Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

ČT announced in September 2016 that the Czech entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 would be selected internally.[4] Composers were able to submit their proposals to the broadcaster between 15 September 2016 and 30 November 2016, and Czech Head of Delegation for the Eurovision Song Contest Jan Bors revealed on 1 December 2016 the broadcaster received over 300 submissions at the closing of the deadline.[4][5] In early January 2017, it was announced that five entries had been shortlisted and matched with potential singers, and that a decision regarding which entry would be selected would be made in February.[6]

On 15 February 2017, ČT announced that Martina Bárta would represent the Czech Republic in Kyiv, while the song "My Turn", which was written by the British team DWB (Paul Drew, Greig Watts and Pete Barringer) together with Kyler Niko, was announced as the Czech entry for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.[7][8] Bárta and the song were selected by ČT together with a five-member jury consisting of conductor and composer Martin Kumžák, singer, producer and composer Jiří Škorpík, composer Michal Dvořák, composer and singer Michal Pavlíček, and musician, composer and conductor Ota Balage.[8] The performer for "My Turn" was originally intended to be singer Dasha, however her manager Martin Kumžák did not allow her to participate and instead suggested Martina Bárta, who was ultimately selected from five potential artists.[9] The song was released on 7 March 2017, while the official music video was presented to the public on 13 March 2017.[10][11]

Martina Bárta made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "My Turn" as the Czech Eurovision entry. On 25 March, Bárta performed during the Eurovision PreParty Riga, which was organised by OGAE Latvia and held at the Crystal Club Concert Hall in Riga. On 2 April, Bárta performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell. Between 3 and 6 April, Bárta took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where she performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.[12][13] On 8 April, Bárta performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.[14] On 15 April, Bárta performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.[15] On 20 April, Martina Bárta performed during the Eurovision Meets Jazz event, which took place at the Jazz Dock in Prague.[16]

Martina Bárta during a rehearsal before the first semi-final

Martina Bárta took part in technical rehearsals on 1 and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May. This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[21]

The Czech performance featured Martina Bárta appearing alone on stage wearing a deep-cut golden metallic jumpsuit designed by Zoltán Tóth.[22] The performance began with Bárta sitting at the back of the stage, which she later stood up and walked down a yellow brick road displayed on the LED floor to the front of the stage.[23][24] The LED screens displayed pink, purple and gold colours as well as images from the music video of "My Turn".[25] Four off-stage backing vocalists performed with Bárta: Marta Kloučková, Michal Strnad, Štěpán Janoušek and Veronika Vítová.[26]

At the end of the show, the Czech Republic was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Czech Republic placed thirteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 83 points: 2 points from the televoting and 81 points from the juries.

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 their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to the Czech Republic and awarded by the Czech Republic in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

The following members comprised the Czech jury:[29]

• Janis Sidovský (jury chairperson) – producer
• Eddie Stoilow – music producer
• Elis Mraz – singer, composer, songwriter, music producer
• Kateřina Říhová – creative manager, Ocko TV host
• Lucie Dvořáková (DJ Lucca) – DJ, producer (jury member in semi-final 1)
• Karel Hodr – music editor (jury member in the final)

Detailed voting results from the Czech Republic (Semi-final 1)[27]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		J. Sidovský	E. Stoilow	DJ Lucca	E. Mraz	K. Říhová	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Sweden	2	2	1	3	1	2	10	9	2
02	Georgia	13	9	14	9	17	14		16
03	Australia	1	1	3	1	3	1	12	12
04	Albania	14	13	15	13	16	16		15
05	Belgium	6	14	8	10	11	8	3	5	6
06	Montenegro	7	15	16	6	7	9	2	17
07	Finland	11	11	9	8	12	10	1	8	3
08	Azerbaijan	8	16	6	7	6	7	4	1	12
09	Portugal	3	8	4	4	2	4	7	4	7
10	Greece	10	17	5	14	10	12		11
11	Poland	5	4	2	2	4	3	8	3	8
12	Moldova	9	5	10	5	5	5	6	2	10
13	Iceland	17	6	13	11	8	11		13
14	Czech Republic
15	Cyprus	4	3	7	12	15	6	5	7	4
16	Armenia	12	12	11	15	13	15		6	5
17	Slovenia	15	7	12	17	9	13		10	1
18	Latvia	16	10	17	16	14	17		14

Detailed voting results from the Czech Republic (Final)[28]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		J. Sidovský	E. Stoilow	E. Mraz	K. Říhová	K. Hodr	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Israel	11	13	26	13	8	14		13
02	Poland	12	12	6	12	9	10	1	12
03	Belarus	20	8	11	8	20	12		8	3
04	Austria	8	6	13	6	10	7	4	24
05	Armenia	18	22	12	22	26	21		9	2
06	Netherlands	2	3	1	3	6	3	8	19
07	Moldova	6	7	5	7	21	8	3	6	5
08	Hungary	24	24	17	24	22	25		11
09	Italy	17	17	18	17	5	15		10	1
10	Denmark	5	5	4	5	23	5	6	25
11	Portugal	1	1	3	1	1	1	12	3	8
12	Azerbaijan	15	14	8	14	18	13		2	10
13	Croatia	26	23	10	23	24	24		17
14	Australia	3	2	2	2	3	2	10	21
15	Greece	16	21	24	21	19	22		23
16	Spain	23	25	19	25	11	23		26
17	Norway	22	15	25	15	12	17		20
18	United Kingdom	14	10	7	10	2	6	5	18
19	Cyprus	10	20	23	20	17	18		16
20	Romania	21	26	21	26	25	26		5	6
21	Germany	13	16	16	16	15	16		22
22	Ukraine	25	18	22	18	14	20		4	7
23	Belgium	9	11	15	11	13	11		7	4
24	Sweden	4	4	9	4	4	4	7	14
25	Bulgaria	7	9	14	9	7	9	2	1	12
26	France	19	19	20	19	16	19		15