Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014
Ukraine participated in Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Tick-Tock" written by Mariya Yaremchuk and Sandra Bjurman. The song was performed by Mariya Yaremchuk. The Ukrainian broadcaster National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) organised a national final in order to select the Ukrainian entry for the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. Twenty entries competed in the final held on 21 December 2013 and "Tick-Tock" performed by Mariya Yaremchuk was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote. The Ukrainian  entry caused controversy due to allegations that the phone lines for other national final participants were blocked while the phone line for Yaremchuk remained open, which led to the illegitimacy of results. Ukraine was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 6 May 2014. Performing during the show in position 9, "Tick-Tock" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 10 May. It was later revealed that Ukraine placed fifth out of the 16 participating countries  in the semi-final with 118 points. In the final, Ukraine performed in position 1 and placed sixth out of the 26 participating countries with 113 points. Background. Prior to the 2014 contest, Ukraine had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eleven times since its first entry in 2003, winning it in 2004 with the song "Wild Dances" performed by Ruslana. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Ukraine had managed to qualify to final in every contest they participated in thus far. Ukraine had been the runner-up in the contest on two occasions: in 2007 with  the song "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" performed by Verka Serduchka and in 2008 with the song "Shady Lady" performed by Ani Lorak. Ukraine's least successful result had been 19th place, which they achieved during the 2005, with the song "Razom nas bahato" performed by GreenJolly. The Ukrainian national broadcaster, National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), broadcasts the event within Ukraine and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. In the past, NTU had alternated between both internal selections and national finals in order to select the Ukrainian entry. Between 2011 and 2013, NTU had set up national finals  with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Ukraine, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. NTU confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest on 23 October 2013, announcing that they would organise a national final to select the 2014 Ukrainian entry. Before Eurovision. Evrobachennya 2014 - Natsionalyni vidbir. The Ukrainian national final took place on 21 December 2013 at the NTU Studios in Kyiv. The show was hosted by Timur Myroshnychenko and Tetyana Terekhova and broadcast on as well as online via  NTU's official website "1tv.com.ua" and the official Eurovision Song Contest website "eurovision.tv". Format. The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Ukrainian Eurovision entry took place over two stages. In the first stage, artists and songwriters had the opportunity to apply for the competition by attending a scheduled audition. Twenty acts were selected and announced on 8 December 2013. The second stage was the televised final, which took place on 21 December 2013 and featured the twenty acts vying to represent Ukraine in Copenhagen. The winner was selected via the 50/50 combination of votes  from a public televote and an expert jury. Both the public televote and the expert jury assigned scores ranging from 1 (lowest) to 12 (highest) and the entry that had the highest number of points following the combination of these scores was declared the winner. Viewers participating in the public televote during the show had the opportunity to submit a single vote per phone number for each of the participating entries via SMS. In the event of a tie, the tie was decided in favour of the entry that received the highest score from the jury. Competing entries. Artists and  composers had the opportunity to submit their entries between 23 October 2013 and 6 December 2013. Auditions were held on 7 December 2013 at the Novopecherski Lypky in Kyiv where a four-member selection panel consisting of Vlad Baginsky (NTU music producer), Mikhail Nekrasov (composer and producer), Yevgeniy Feshak (Radio Lux.FM General Producer) and Volodymyr Kozlov (RU Music Director) reviewed the 56 received submissions and shortlisted twenty entries to compete in the national final. On 8 December 2013, the twenty selected competing acts were announced. Final. The final took place on 21 December 2013. Twenty entries competed and the  winner, "Tick-Tock" performed by Mariya Yaremchuk, was selected through the combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury. Ties were decided in favour of the entries that received higher scores from the jury. The jury panel consisted of Oleksandr Panteleymonov (NTU General Director), Vlad Baginsky (NTU music producer), Yuriy Rybchynsky (poet), Yan Tabachnyk (composer) and Mikhail Nekrasov (composer and producer). 10,210 votes were registered by the televote during the show. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2011 Ukrainian Eurovision entrant Mika Newton, 2013 Ukrainian Eurovision entrant Zlata Ognevich, 2013 Ukrainian Junior Eurovision entrant  Sofia Tarasova, Kamaliya, Masha Sobko, Matias and Natalia Buchynska performed as guests. Controversy. Following Mariya Yaremchuk's victory at the Ukrainian national final, several participants launched a protest against the final results, alleging that the phone lines for their entries were blocked while the phone line for Yaremchuk remained open. Olena Mozgova, the producer of Volodymyr Tkachenko, challenged the legitimacy of the results and planned to take legal action; similar complaints were also launched by Viktoria Petryk and the duo neAngely regarding the results of the public vote. At Eurovision. During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014  at the Copenhagen City Hall, Ukraine was drawn to compete in the second half of the first semi-final on 6 May 2014. In the first semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Ukraine would perform ninth, following Azerbaijan and preceding Belgium. Ukraine qualified from first semi-final and competed in the final on 10 May 2014. During the winner's press conference for the first semi-final qualifiers, Ukraine was allocated to compete in the first half of the final. In the final, the producers of the show decided that Ukraine would open the show and perform  first, preceding Belarus. Ukraine placed sixth in the final, scoring 113 points. On stage, Mariya Yaremchuk was joined by four backing vocalists: Anna Linnea, Graciela Chin A Loi, Anneli Maria Tornkvist and Elin Eva Maria Svensson. The performance featured a male dancer, Igor Kuleshyn, performing acrobatic choreography on a large running wheel. The staging was completed by Ukrainian director, choreographer and head of the ballet "Freedom", Olena Kolyadenko. In Ukraine, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on First National with commentary by Timur Miroshnychenko and Tetiana Terekhova. All shows were also broadcast via radio on NRCU with  commentary by Olena Zilinchenko. The Ukrainian spokesperson revealing the result of the Ukrainian vote in the final was 2013 Ukrainian contest entrant Zlata Ognevich. Voting. Detailed voting results. The following members comprised the Ukrainian jury: