Ukraine in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Ukraine will participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 which will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia on 26 November 2017. Their entrant was selected through a national selection, organized by the Ukrainian broadcaster NTU. The semi-final took place on 8 August 2017, where the 27 eligible submissions performed in front of a jury, and then they chose ten artists to qualify to the final, which took place on 25 August 2017. As a result, Anastasiya Baginska won the Ukrainian selection and got the right to represent Ukraine in Tbilisi, Georgia with the song "Don't Stop ".
Background
Prior to the 2017 Contest, Ukraine had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest eleven times since its debut in. Ukraine have never missed a contest since their debut appearance, having won the contest once in with the song "Nebo", performed by Anastasiya Petryk. The Ukrainian capital Kiev has hosted the contest twice, at the Palace of Sports in and at the Palace "Ukraine" in. In 2016, Sofia Rol represented Ukraine in Valletta, Malta with the song "Planet Craves For Love". It ended 14th out of 17 competing countries with 30 points.
The Ukrainian broadcaster launched their selection process on 7 July 2017, accepting submissions until 7 August 2017.
Semi-final
The semi-final took place on 8 August 2017, with all the submissions performing in front of a professional jury consisting of Sofia Rol, Svitlana Tarabova, Valentyn Koval, ROZHDEN and Viktor Knysh, who decided the 10 acts that qualified for the final. It was announced shortly after the semi-final that the final would take place on 25 August 2017.
Final
The final, hosted by Timur Miroshnychenko and Daria Kolomiiets, took place on 25 August 2017 in the InternationalChildren's Centre in Artek, based in Pushcha-Vodytsia. It consisted of 10 competing acts participating in a televised production where the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of both telephone vote and the votes of a jury made up of music professionals. The show was opened by last year's Ukrainian representative Sofia Rol who performed her song "Planet Craves For Love". Eventually, Anastasiya Baginska was announced as the winner of the national final and earned the right to represent Ukraine in Tbilisi, Georgia with the song "Ne zupyniay". The public televote in the final registered 14,731 votes. Respectively, Anastasiia won the televote with 41%.
"Don't Stop", is a song by Ukrainian child singer Anastasiya Baginska. It represented Ukraine at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017.
At Junior Eurovision
During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which will both take place on 20 November 2017, Ukraine was drawn to perform eleventh on 26 November 2017, following Albania and preceding Malta. In Ukraine, the final will be broadcast on UA:Pershyi with commentary by Timur Miroshnychenko. The Ukrainian spokesperson, who will announce the top 12-point score awarded by the Ukrainian jury during the final, will be 2016 Ukrainian representative Sofia Rol.
Voting
The results of the 2017 Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be determined by national juries and an online audience vote. Every country will have a national jury that will consist of three music industry professionals and two kids aged between 10 and 15 who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury will be asked to judge each contestant 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 could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The first phase of the online voting will start on 24 November 2017 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances will be shown on junioreurovision.tv before the viewers can vote. After this, voters will also have the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant’s rehearsal. This first round of voting will stop on Sunday, 26 November, at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting will take place during the live show and will start right after the last performance and will be open for 15 minutes. International viewers can vote for a minimum of three countries and a maximum of five. They can also vote for their own country’s song. These votes will then be turned into points which will be determined by the percentage of votes received. For example, if a song receives 20% of the votes, thus it will receive 20% of the available points. The public vote will count for 50% of the final result, while the other 50% will come from the professional juries.
