Ukraine in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Background. Prior to the 2021 contest, Ukraine had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest fifteen times since its debut in . Ukraine never missed a contest since their debut appearance, and won the contest once in with the song "", performed by Anastasiya Petryk. The Ukrainian capital Kyiv has hosted the contest twice, at the Palace of Sports in , and the Palace "Ukraine" in . In the contest, Oleksandr Balabanov represented the country in Warsaw, Poland with the song the " (Open Up)", placing 7th out of 12 entries with 106 points. Before Junior Eurovision . National final. Suspilne announced on 21 June 2021 that Ukraine would be participating at the contest taking place in Paris, France. The broadcaster launched their selection process on 30 August 2021, accepting submissions until 29 September 2021 with original songs or cover songs of Ukrainian Junior Eurovision entries between 2015 and 2020. On 5 October 2021, a professional jury selected 12 acts from 118 received submissions who proceeded to the national final. Darya Rebrova, Daryna Kryvenko, Mariya Tkachuk, Olena Usenko and RREALINA (stage name of Anzhelina McFarlane) had all competed in previous Ukrainian national finals. On 23 October 2021, it  was announced by the broadcaster that the song "Angel of Light" performed by RREALINA had been disqualified due to not obtaining the consent of the composer to participate in the final. Final. The final, hosted by Darina Krasnovetska and , took place on 24 October 2021 and saw the eleven remaining competing acts participating in a televised production, where the winner was determined by a combination of the votes of five jury members and an online vote. The contestants who entered with a cover song were assigned the song "Save This World" to perform in the final. The professional jury consisted  of: Artist and song information. Olena Usenko. Olena Usenko (; born 18 June 2007), sometimes known as Ellen Usenko or simply Ellen, is a Ukrainian singer and actress who represented Ukraine in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021. She lives in Bila Tserkva and studies at the Katapulta Art Music School in Kyiv. Prior to Junior Eurovision 2021, she participated in season 5 of The Voice Kids Ukraine, and has already taken part in the national selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest before, coming second in 2020. Vazhil. "" ( ) is a song by Ukrainian singer Olena Usenko. It represented Ukraine at  the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021. At Junior Eurovision. After the opening ceremony, which took place on 13 December 2021, it was announced that Ukraine would perform twelfth on 19 December 2021, following Albania and preceding France. At the end of the contest, Ukraine received 125 points, placing 6th out of 19 participating countries.