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Azerbaijan	17	18	17	18	13	18		11
02	Iceland	7	14	12	16	12	13		15
03	Albania	6	13	5	14	18	10	1	14
04	Belgium	4	6	8	4	1	3	8	3	8
05	Czech Republic	8	7	3	7	10	6	5	4	7
06	Lithuania
07	Israel	11	2	4	3	5	4	7	10	1
08	Belarus	18	12	16	17	11	17		5	6
09	Estonia	3	8	9	11	6	7	4	1	12
10	Bulgaria	10	4	7	8	9	8	3	9	2
11	Macedonia	15	11	15	15	15	16		18
12	Croatia	12	10	10	9	14	11		16
13	Austria	1	1	2	1	7	2	10	2	10
14	Greece	9	15	14	13	8	12		17
15	Finland	14	9	11	12	3	9	2	8	3
16	Armenia	16	16	13	10	17	15		13
17	Switzerland	5	5	6	5	4	5	6	12
18	Ireland	2	3	1	2	2	1	12	7	4
19	Cyprus	13	17	18	6	16	14		6	5

Split voting results from Lithuania (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		J. Š. Bareikienė	D. Filmanavičiūtė	M. Urbaitis	L. Somov	L. Lučiūnas	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Ukraine	19	24	18	16	19	22		12
02	Spain	8	11	8	14	20	13		24
03	Slovenia	9	10	16	15	8	12		22
04	Lithuania
05	Austria	2	3	3	2	4	1	12	8	3
06	Estonia	13	18	14	13	16	18		1	12
07	Norway	7	16	9	19	18	16		18
08	Portugal	1	6	1	10	10	4	7	21
09	United Kingdom	10	15	11	11	11	15		20
10	Serbia	23	20	21	23	23	24		25
11	Germany	4	7	2	6	13	6	5	9	2
12	Albania	11	12	5	21	24	14		23
13	France	5	2	19	1	1	2	10	6	5
14	Czech Republic	24	14	13	17	15	20		3	8
15	Denmark	21	21	23	24	17	23		2	10
16	Australia	18	13	22	9	12	17		11
17	Finland	22	17	24	20	9	19		19
18	Bulgaria	14	9	17	12	6	11		17
19	Moldova	25	25	25	25	25	25		16
20	Sweden	17	1	6	3	2	3	8	7	4
21	Hungary	20	19	4	22	7	9	2	14
22	Israel	3	4	10	4	3	5	6	10	1
23	Netherlands	15	5	12	5	22	8	3	13
24	Ireland	6	8	7	7	14	7	4	15
25	Cyprus	12	23	20	8	5	10	1	5	6
26	Italy	16	22	15	18	21	21		4	7