Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Belarus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Time", written by Uzari, Gerylana and Maimuna. The song was performed by the duo Uzari and Maimuna; Uzari is a singer-songwriter, while Maimuna is a violist. Belarusian broadcaster National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC) organised a national final in order to select the Belarusian entry for the 2015 contest. In a field of fifteen songs, "Time" performed by Uzari and Maimuna won the right to represent Belarus in Vienna, Austria. In the first of the  Eurovision semi-finals, Belarus failed to qualify to the final, placing twelfth out of the 16 participating countries with 39 points. Background. Prior to the 2015 contest, Belarus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eleven 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 Koldun. Since the introduction of a semi-final to the format of the contest in 2004, Belarus had managed to qualify to compete in the final four times. In 2014, Belarus qualified to the  final and placed sixteenth with the song "Cheesecake" performed by Teo. The Belarusian broadcaster for the 2015 contest, who broadcast the event in Belarus and organised the selection process for its entry, was the National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC). 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. On 8 September 2014, BTRC confirmed that they would participate in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. On 25 September 2014 , the broadcaster revealed that it would select the Belarusian entry through a national final. Before Eurovision. National final. The Belarusian national final took place on 26 December 2014. Fifteen songs participated in the competition and the winner was selected through a jury and a public televote. The show was broadcast on Belarus 1 and Belarus 24 as well as online via the broadcaster's official website "tvr.by" and the Eurovision Song Contest's official website "eurovision.tv". Competing entries. Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries to the broadcaster between 21 October 2014 and 21 November 2014 . At the closing of the deadline, over 110 entries were received by the broadcaster. Auditions were held on 4 and 5 December 2014 at the BTRC "600 Metrov" studio where a jury panel was tasked with selecting up to fifteen entries from the 89 attendees to proceed to the televised national final. The auditions were webcast online at the official BTRC website. The jury consisted of Vasily Rainchik (musician/composer), Alexander Tikhanovich (singer), Elena Treshchinskaya (head of the radio station "Radius FM"), Olga Ryzhikova (television host), Evgeniy Papkovich (executive producer of the BTRC channel Belarus 1), Andrey Kholodinskiy (music editor  at the radio station "Radio-Roks") and Marianna Drabovich (head of the Department of Arts, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus). Fifteen finalists were selected and announced on 5 December 2014 during BTRC's programme "Panorama". Final. The televised final took place on 26 December 2014 at the "600 Metrov" studio in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova and Denis Dudinskiy. Prior to the competition, a draw for the running order took place on 7 December 2014. A combination of votes from seven jury members made up of music professionals (7/8) and a public telephone vote (1/8) selected the  song "Time" performed by Uzari and Maimuna as the winner. The jury consisted of Gennady Davydko (BTRC Chairman), Eduard Zaritskiy (People's Artist of Belarus/composer), Marianna Drabovich (head of the Department of Arts, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus), Andrei Mikheev (music critic), Sergei Andrianov (journalist), Elena Treshchinskaya (head of the radio station "Radius FM") and Dmitry Novik (television presenter). In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances by 2014 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Teo, 2013 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Alyona Lanskaya, Drozdy, Victoria Aleshko, Misters, Eliz, Dubravin and Krasovskiy, Aura, 4L and Olga  Gornichar. At Eurovision. According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) 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. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into five different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories  put into the same pot. On 26 January 2015, 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 19 May 2015, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2015 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 11, following the entry from Serbia and before the entry from Russia. All three shows were televised on Belarus-1 and Belarus-24, with commentary by Evgeny Perlin. The Belarusian spokesperson, who announced the Belarusian votes during the final, was 2014 Eurovision entrant Teo. Semi-final. Uzari and Maimuna took part in technical rehearsals on 12 and 15 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 18 and 19 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched  and voted on the competing entries. The stage show featured the vocalist, Uzari, dressed in black and the violinist, Maimuna, dressed in white. The lighting transitioned from red to blue as the performance progressed. The background LED screens displayed an electrocardiogram as well as vibrating strings and strikes of lightning. On stage, Uzari was joined by three backing vocalists: Yury Seleznyov, Artyom Akhmash and Denis Lis. At the end of the show, Belarus failed to qualify to the final and was not announced among the top ten nations. It was later revealed that Belarus had placed twelfth, receiving a total  of 39 points. Voting. Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was 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 individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final. Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Belarus had placed thirteenth with the public televote and seventh with the jury vote in the first semi-final. In the public vote, Belarus scored 32 points, while with the jury vote, Belarus scored 65 points. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belarus and awarded by Belarus in the first semi-final and grand final  of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows: Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Belarusian jury: