Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011

The Ukrainian national final consisted of five heats held between 31 October and 28 November 2010, three semi-finals held on 5, 12 and 26 December 2010 and a final on 26 February 2011. The heats and semi-finals took place at the Dovzhenko TV Studios in Kyiv, hosted by Tatyana Goncharova and Timur Miroshnychenko, and the final took place at the Savik Shuster Studio in Kyiv, hosted by Savik Shuster, Gaitana, Irina Rosenfeld, Evgeniya Vlasova, Olesya Batsman, Irina Zhuravska, Timur Miroshnychenko and Tatyana Goncharova.[4]

The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Ukrainian Eurovision entry took place over four stages. In the first stage, artists and songwriters had the opportunity to apply for the competition by attending a scheduled audition during designated dates. Thirty-five acts were selected and announced on 22 August 2010. The second stage consisted of the televised heats which took place between 31 October and 28 November 2010 with seven acts competing in each show. Three acts were selected to advance from each heat based on the votes from a public SMS vote and an expert jury. During the shows, the jury selected three entries to advance to the semi-finals. SMS voting among the remaining four entries commenced after each heat and closed before the following heat, and the entry that had the most votes advanced to the semi-finals. Out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from the heats, the four entries with the most SMS votes advanced to the semi-finals as wildcard acts.[5] The third stage was the semi-finals which took place between 5 and 26 December 2010 and featured the twenty-four acts that qualified from the heats with eight acts competing in each show. Seven acts were selected to advance from each heat based on the votes from the public and jury vote. During the shows, the jury selected five entries to advance to the semi-finals. SMS voting among the remaining three entries commenced after each semi-final and closed before the following semi-final, and the two entries that had the most votes advanced to the final. The fourth stage was the final, which took place on 26 February 2011 and featured the twenty-one acts that qualified from the semi-finals. The winner was selected via the combination of votes from a public SMS vote (45%), an expert jury (45%) and an internet vote (10%). Each voting group assigned scores ranging from 1 (lowest) to 21 (highest) and the entry that had the highest average following the combination of these scores was declared the winner.

Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries by attending an audition between 19 August 2010 and 21 August 2010. A seven-member selection panel reviewed the received submissions and selected thirty-five entries to compete in the national final. On 22 August 2010, the thirty-five selected competing acts were announced.[6] Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest contestants Verka Serduchka (who was selected to qualify directly for the final), who represented Ukraine in 2007 with the song "Dancing Lasha Tumbai", and Anastasia Prikhodko, who represented Russia in 2009 with the song "Mamo".[7][8] On 14 October 2010, Verka Serduchka withdrew from the national final and was replaced by Pavlo Tabakov.[9][10]

The first heat took place on 31 October 2010. The top three entries selected by an expert jury advanced to the semi-finals, while an additional entry selected by public SMS voting after the heat advanced, with "Moya nadezhda" performed by El Kravchuk being awarded the wildcard. The remaining entry was eliminated.

The second heat took place on 7 November 2010. The top three entries selected by an expert jury advanced to the semi-finals, while an additional entry selected by public SMS voting after the heat advanced, with "Gliadi" performed by Para Normalnyh being awarded the wildcard. The remaining entry was eliminated.[14]

The third heat took place on 14 November 2010. The top three entries selected by an expert jury advanced to the semi-finals, while an additional entry selected by public SMS voting after the heat advanced, with "Allo, allo" performed by A.R.M.I.YA & Vera Varlamova being awarded the wildcard. The remaining entry was eliminated.[18]

The fourth heat took place on 21 November 2010. The top three entries selected by an expert jury advanced to the semi-finals, while an additional entry selected by public SMS voting after the heat advanced, with "Love" performed by Vladyslav Levytskyy being awarded the wildcard. The remaining entry was eliminated.[22]

The fifth heat took place on 28 November 2010. The top three entries selected by an expert jury advanced to the semi-finals, while an additional entry selected by public SMS voting after the heat advanced. The remaining two entries was eliminated.[23]

The first semi-final took place on 5 December 2010. The top five entries selected by an expert jury advanced to the final of the competition, while an additional two entries selected by public SMS voting after the semi-final advanced. The remaining entry was eliminated.

The second semi-final took place on 12 December 2010. The top five entries selected by an expert jury advanced to the final of the competition, while an additional two entries selected by public SMS voting after the semi-final advanced. The remaining entry was eliminated.

The third semi-final took place on 26 December 2010. The top five entries selected by an expert jury advanced to the final of the competition, while an additional two entries selected by public SMS voting after the semi-final advanced. The remaining entry was eliminated.

The final took place on 26 February 2011. The twenty-one entries that qualified from the semi-finals were due to compete, however A.R.M.I.YA & Vera Varlamova and Nek$I withdrew before the final. Tanya Vorzheva and Vitaliy Galay were disqualified for having over six performers on stage. The winner, "Angel" performed by Mika Newton, was selected through the combination of votes from a public SMS vote, an expert jury and an internet vote.[24] 75,310 SMS votes and 221,682 internet votes were registered during the show. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Nek$I, one of the withdrawn acts, performed one of their songs as a guest.

Just as in the previous year, the outcome of the final led to controversy and chaos; jury member Hanna Herman asked for the re-evaluation of the votes as rumors of miscounting votes swerved around.[25] A new final was scheduled to take place on 3 March 2011 since most objections against the previous result revolved around artist being voted multiple times from the same phone numbers, in the new final only votes coming from unique phone numbers would be counted. The winner would be selected entirely by a public televote.[25]

Jamala was originally set to perform in the new final with the song "Smile", but she withdrew on 1 March 2011, claiming that votes would again be rigged.[26] Very soon afterwards Zlata Ognevich also withdrew, stating that she was due to take part in another television show that day. This left Mika Newton as the artist to represent Ukraine, but it remained unknown which song she would perform on Eurovision.[27] On 4 March 2011, Newton and the competitions organizer NTU declared "Angel" would be sent to the 2011 contest "with better arrangements".[28] A new music video of the song was presented on 15 March 2011 featuring the revamped version.[29]

• In the Semi-final 2 Ukraine came 6th with 81 points: the public awarded Ukraine 5th place with 91 points and the jury awarded 7th place with 76 points.
• In the Final Ukraine came 4th with 159 points: the public awarded Ukraine 4th place with 168 points and the jury awarded 7th place with 117 points.