Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010
| Eurovision Song Contest 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |
 Belarus
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| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Internal Selection | |||
| Selection date(s) | 25 February, 19 March 2010 |
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| Selected entrant | 3+2 feat Robert Wells | |||
| Selected song | "Butterflies" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (9th, 59 points) | |||
| Final result | 24th, 18 points | |||
| Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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The Belarus entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was organised by BTRC. It had been originally planned for ONT to take over after criticism over BTRC's selection methods. However, as ONT's application for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Contest's organisers, had been rejected, BTRC again selected the Belarusian entry for the seventh year. An internal selection was held by the broadcaster after a public call for song submissions, and after 41 entries were received the band 3+2 were selected. The band performed the song "Butterflies" at the contest, having changed their song on 19 March from their initial choice "Far Away".
Belarus has previously taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest six times since their first entry in 2004. Belarus has qualified to the final of the contest twice: in 2007, when Koldun placed sixth for the country with "Work Your Magic", and in 2010. All other Belarusian entries have been relegated in the semi-final stage, with Belarus' worst performance coming in 2006, when Polina Smolova finished in 22nd position in the semi-final with "Mum", receiving only ten points in total.
From 2004 to 2009 the Belarusian broadcaster responsible for the country's participation in Eurovision was BTRC, who organised a televised national selection to select the Belarusian entry. In 2010 plans were announced for this to change.
Shortly after the 2009 Contest had finished (where Belarus, represented by Petr Elfimov, had finished 13th in the semi-final), the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko expressed his dissatisfaction over the management of BTRC's organisation for the Contest. He expressed his frustrations over divisions within the team, finding it necessary to completely replace the 2009 team for 2010. and had ruled that ONT should take over preparation for Eurovision from BTRC. In late July ONT launched the "Song for Eurovision" competition in order to find the entry for the 2010 Contest.
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