Singers and songwriters from Ukraine now have one month's time to make up their mind and enter their songs to the national selection. In January, a jury will then choose 19 entries for the national final. One additional entry will come from the "Show No. 1" competition, which has been organised by the commercial channel Inter TV recently.
Walid Arfush (pictured, above left), deputy director of NTU, explained in Friday's press conference that the option of further enlarging the national selection is still open in case that, for example, more than one hundred applications will be received.
The voting in the national final will be a combination of SMS voting and the verdict of an expert jury. Unlike previous years, there will be no internet voting and a rule permitting only one vote per phone will be implemented.
Even though Ukraine started participating in the Eurovision Song Contest only in 2003, it has been one of the most successful countries: Ruslana won the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest and brought the competition to Kyiv in 2005. In 2007 and 2008, Ukraine came second twice in a row, when the country was represented by Verka Serduchka and Ani Lorak, respectively. In 2011, Mika Newton placed fourth with her song Angel, supported by the famous sand artist Kseniia Simonova.
Considering the Ukrainian success story at the Eurovision Song Contest, Walid Arfush stated on Friday's press conference: "I would like to see all former Ukrainian Eurovision Song Contest representatives of the last 11 years: Oleksandr Ponomariov, Tina Karol, Ani Lorak, Alyosha, Ruslana, Verka Serduchka... I dream of a national final including all Ukrainian Eurovision stars."
