Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest

Ukraine has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 15 times since making its debut in 2003. They first won the contest in 2004 with "Wild Dances" by Ruslana, and won again in 2016 with the song "1944" by Jamala, to become the first Eastern European country to win the contest twice. Ukraine hosted the 2005 and 2017 contests in Kiev.

As of 2019, only Ukraine and Australia have a 100% semifinal qualification rate in Eurovision

Ukraine
Member station	National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC)
National selection events	Internal selection 2003–2004 2021 National final 2005–2014 Vidbir 2016–2018 2020
Participation summary
Appearances	15 (15 finals)
First appearance	2003
Best result	1st: 2004, 2016
External links
Official website
Ukraine's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

Since the introduction of the semifinal round in 2004, Ukraine and Australia are the only countries outside the Big 5 to have qualified for the final of every Eurovision they have competed in (Ukraine were absent in 2015 and 2019 and Australia did not participate until 2015; also 2020 contest was cancelled).[1] Ukraine has a total of six top five placements, with Verka Serduchka (2007) and Ani Lorak (2008) both finishing second, Zlata Ognevich third (2013), and Mika Newton fourth (2011). The only countries with more top five results in the 21st century are Sweden (12) and Russia (11).

History

Ukraine made its debut in 2003, when Oleksandr Ponomariov finished 14th. Ukraine won the contest at the second attempt in 2004, when Ruslana won with the song "Wild Dances", defeating second-placed Serbia and Montenegro by 17 points, 280 to 263.

On 19 September 2014, state broadcaster NTU announced that it would sit out the 2015 Contest because of financial difficulties in relation to the ongoing Ukrainian crisis.[2] However, Ukraine broadcast the contest despite not taking part.[3] On 23 May 2015, Ukrainian Broadcaster NTU pledged to bring Ukraine back to the contest for 2016. On 16 September 2015, it was announced that Ukraine would return to the contest in 2016.[4]

On its return to the contest in 2016, Ukraine became the first Eastern European country to win the contest twice, when Jamala won with her song "1944". The televote was won by Russia and the jury vote by Australia; Ukraine was second in both, but won with an overall total of 534 points, with Australia second with 511 points and Russia third with 491 points. In 2017, as host country, Ukraine was already pre-qualified for the final, however they achieved the worst result for the country – 24th with 36 Points.

In 2019, similarly to previous years, UA:PBC delegated national selection of its Eurovision entry to a private broadcaster STB. Juries and public vote determined Maruv's Siren Song as a winner. In the following days, UA:PBC failed to reach a deal with Maruv due to disagreements on conditions of her taking part in the Ukrainian delegation. UA:PBC then offered the Eurovision ticket to runner-ups in the national selection, Freedom Jazz, Kazka and Brunettes Shoot Blondes who all refused. As result, UA:PBC withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 on 27 February 2019.

Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Ukraine is one of only two countries to have qualified for the final of every Eurovision they have competed in (they were absent from the 2015 and 2019 contests). The other country is Australia, who first entered in 2015.[note 1] Ukraine has a total of nine top ten placements (six top five). The country has an average score of 143 points per contest, 233 if including the semi-finals.

Contestants

The following lists Ukraine's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest along with their result.[5]

Table key

1	Winner
2	Second place
3	Third place
X	Entry selected but did not compete

Year	Artist	Language	Title	Final	Points	Semi	Points
2003	Oleksandr Ponomariov	English	"Hasta la Vista"	14	30	No semi-finals
2004	Ruslana	English, Ukrainian	"Wild Dances"	1	280	2	256
2005	GreenJolly	Ukrainian, English	"Razom nas bahato" (Разом нас багато)	19	30	Host country[lower-alpha 1]
2006	Tina Karol	English	"Show Me Your Love"	7	145	7	146
2007	Verka Serduchka	German, English, Ukrainian, Russian	"Dancing Lasha Tumbai"	2	235	Top 10 previous year[lower-alpha 2]
2008	Ani Lorak	English	"Shady Lady"	2	230	1	152
2009	Svetlana Loboda	English	"Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl)"	12	76	6	80
2010	Alyosha	English	"Sweet People"	10	108	7	77
2011	Mika Newton	English	"Angel"	4	159	6	81
2012	Gaitana	English	"Be My Guest"	15[lower-alpha 3]	65	8	64
2013	Zlata Ognevich	English	"Gravity"	3	214	3	140
2014	Mariya Yaremchuk	English	"Tick-Tock"	6	113	5	118
2016	Jamala	Crimean Tatar, English	"1944"	1	534	2	287
2017	O.Torvald	English	"Time"	24	36	Host country[lower-alpha 1]
2018	Mélovin	English	"Under the Ladder"	17	130	6	179
2020	Go_A	Ukrainian	"Solovey" (Соловей)	Contest cancelled[lower-alpha 4] X
2021	Go_A

Selection process

Year Selection process Channel 2003 Internal selection NTU 2004 2005 National final with 19 participants 2006 National final with 3 participants 2007 National final with 7 participants 2008 Internal selection - Artist; National final with 5 songs 2009 National final with 14 participants 2010 National final with 20 participants 2011 National final with 31 participants 2012 National final with 21 participants 2013 National final with 20 participants 2014 National final with 20 participants

Year Selection process Channel 2016 Vidbir with 18 participants UA:PBC STB 2017 Vidbir with 24 participants 2018 Vidbir with 18 participants 2019 Vidbir with 16 participants 2020 2021 Internal selection - Artist

Hostings

Year	Location	Venue	Presenters
2005	Kiev	Palace of Sports	Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko
2017	Kiev	International Exhibition Centre	Volodymyr Ostapchuk, Oleksandr Skichko and Timur Miroshnychenko

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Further information: Marcel Bezençon Awards

Year	Category	Song	Performer	Final	Points	Host city	Ref.
2004	Artistic Award[lower-alpha 5]	"Wild Dances"	Ruslana	1	280	Istanbul	[6]
2007	Press Award	"Dancing Lasha Tumbai" (Данцінґ Лаша Тумбай)	Verka Serduchka	2	235	Helsinki	[6]
2008	Artistic Award[lower-alpha 5]	"Shady Lady"	Ani Lorak	2	230	Belgrade	[7]
2016	Artistic Award[lower-alpha 6]	"1944"	Jamala	1	534	Stockholm	[8]

Barbara Dex Award

Further information: Barbara Dex Award

Year	Performer	Host city	Ref.
2007	Verka Serduchka	Helsinki	[9]

Related involvement

Heads of delegation

Year	Head of delegation	Ref.
2007—2016	Victoria Romanova	[10]
2017—2020	Oksana Skibinska	[11]

Costume designers

Year	Costume designers	Ref.
2008	Roberto Cavalli	[12]
2010	Liliya Litkovskaya	[13]

Commentators and spokespersons

Year	NTU/UA:PBC commentator	STB commentator	Radio commentator	Spokesperson	Ref.
2002	Pavlo Shylko, Mariya Orlova	No broadcast	No broadcast	Did not participate	[14]
2003	Pavlo Shylko, Dmytro Kryzhanivskyi			Lyudmyla Hariv	[15][16][17]
2004	Rodion Pryntsevsky			Pavlo Shylko	[18]
2005	Yaroslav Chornenkyi		Galyna Babiy	Mariya Orlova	[19][20][21]
2006	Pavlo Shylko		No broadcast	Igor Posypaiko
2007	Timur Miroshnychenko			Kateryna Osadcha
2008				Marysya Horobets
2009
2010				Iryna Zhuravska
2011	Timur Miroshnychenko, Tetyana Terekhova		Olena Zelinchenko	Ruslana	[22]
2012				Oleksiy Matias
2013
2014				Zlata Ognevich
2015			No broadcast	Did not participate
2016			Olena Zelinchenko	Verka Serduchka
2017	Andrii Horodyskyi, Tetyana Terekhova			Zlata Ognevich
2018	Timur Miroshnychenko (all shows) Mariya Yaremchuk (semi-final 1) Alyosha (semi-final 2) Jamala (final)	Serhiy Prytula		Nata Zhyzhchenko
2019	Timur Miroshnychenko		No broadcast	Did not participate	[23]

Gallery

• 
  Ruslana performing "Wild Dances" in Istanbul (2004)
• 
  Tina Karol performing "Show Me Your Love" in Athens (2006)
• 
  Verka Serduchka performing "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" in Helsinki (2007)
• 
  Ani Lorak performing "Shady Lady" in Belgrade (2008)
• 
  Svetlana Loboda performing "Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl)" in Moscow (2009)
• 
  Alyosha performing "Sweet People" in Oslo (2010)
• 
  Gaitana performing "Be My Guest" in Baku (2012)
• 
  Zlata Ognevich performing "Gravity" in Malmö (2013)
• 
  Mariya Yaremchuk performing "Tick-Tock" in Copenhagen (2014)
• 
  Jamala performing "1944" in Stockholm (2016)
• 
  O.Torvald performing "Time" in Kyiv (2017)
• 
  Mélovin performing "Under the Ladder" in Lisbon (2018)

See also

• Ukraine in the Bala Turkvision Song Contest
• Ukraine in the Eurovision Dance Contest
• Ukraine in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
• Ukraine in the Turkvision Song Contest

Notes and references

Notes

1. No country has always participated in the final since the introduction of semifinals in 2004. Australia who qualified every year, made their debut in 2015, while Ukraine, despite having always reached the final, skipped the contest in 2015 and 2019. Also, 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom) are also not counted in this list since they receive automatic qualification to the final.

1. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year.
2. According to the then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
3. In 2012, Cyprus and Ukraine tied with 65 points each in the final. Due to the implementation of the "count-back" tie-breaker rule, Ukraine finished 15th, ahead of Cyprus, because Ukraine received points from more countries in the Final than Cyprus.
4. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
5. Voted by previous winners.
6. Voted by commentators.

References

1. jjs1990 (29 May 2018). "Who has the BEST (and WORST) qualification rate at EUROVISION?". Eurovision Ireland. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
2. Nocito, Eric (19 September 2014). "Ukraine withdraws from Eurovision 2015!". ESCReporter.com. ESC Reporter. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
3. «Євробачення–2015» українці дивилися найгірше за останні вісім років
4. Jiandani, Sanjay (16 September 2015). "Ukraine: NTU confirms participation in Eurovision 2016". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
5. "Ukraine – Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
6. "Marcel Bezençon Awards". eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
7. Floras, Stella (27 May 2008). "The 2008 Bezençon Awards winners". esctoday.com. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
8. "Winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards 2016". eurovision.tv. 15 May 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
9. Adams, William Lee (9 July 2015). "Poll: Who was the worst dressed Barbara Dex Award winner?". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
10. "Исполнительные продюсеры "Евровидения-2017" со скандалом покинули проект". lb.ua. 13 February 2017.
11. "Украинцы не смогут голосовать на «Евровидении-2019»". atr.ua. 28 February 2019.
12. "Yianna Terzi's costume designer for the Eurovision Song Contest". infegreece.gr. 2 May 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
13. http://esctoday.com/11406/ukraine_international_team/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
14. Украина впервые стала участником конкурса "Евровидение"
15. Polishchuk, Tetiana. ""Євробачення" — готовність № 1". The Day. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
16. "Украинская песня в ЕВРОвалюте: курс упал… на восток". Detector media (former Telekritika). Kievskiye Vedomosti. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
17. "DJ Паша: "У "Євробаченні" переможе темна конячка"". Vysokyi Zamok. Archived from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
18. Запитання „Детектор медіа”: - Що, на вашу думку, потрібно для того, щоб українське ТБ на належному рівні організувало трансляцію „Євробачення-2005”? (in Ukrainian). Detector media (former Telekritika). 25 May 2004. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
19. Zahorodnyi, Oleksandr (20 May 2005). "10 обранців приєднаються до 14 уже відібраних учасників конкурсу Євробачення, фінальне змагання відбудеться завтра" (in Ukrainian). 1+1. Archived from the original on 27 May 2005. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
20. Bakhteev, Borys (24 May 2005). "Євробаченню" – п'ятірка. Трансляції – трієчка (in Ukrainian). Detector media (former Telekritika). Retrieved 24 May 2013.
21. Галина Бабій (in Ukrainian). Ukrainian Radio. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
22. Busa, Alexandru (13 May 2011). "Ruslana to announce the Ukrainian votes". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 15 May 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
23. Katsun, Yuliya (11 May 2019). ""Евровидение-2019": кто будет комментировать конкурс на СТБ и UA: Перший". KP.ua (in Russian). KP. Retrieved 11 May 2019.

External links

• Points to and from Ukraine eurovisioncovers.co.uk
• Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest - 2010 eurovision-ukraine.com