Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018


Czech Republic participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The Czech broadcaster Česká televize organised a national final in order to select the Czech entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. The winning entry was the song Lie to Me performed by Mikolas Josef, which represented the country in Lisbon.

Background

Prior to the 2018 Contest, Czech Republic had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest six times since its first entry in. The nation competed in the contest on three consecutive occasions between 2007 and 2009 without qualifying to the final: in 2007 Kabát performing "Malá dáma" placed 28th in the semi-final achieving only one point, in 2008 Tereza Kerndlová performing "Have Some Fun" placed 18th in her semi-final scoring nine points, in 2009 Gipsy.cz performing the song "Aven Romale" placed 18th in their semi-final failing to score any points. The Czech broadcaster withdrew from the contest between 2010 and 2014 citing reasons such as low viewing figures and poor results for their absence. In 2015, Czech Republic returned to the contest and once again failed to qualify to the final with the song "Hope Never Dies" performed by Marta Jandová and Václav Noid Bárta, placing 13th in their semi-final with 33 points. In 2016, Czech Republic was represented by Gabriela Gunčíková and the song "I Stand". The country qualified for the final and placed 25th out of 26 entries. This marked the first qualification to the final for the Czech Republic since they debuted in the contest in 2007. In 2017, Czech Republic was represented by Martina Bárta with the song "My Turn". The song failed to qualify for the final and placed 13 in their semi-final scoring 83 points.

Before Eurovision

''Eurovision Song CZ''

Eurovision Song CZ was the national selection process organised by Česká televize to select Czech Republic's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The winner was revealed on 29 January 2018.

Format

The winner was determined, from among six competing entries, by the combination of votes from a public vote and a ten-member international jury panel. For the public vote, users were able to vote for the winner from 8 January 2018 to 22 January 2018 via the official Eurovision Song Contest app. Both international and Czech users were able to vote, but only votes from users in the Czech Republic were counted. The international jury panel consisted of ten former Eurovision entrants:
Česká televize received over four hundred song submissions for the Eurovision Song Contest, of which 36 were by Czech songwriters. The six selected finalists were announced on 8 January 2018 and the entries were made available to the public. It was announced on 23 January that Mikolas Josef had won the jury vote with 68 points, with the remaining jury scores and televotes, as well as the overall result, being revealed on 29 January.

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 29 January 2018, 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. Czech Republic was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2018 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. Czech Republic was set to perform in position 5, following the entry from Belgium and preceding the entry from Lithuania.

Semi-final

The Czech Republic performed fifth in the first semi-final, following the entry from Belgium and preceding the entry from Lithuania. At the end of the show, they were announced as one of the ten countries to qualify for the grand final, making it only the second occasion that the Czech Republic have qualified for the final. Subsequently, at the semi-final winners' press conference, the qualifying contestants all drew to see which half of the final they would compete in. The Czech Republic was drawn to compete in the second half. It was later revealed that Czech Republic placed third in the semi-final, receiving a total of 232 points: 134 points from the televoting and 98 points from the juries.

Final

Czech Republic performed fourteenth in the grand final, following France and preceding Denmark. In spite of a back injury that largely prevented Josef from performing too many complicated dance moves, he performed an impressive front-flip to a warm response from the crowd. At the end of the night, Czech Republic finished in sixth place with 281 points, with 66 points from the jury and 215 points from the televote. This is their highest finish in the contest and their first appearance in the top ten, 240 points better than their finish in 2016.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry 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 was permitted to 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 as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

Points awarded to Czech Republic

Points awarded by Czech Republic

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Czech jury: