The first castings of the Ukrainian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 took place today. Meanwhile, tt has been revealed that two former Eurovision Song Contest contestants will apply: Verka Serduchka and Anastasiya Prikhodko are both trying to represent Ukraine in Germany next May.
Verka Serduchka represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 finishing second with the song Dancing lasha tumbai. The song went on to become a hit in Europe reaching the top ten of the single charts in France, Finland and Sweden. Anastaiya Prkhodko took part in the Ukrainian national selection in 2009 but did not make it past the semi final. She then entered the Russian national final winning with her song Mamo, performed in Russian and Ukrainian. She finished 11th in the final in Moscow.
On 21st August, 30 acts will be chosen to move forward to the next round. Both experienced artists and newcomers are allowed to take part in the selection. During the castings, the contestants may perform any songs and the potential Eurovision Song Contest entries for the national final will be chosen in October.
In early September, a special TV programme will air showing how the 30 acts were chosen. In October, the chosen artists will perform their final songs and the top 20 for the national final will be determined. In the national final, the winner will be chosen by a mixture of jury voting and televoting. The show will be hosted by Tatiana Goncharova and Timur Mirushnishenko.
In 2010, Ukraine was represented by Alyosha, who finished seventh in the second semi final and tenth in the final with her song Sweet people.
