Prior to the 2021 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 2007Kabát performing "Malá dáma" placed 28th (last) in the semi-final achieving only one point, in 2008Tereza Kerndlová performing "Have Some Fun" placed 18th (second to last) in her semi-final scoring nine points, in 2009Gipsy.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[]
Internal selection[]
On 13 May 2020, ČT confirmed that Benny Cristo will represent Czech Republic in the 2021 contest.[2] His entry for 2021, "Omaga", was released on 16 February 2021.[3]
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 in 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. For the 2021 contest, the semi-final allocation draw held for 2020 which was held on 28 January 2020, will be used. Czech Republic was placed into the second semi-final, which was held on 20 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[4]
Once all the competing songs for the 2021 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 3, following the entry from Estonia and preceding the entry from Greece.[5]
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 a diversity in gender and age represented. The judges assess each entry based on the performances during the second Dress Rehearsal of each show, which takes place the night before each live show, against a set of criteria including: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.[6] Jury members may only take part in panel once every three years, and are obliged to confirm that they are not connected to any of the participating acts in a way that would impact their ability to vote impartially. Jury members should also vote independently, with no discussion of their vote permitted with other jury members.[7] The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country's jury and televoting were released after the grand final; the individual results from each jury member were also released in an anonymised form.[8][9]
Points awarded to the Czech Republic[]
Points awarded to the Czech Republic (Semi-final 2)[10]
Czech Republic
Georgia
Greece
France
Moldova
San Marino
Estonia
Austria
Poland
Iceland
Serbia
Albania
Portugal
Bulgaria
Finland
Latvia
Switzerland
Denmark
Cyprus
Israel
Belgium
Russia
Malta
United Kingdom
Spain
Germany
Lithuania
Ukraine
Azerbaijan
Norway
Netherlands
Italy
Sweden