Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

The Ukrainian national final took place at the Palace of Culture "KPI" in Kyiv and consisted of two semi-finals held on 8 and 15 February 2020 and a final on 22 February 2020. All shows in the competition were hosted by Serhiy Prytula and broadcast on both UA:Pershyi and STB as well as online via NTU's YouTube broadcasts.

The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Ukrainian Eurovision entry took place over three stages. In the first stage, artists and songwriters had the opportunity to apply for the competition through an online submission form. Sixteen acts were selected and announced on 20 January 2020. The second stage consisted of the televised semi-finals which took place on 8 and 15 February 2020 with eight acts competing in each show. Three acts were selected to advance from each semi-final based on the 50/50 combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury. Both the public televote and the expert jury assigned scores ranging from 1 (lowest) to 8 (highest) and the three entries that had the highest number of points following the combination of these scores advanced to the final. The third stage was the final, which took place on 22 February 2020 and featured the six acts that qualified from the semi-finals vying to represent Ukraine in Rotterdam. The winner was selected via the 50/50 combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury. Both the public televote and the expert jury assigned scores ranging from 1 (lowest) to 6 (highest) and the entry that had the highest number of points following the combination of these scores was declared the winner. Viewers participating in the public televote during the three live shows had the opportunity to submit a single vote per phone number for each of the participating entries via SMS or the Teleportal mobile application. In the event of a tie during the semi-finals and final, the tie was decided in favour of the entry that received the highest score from the public televote.

The jury panel that voted during the three shows consisted of:

• Andriy Danylko – comedian and singer, represented Ukraine in 2007 as the drag artist Verka Serduchka
• Tina Karol – singer, TV hostess, represented Ukraine in 2006
• Vitaliy Drozdov - general producer of TAVR Media Radio Holding

The Vidbir 2020 judges

Andriy Danylko

Tina Karol

Vitaliy Drozdov

Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries via an online submission form which accepted entries between 16 October 2019 and 25 December 2019. Composer and producer Ruslan Kvinta was assigned as the music producer of the show and was the lead in reviewing the received submissions and shortlisting entries to compete in the national final.[5] On 20 January 2020, the sixteen selected competing acts were announced.[6] The sixteen acts were allocated to one of two semi-finals during a draw that took place on 22 January, which was hosted by Ruslan Kvinta.[7]

The first semi-final took place on 8 February 2020. The top three entries following the combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury advanced to the final of the competition, while the remaining five entries were eliminated. "99" performed by Krutь, "Solovey" performed by Go A and "Vegan" performed by Jerry Heil were the qualifiers. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2018 Ukrainian Eurovision entrant Mélovin performed the song "Oh, No!" as a guest.

The second semi-final took place on 15 February 2020. The top three entries following the combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury advanced to the final of the competition, while the remaining five entries were eliminated. "Bonfire" performed by Tvorchi, "Call for Love" performed by Khayat and "Horizon" performed by David Axelrod were the qualifiers. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2020 Czech Eurovision entrant Benny Cristo performed the 2020 Czech entry "Kemama" as a guest. 2019 Junior Ukrainian Eurovision entrant Sophia Ivanko and runners-up of Vidbir 2016 The Hardkiss also performed during the second semi-final.

The final took place on 22 February 2020. The six entries that qualified from the semi-finals competed. The winner, "Solovey" performed by Go A, was selected through the combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury. Ties were decided in favour of the entries that received higher scores from the public televote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2016 Eurovision Song Contest winner Jamala and alyona alyona performed the song "Zhali" as guests. Jury members Verka Serduchka and Tina Karol also performed during the final.