in
Baku, Azerbaijan According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "
Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) 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 (EBU) 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 25 January 2012, 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. Ukraine was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 24 May 2012, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 20 March 2012. As one of the five wildcard countries, Ukraine chose to perform in position 7, following the entry from
Portugal and before the entry from
Bulgaria. In Ukraine, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on
Pershyi Natsionalnyi with commentary by
Timur Miroshnychenko and
Tetiana Terekhova. The Ukrainian spokesperson, who announced the Ukrainian votes during the final, was Oleksiy Matias.
Semi-final Gaitana took part in technical rehearsals on 15 and 18 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 23 and 24 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries. The Ukrainian performance featured Gaitana performing on stage in a long white layered fringe dress designed by Liliia Litkovska together with four dancers in colourful vests and skirts and playing trumpets. The performance began with Gaitana walking through two of four moveable LED panels featured in the middle of the stage that slid open. Dancing people appeared on the panels, while splashes of different coloured paints appeared on the background LED screens. The stage director and choreographer for the Ukrainian performance was Olha Semeshkina. At the end of the show, Ukraine was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Ukraine placed eighth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 64 points.
Final Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine the running order for the final. This draw was done in the order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Ukraine was drawn to perform in position 25, following the entry from
Serbia and before the entry from
Moldova. Gaitana once again took part in dress rehearsals on 25 and 26 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. Gaitana performed a repeat of her semi-final performance during the final on 26 May. Ukraine placed fifteenth in the final, scoring 65 points.
Voting Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant 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 could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Ukraine had placed twentieth with the public televote and seventh with the jury vote in the final. In the public vote, Ukraine scored 37 points, while with the jury vote, Ukraine scored 125 points. In the second semi-final, Ukraine placed seventeenth with the public televote with 24 points and third with the jury vote, scoring 109 points. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Ukraine and awarded by Ukraine in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Belarus in the semi-final and to Azerbaijan in the final of the contest.
Points awarded to Ukraine Points awarded by Ukraine ==References==