Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Country	Czech Republic
National selection
Selection process	Eurovision Song CZ
Selection date(s)	3 February 2020
Selected entrant	Benny Cristo
Selected song	"Kemama"
Selected songwriter(s)	Osama Verse-Atile Ben Cristóvão Charles Sarpong Rudy Ray
Finals performance
Final result	Contest cancelled
Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2019 • 2020 • 2021►

The Czech Republic originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Kemama" performed by Benny Cristo. Czech broadcaster Česká televize (ČT) organised a national final in order to select the Czech entry for the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. However, the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background[]

Prior to the 2020 Contest, the Czech Republic had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eight times since its first entry in 2007.^[1] 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 (last) in the semi-final achieving only one point, in 2008 Tereza Kerndlová performing "Have Some Fun" placed 18th (second to last) in her semi-final scoring nine points, in 2009 Gipsy.cz performing the song "Aven Romale" placed 18th (last) in their semi-final failing to score any points. The Czech broadcaster withdrew from the contest between 2010 and 2014 citing low viewing figures and poor results for their absence. In 2015, the 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, Gabriela Gunčíková and the song "I Stand" qualified for the final and placed 25th out of 26 entries, marking the Czech Republic's first qualification to the final since their debut in 2007. In 2018, Mikolas Josef with the song "Lie to Me" finished in sixth place with 281 points, achieving the Czech Republic's best-ever result in the contest and their first top 10 finish. In 2019, Lake Malawi with the song "Friend of a Friend" finished in eleventh place with 157 points, achieving the Czech Republic's second best result in the contest.

Before Eurovision[]

Eurovision Song CZ[]

Eurovision Song CZ was the national selection process organised by ČT in order to select Czech Republic's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The winner was announced on 3 February 2020.^[2]

Format[]

Seven entries competed in the national selection where the winner was determined by the combination of votes from a ten-member international jury panel and a public vote. The international jury panel consisted of ten former Eurovision entrants while the public were able to vote via the official Eurovision Song Contest app from 20 January 2020 to 2 February 2020. Both international and Czech users were able to vote and votes from international users had a weighting equal to the votes of one jury member.^[2]

The international jury panel consisted of:

Competing entries[]

Artists and composers were able to submit their proposals to the broadcaster between 29 January 2019 and 30 June 2019. Songwriters of any nationality were able to submit songs, however artists were required to have Czech citizenship and at least one of the lead vocalists were required to have Czech citizenship for groups of a maximum of six.^[3] The broadcaster received 152 submissions at the closing of the deadline, of which 72 were by Czech songwriters.^[4] A five-member jury consisting of Jan Potměšil, Jan Bors, Kryštof Šámal, Marvin Dietmann and Cyril Hirsch selected seven entries from the submissions received and the selected finalists were presented to the public on 20 January 2020.^[5]

Final[]

The winner, "Kemama" performed by Benny Cristo, was selected by a 50/50 combination of votes from the jury and the public, and was announced on 3 February 2020.

Detailed International Jury Votes
Song	EST	SLO	NOR	BUL	AUS	FIN	ESP	POL	MLT	GRE	INTL	Total
"White & Black Holes"	10	10	3	12	8	3	3	10	12	12	4	87
"Kemama"	12	6	8	6	12	6	8	4	2	6	8	78
"Wanna Be Like"	8	2	12	8	10	4	10	3	4	4	10	75
"At Least We've Tried"	2	4	4	3	6	12	12	6	8	8	2	67
"Dark Water"	3	8	10	2	4	10	2	2	6	2	6	55
"Get Up"	4	12	2	10	3	8	4	8	3	10	3	67
"All the Blood (Positive Song Actually)"	6	3	6	4	2	2	6	12	10	3	12	66

At Eurovision[]

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 28 January 2020, 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 second semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.^[6] However, the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

In the Eurovision Song Celebration YouTube broadcast in place of the semi-finals, it was revealed that the song would have been performed 6th, between San Marino and Serbia.^[7]

References[]