Ukraine in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020

Ukraine participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was held in Warsaw, Poland, with the song "Vidkryvai" performed by Oleksandr Balabanov. Their entrant was selected through a national selection, organised by the Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC.^[1][2]

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Country	Ukraine
National selection
Selection process	National final
Selection date(s)	8 September 2020
Selected entrant	Oleksandr Balabanov
Selected song	"Vidkryvai (Open Up)"
Selected songwriter(s)	Mykhailo Klymenko Oleksandr Balabanov
Finals performance
Final result	7th, 106 points
Ukraine in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
◄2019 • 2020 • 2021►

Background

Main article: Ukraine in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2020 contest, Ukraine had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest fourteen times since its debut in 2006.^[3] Ukraine have never missed a contest since their debut appearance,^[4] having won the contest once in 2012 with the song "Nebo", performed by Anastasiya Petryk.^[5] The Ukrainian capital Kyiv has hosted the contest twice, at the Palace of Sports in 2009,^[6] and the Palace "Ukraine" in 2013.^[7] In the 2019 contest, Sophia Ivanko represented her country in Gliwice, Poland with the song the "Spirit of Music". She placed 15th out of 19 entries with 59 points.^[8]

Before Junior Eurovision

National final

UA:PBC announced that they would be participating at the 2020 contest in June of that year.^[9] The broadcaster launched the Ukrainian selection process on 5 August 2020, accepting submissions until 25 August 2020. All applications that complied with the rules were uploaded on YouTube and the candidate that had received the most likes on the platform advanced automatically to the next stage of the program. The final shortlist was announced on 28 August 2020 with an online vote due to open a week later on 5 September 2020 to decide the winning entry alongside a professional jury.

Competing entries

The submissions accepted by UA:PBC were revealed online and users had until 27 August 2020 to vote for their favourite entries by giving a like. The entry with the most likes directly advanced to the national final. A selection panel then reviewed the remaining submissions and selected ten entries to compete in the national final: eight original songs and two cover songs.^[10] On 18 August 2020, Maksym Tkachuk was disqualified from the competition as it was discovered that he had performed in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea after its annexation as part of a competition allegedly organised by the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry, breaching the Section 3.4. on the national selection's rules.^[11] On 28 August 2020, the eleven selected competing acts were announced on Instagram.^[12]

  Entry received the most YouTube likes   Qualified for the final   Disqualified

Original song selection Artist Song Result Angelina McFarlane "My Spirit" Advanced Anhelina Terennikova "The Vibe" Advanced Anastasiya Fuchenko "Funky Boy" Eliminated Anna Motyl "Zavtra" (Завтра) Eliminated Anna Tkach "Flying So High" Eliminated Daniela Dmitrieva "Polyubila" (Полюбила) Eliminated Daniela Shapochnikova "Tvoye maybutnye" (Твоє майбутнє) Advanced Darya Moskalenko "Ya Viryu" (Я Вірю) Eliminated Darya Rebrova "My vilni" (Ми вільні) Eliminated Daryna Roman "Human of the World" Eliminated Dmytro Banar "Zhyttya yak fortepiano" (Життя як фортепіано) Eliminated Fishki "Strybay" (Стрибай) Eliminated Katerina Huliy "Make Up Your Mind" Eliminated Iosif Kozlovsky "Dreaming in the Rain" Eliminated Iryna Sheheda "Syla-lyubov moya!" (Сила-любов моя!) Eliminated Karina Zajec "Zhyva" (Жива) Eliminated Lidiya Okilko "Svitanok" (Світанок) Eliminated Los Bananas "Dive in the Water" Eliminated Mariya Danilova "Syayvo" (Сяйво) Eliminated Mariya Tkachuk "Vstyhnemo vse!" (Встигнемо все!) Eliminated Milena Putyato "Move Your Body" Eliminated Nikita Boyarintsev "Idy vpeder" (Іди вперед) Eliminated Oleksandr Balabanov "Vidkryvai" (Відкривай) Advanced Oleksiy Bekreshov "Hochu ya" (Хочу я) Eliminated Olena Usenko "Never Get Free" Advanced Polina Babiy "SuperBit" Advanced Sofia Adamiv "Zatamuju podyx" (Затамую подих) Eliminated Sofiya Kostyrko "Muzyka" (Музика) Eliminated Sofiya Mohilna "Ty mozhesh zminyti vse" (Ти можеш змінити все) Eliminated Sofiya Salvarydu "Hora" (Гора) Eliminated Sofiya Shkidchenko "OK" Advanced Valeriya Kostyuchenko "Ya taka yak ye" (Я така як є) Eliminated Veronika Petrus "Mriya zhyttya" (Мрія життя) Eliminated Viktoriya Borbunevych "Kozhen den" (Кожен день) Eliminated Yaroslav Politov "Ya b tudy" (Я б туди) Advanced Yelizaveta Bilokon "Litayu ya" (Літаю я) Eliminated Yevangelina Zamula "We're the One" Eliminated Yuliya Karimi "People" Advanced

Cover selection Artist Song Result Alisa Botvintseva "Ukrayintsi" (Українці) Eliminated Alisa Chydzhan "Letyt halka cherez balku" (Летить галка через балку) Eliminated Alina Hyrych "Ahov" (Агов) Eliminated Anastasiya Bratashchuk "The Start" Eliminated Anastasiya Zhukova "Better Love"^[a] Eliminated Arina Hmelyuk "Golden Slumbers" Eliminated Darin Osman "A Natural Woman" Advanced Darina Sidorova "Sila" (Сила) Eliminated Daryna Kryvenko "Solovey" (Соловей) Eliminated Ivanna Ohyr "Oh! Darling" Eliminated Kateryna Herasymchuk "Make the World Go Away" Eliminated Kristina Dushutina "Symphony" Eliminated Kristina Osychenko "Teche voda" (Тече вода) Eliminated Liliya Lavriv "Mahiya muzyky" (Магія музики) Eliminated Maksym Tkachuk "Dzhamajka" (Джамайка) Disqualified Mariya Vavrish "Runnin' (Lose It All)" Eliminated Matviy Krupskyy "Novyi den" (Новий день) Eliminated Nika Korniyenko "Holubka" (Голубка) Eliminated Nikita Achkasov "My Oasis" Advanced Oleksandra Mazur "Yesterday" Eliminated Oleksandra Melkonyan "Dance Monkey" Eliminated Polina Zahnoy "Move"^[b] Eliminated Sofiya Bishova "Giant" Eliminated Sofiya Samolyuk "Listen" Eliminated Sofiya Vinnik "Cheremshina" (Черемшина) Eliminated Valeriya Koval "Strange Birds" Eliminated Vera Melnichenko "Bad Dreams" Eliminated Veronika Dubina "Take Me Home" Eliminated Yehor Umanets "Creep" Eliminated Yelizaveta Doroshenko "Warrior" Eliminated Yelizaveta Grihorenko "Right Now" Eliminated Yelizaveta Sokolovskaya "Can't Pretend" Eliminated

Final

The eleven competing entries were published online on 5 September 2020 and the winner was selected through the combination of both public online vote and the votes of jury members made up of music professionals.^[13] Eight jury members each awarded one vote to their favourite entry and each member had an equal stake in the final result. The jury panel that was responsible for 8/9 of the final result consisted of: Jamala (winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016), Alina Pash (singer, rapper), Taras Topolya (lead vocalist of Antytila), Ruslana Khazipova (member of Dakh Daughters), Dmytro Shurov (lead vocalist of Pianoboy), Larysa Klyuyevska (music editor at UA:Radio Promin), Timur Miroshnychenko (television presenter, Junior Eurovision commentator for Ukraine), Lyubov Morozova (music critic, host at UA:Kultura).^[14] For the online vote, users will be able to vote for their favourite entries from 5 September 2020 to 8 September 2020 via UA:PBC's official website junior.eurovision.ua, and the results had a weighting equal to the votes of a single jury member.^[15] Originally, the winner was to be revealed on 12 September 2020. However, UA:PBC confirmed through its official Instagram account that Oleksandr Balabanov will represent Ukraine at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020. He received 5 points in total from the jurors, with Daniela Shapochnikova winning the online voting.^[16]

Final – 12 September 2020

Artist	Song^[12]^[14]	Jury	Online voting^[17]		Total	Place
			Percentage	Points
Anhelina Terennykova	"The Vibe"	0	3.12%	0	0	4
Daniela Shapochnikova	"Tvoye maybutnye" (Твоє майбутнє)	0	39.98%	1	1	3
Darin Osman	"Hello"	0	2.01%	0	0	4
Ellen	"Never Get Free"	2	16.61%	0	2	2
Nikita Achkasov	"Hello"	0	2.85%	0	0	4
Oleksandr Balabanov	"Vidkryvai" (Відкривай)	5	12.60%	0	5	1
Polina Babiy	"SuperBit"	0	1.9%	0	0	4
Rrealina	"My Spirit"	0	3.60%	0	0	4
Sofiya Shkidchenko	"Ok"	0	0.65%	0	0	4
Yar Politov	"Ya b tudy" (Я б туди)	1	14.27%	0	1	3
Yuliya Karimi	"People"	0	2.42%	0	0	4

Detailed jury votes^[18]

Artist	Jamala	A. Pash	T. Topolya	R. Khazipova	D. Shurov	L. Klyuyevska	T. Miroshnychenko	L. Morozova	Total
Anhelina Terennykova									0
Daniela Shapochnikova									0
Darin Osman									0
Ellen						X		X	2
Nikita Achkasov									0
Oleksandr Balabanov		X	X	X	X		X		5
Polina Babiy									0
Rrealina									0
Sofiya Shkidchenko									0
Yar Politov	X								1
Yuliya Karimi									0

Artist and song information

Oleksandr Balabanov
Born	(2006-07-05) 5 July 2006 (age 17) Donetsk, Ukraine
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instrument(s)	Vocals

"Vidkryvai (Open Up)"
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 entry
Country	Ukraine
Artist(s)	Oleksandr Balabanov
Languages	Ukrainian English
Composer(s)	Mykhailo Klymenko Oleksandr Balabanov
Lyricist(s)	Mykhailo Klymenko Oleksandr Balabanov
Finals performance
Final result	7
Final points	106
Entry chronology
◄ "The Spirit of Music" (2019)
"Vazhil" (2021) ►

Oleksandr Balabanov

Oleksandr Balabanov (Ukrainian: Олександр Балабанов; born 5 July 2006)^[19] is a Ukrainian singer. He represented Ukraine at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Vidkryvai".^[20]

Vidkryvai (Open Up)

"Vidkryvai (Open Up)" (Ukrainian: Відкривай)^[2] is a song by Ukrainian singer Oleksandr Balabanov. It represented Ukraine at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020.

At Junior Eurovision

After the opening ceremony, which took place on 23 November 2020, it was announced that Ukraine will perform eleventh on 29 November 2020, following Spain and preceding France.^[21]

Voting

The same voting system that was introduced in the 2017 edition was used, where the results were determined by 50% online voting and 50% jury voting.^[22] Every country had a national jury that consisted of three music industry professionals and two children aged between 10 and 15 who were citizens of the country they represented. The rankings of those jurors were combined to make an overall top ten.^[23]

The online voting consisted of two phases. The first phase of the online voting began on 27 November 2020 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances was shown on the contest's website Junioreurovision.tv before the viewers could vote. After this, voters also had the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant's rehearsal. This first round of voting ended on Sunday 29 November at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting took place during the live show and began right after the last performance and was open for 15 minutes. International viewers were able vote for three songs.^[24] They were also able to vote for their own country's song. These votes were then turned into points which were determined by the percentage of votes received. For example, if a song received 10% of the votes, it received 10% of the available points.

Ukraine received 106 points; 52 from the juries and 54 from online voting, reaching 7th place.

Points awarded to Ukraine^[25] Score Country 12 points 10 points   Poland   Russia 8 points   Spain 7 points   France   Georgia 6 points 5 points 4 points   Germany 3 points   Serbia 2 points   Netherlands 1 point   Kazakhstan Ukraine received 54 points from the online vote

Points awarded by Ukraine^[25] Score Country 12 points   Georgia 10 points   France 8 points   Spain 7 points   Kazakhstan 6 points   Belarus 5 points   Netherlands 4 points   Malta 3 points   Russia 2 points   Germany 1 point   Serbia

Detailed voting results

Detailed voting results from Ukraine^[25]

Draw	Country	Juror A	Juror B	Juror C	Juror D	Juror E	Average Rank	Points Awarded
01	Germany	11	11	10	6	5	9	2
02	Kazakhstan	1	4	7	4	6	4	7
03	Netherlands	8	2	4	3	8	6	5
04	Serbia	9	9	8	9	10	10	1
05	Belarus	3	5	6	2	7	5	6
06	Poland	10	6	11	11	9	11
07	Georgia	5	1	3	1	4	1	12
08	Malta	7	10	9	5	3	7	4
09	Russia	6	7	5	10	11	8	3
10	Spain	2	8	2	7	1	3	8
11	Ukraine
12	France	4	3	1	8	2	2	10

Notes

1. While the original song is in English, the song was performed in Ukrainian.
2. While the original song is in English, the song was performed in Ukrainian.

References

1. "Євробачення on Instagram: "Олександр Балабанов із піснею "Відкривай" представлятиме Україну на Дитячому Євробаченні-2020🥳 Переможця нацвідбору визначали з-поміж 11…"". instagram.com/suspilne.eurovision (in Ukrainian). 8 September 2020.
2. Granger, Anthony (7 September 2020). "Ukraine: Oleksandr Balabanov Wins Selection With Public Still Voting". Eurovoix. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
3. "Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 2 December 2006. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
4. "Ukraine in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
5. Escudero, Victor (1 December 2012). "Ukraine wins the 10th Junior Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision Song Contest. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
6. Floras, Stella (6 June 2008). "JESC: Ukraine to host Junior Eurovision 2009". esctoday.com. ESC Today. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
7. Siim, Jamo (17 April 2013). "Junior 2013 venue confirmed". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
8. "Final of Gliwice-Silesia 2019 - Junior Eurovision Song Contest". junioreurovision.tv. EBU. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
9. Farren, Neil (10 June 2020). "Ukraine: Junior Eurovision 2020 Participation Confirmed". Eurovoix.
10. Granger, Anthony (14 August 2020). "Ukraine: Eight Acts Revealed So Far As Competing in Junior Eurovision 2020 National Selection". Eurovoix. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
11. Avelino, Gerry (18 August 2020). "Ukraine: Maksym Tkachuk Disqualified from Junior Eurovision Selection". Eurovoix. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
12. "Вітайте фіналістів Національного відбору Дитячого Євробачення-2020, до якого потрапило 11 учасників" (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 25 December 2021.
13. Granger, Anthony (28 August 2020). "Ukraine: Eleven Junior Eurovision 2020 Finalists Revealed". Eurovoix. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
14. Granger, Anthony (5 September 2020). "Ukraine: Voting Now Open in Junior Eurovision 2020 Selection". Eurovoix. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
15. "Ukraine: Junior Eurovision 2020 Selection Launched". Eurovoix. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
16. "Євробачення on Instagram: "Олександр Балабанов із піснею "Відкривай" представлятиме Україну на Дитячому Євробаченні-2020🥳 Переможця нацвідбору визначали з-поміж 11…"". Instagram. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
17. "Дитяче Євробачення 2020 - Національний відбір". junior.eurovision.ua. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
18. "Євробачення on Instagram: "Олександр Балабанов із піснею "Відкривай" представлятиме Україну на Дитячому Євробаченні-2020🥳 Переможця нацвідбору визначали з-поміж 11…"". Instagram. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
19. "Aleksandr BALABANOV". fest-sbv.by. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
20. "Олександр Балабанов представлятиме Україну на Дитячому Євробаченні-2020". tv.suspilne.media (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 9 September 2020.
21. "This is the running order for Junior Eurovision 2020". Junioreurovision.tv. EBU. 23 November 2020. from the original on 23 November 2020.
22. Granger, Anthony (16 October 2020). "Junior Eurovision'20: Voting To Be Tweaked With Discussions On Going Around Points Presentation". Eurovoix. from the original on 16 October 2020.
23. Granger, Anthony (15 November 2018). "Junior Eurovision 2018 – How Does The Voting Work?". Eurovoix.
24. "How to vote for your favourite at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020". Junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 10 November 2020. from the original on 10 November 2020.
25. "Results of the Final of Poland 2020". European Broadcasting Union. from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.