Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Belarus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The Belarusian broadcaster National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus organised a national final in order to select the Belarusian entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Background
Prior to the 2019 Contest, Belarus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifteen times since its first entry in 2004. The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2007 with the song "Work Your Magic" performed by Dmitry Koldun. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the, Belarus had managed to qualify to the final five times. In 2017, Belarus managed to qualify to the final with the song "Historyja majho žyccia " performed by Naviband. In 2018, Belarus failed to qualify to the final with the song "Forever" performed by Alekseev ending in the 16th place with 65 points.The Belarusian national broadcaster, National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus, broadcasts the event within Belarus and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The broadcaster has used both internal selections and national finals to select the Belarusian entry for Eurovision in the past. Since 2012, BTRC has organised a national final in order to choose Belarus' entry, a selection procedure that will continue for their 2019 entry.
Before Eurovision
Nationalny Otbor
The Belarusian national final took place on 7 March 2019. Ten songs participated in the competition and the winner was selected exclusively by the votes of a seven-member jury. The show was broadcast on Belarus 1, Belarus 24 and Radius FM as well as online via the broadcaster's official website tvr.by.Competing entries
On the 1 February 2019, it was announced that 113 songs had been submitted for the national final. 73 participating songs were performed during an audition on 4 February 2019. From this, the expert jury chose the 10 finalists that would compete in the televised national final.| Artist | Song | Composer |
| Alyona Gorbachova | "Can We Dream" | Leonid Shyrin, Aleksey Shyrin |
| Aura | "Čaravala" | Evgeniy Oleynik |
| BLGN & Mirex | "Champion" | Sasha Balagan, Mirex Silva |
| Eva Kogan | "Run" | Leonid Shyrin, Natalia Tambovtseva |
| KeySi | "No Love Lost" | Dmitriy Fomich, Kseniya Fomich |
| Michael Soul | "Humanize" | Michael Soul, Yuliya Kolovertnykh, Andrey Katikov, Vladislav Pashkevich |
| NAPOLI | "Let It Go" | Aleksandra Tkach |
| PROvokatsiya | "Running Away from the Sun" | Kirill Good, Denis Yasuchenya |
| Sebastian Roos | "Never Getting Close" | Alberto Estebanez, Lars Carlsson, Björn Ledelius, Sebastian Roos |
| ZENA | "Like It" | Yulia Kireeva, Viktor Drobysh, Zinaida Kupriyanovich |
Final
The final took place on 7 March 2019, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova and Teo. The winner was selected by a seven-member jury, who each awarded every song from 0 to 10 points.Promotion
ZENA made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Like It" as the Belarusian Eurovision entry. On 6 April, she performed during the Eurovision in Concert event at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, hosted by Cornald Maas and Marlayne, to over 4500 spectators. ZENA also performed during the London Eurovision Party in London on 14 April at the Café de Paris venue, which was hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Belarus was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Belarus was set to perform in position 8, following the entry from Hungary and preceding the entry from Serbia.
Semi-final
Belarus performed eighth in the first semi-final, following the entry from Hungary and preceding the entry from Serbia. At the end of the show, Belarus was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Belarus placed tenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 122 points: 44 points from the televoting and 78 points from the juries.Voting
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 will be released shortly after the grand final.Points awarded to Belarus
Points awarded by Belarus
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the Belarussian jury:- Valeriy Prigun – Chairperson – singer
- Anastasiya Tikhanovitch – singer, producer
- Artsem Mikhalenka – singer, TV host
- Anzhela Mikulskaya – TV producer
- Olga Rizhikova – singer, TV host, songwriter
The Belarussian "jury" vote for the final was an average of the jury votes of the other four countries in their semifinal drawing pot. Due to an error by tabulators Digame and Ernst & Young, the wrong jury vote was presented during the live broadcast - the bottom 10 countries in the aggregate were incorrectly awarded the Belarussian points, which appeared to give Israel their only jury points. Several days after the broadcast, the EBU corrected the voting.