Viewers of Ukrainian broadcaster NTU's flagship Channel 1 have decided: Nazar Slyusarchuk will be the very first youngster to fly the flag of Ukraine at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, singing the song Khlopchyk rock-n-roll.
Producers at NTU took the same approach to the Junior selection as they did for the Eurovision Song Contest selection process Ty-zirka, in that the votes were published online as they were counted. This allowed fans and observers from outside Ukraine to find out at a glance what was happening, a luxury which many TV stations do not even afford fans for Eurovision Song Contest selections.
The full line-up was as follows:
Julia Shpakevich: Divochi Sni
Alina Popova: Bystra rika
Olga Bogatyrenko: Ja zlitayu do nebes
Kateryna Paschenko: I Tato i mama
Nazar Slyushark: Khlopchyk rock-n-roll
Maria Stepanenko: Kokhannja ne vbyvaj
Victoria Petryk: Gojdalka
Maria Yaremenko: Mij chovnyk
Yulia Gavrylenko: Svjato
Ilona Galytska: Razom my
Ukrainians will be hoping for a good result from their first junior hope at Eurovision, and the precedent is good – Ukraine managed to win the Eurovision Song Contest on only its second attempt. Nazar himself will be hoping to better the record set by his namesake band from Turkey, who failed to impress judges with Sevince at the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest!
