Belarus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Story of My Life" written by Arciom Lukjanienka. The song was performed by Naviband. The Belarusian entry for the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine was selected through a national final organised by the Belarusian broadcaster National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus. The national final consisted of thirteen competing acts participating in a televised production where the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote. "Historyja majho žyccia" performed by NAVI was selected as the winner. The song's title was later translated from Belarusian to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Story of My Life".
Background
Prior to the 2017 Contest, Belarus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirteen 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 Dmitry Koldun. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the, Belarus had managed to qualify to the final four times. In 2016, Belarus failed to qualify to the final with the song "Help You Fly" performed by Alexander Ivanov. The Belarusian national broadcaster, National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus, broadcasts the event within Belarus and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. 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, a selection procedure that continued for their 2016 entry.
Before Eurovision
National final
The Belarusian national final took place on 20 January 2017. Thirteen songs participated in the competition and the winner was selected through a jury and public televote. The show was broadcast on Belarus 1, Belarus 24 and Radius FM as well as online via the broadcaster's official websitetvr.by.
Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries to the broadcaster between 4 and 24 November 2016. At the closing of the deadline, 67 entries were received by the broadcaster. Auditions were held on 30 November 2016 at the BTRC "600 Metrov" studio where a jury panel was tasked with selecting up to fifteen entries to proceed to the televised national final. The auditions were webcast online at the official BTRC website. Initially, thirteen acts proceeded to the Belarusian national final.
Final
The televised final took place on 20 January 2017 at the "600 Metrov" studio in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova and 2014 Belarusian Eurovision contestantTeo. The national final consisted of twelve competing acts participating in a televised production where the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote. In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances by the hosts Olga Ryzhikova and Teo, 2015 Belarusian entrantUzari and 2016 Belarusian entrantIvan. "Historyja majho žyccia" performed by NAVI was selected as the winner.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" 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. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 31 January 2017, 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 placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2017 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. Originally, Belarus was set to perform in position 15, following the entry from Switzerland and before the entry from Bulgaria. However, following Russia's withdrawal from the contest on 13 April and subsequent removal from the running order of the second semi-final, Belarus' performing position shifted to 14.
