Belarus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Belarusian entry was selected through Eurofest, a national final organised by the Belarusian broadcaster BTRC. Litesound represented Belarus with the song "We Are the Heroes", which failed to qualify from the second semi-final, achieving 16th place with 35 points.
Before Eurovision
Eurofest 2012
Eurofest 2012 was the national final format developed by BTRC in order to select Belarus's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. Eurofest also returned as the Belarusian selection process after a two-year break. The competition included semi-final and a final held on 21 December 2011 and 14 February 2012 respectively.
Competing entries
A submission period for interested artists and composers was opened on 1 November 2011 and lasted until 25 November 2011. From the applicants, a jury panel was tasked with selecting fifteen entries to proceed to the televised national final.
Semi-final
The semi-final took place on 21 December 2011 at the BTRC TV Studios in Minsk, hosted by Denis Kurian. Five songs qualified to the final based on a 50/50 combination of votes from a professional jury and the votes from a public televote.
Final
The final took place on 14 February 2012 at the Sports Palace in Minsk, hosted by Denis Kurian and Leyla Ismailova. Special Eurofest diaries was shown on TV during the whole project. A 50/50 combination of votes from a professional jury and the votes from a public televote selected the song "All My Life" performed by Alyona Lanskaya as the winner of the competition. Lanskaya won the televote while Litesound won the jury vote. On 24 February 2012, the Belorussian president conducted an investigation leading to Lanskaya's "unfair" win in Eurofest 10 days earlier. It was rumored that she and her producers had rigged the televote by giving her 12 points, making her the winner. The president ordered an immediate investigation and was later confirmed to be true. Therefore, on 26 February 2012, Alyona Lanskaya was disqualified. As a result of this, she was replaced by Litesound, who got second place, as the new winner of Eurofest 2012 and Belarus' entrant for Eurovision 2012.
At Eurovision
Belarus competed in the first half of the second semi-final, on 24 May 2012, following Malta and preceding the Portugal. Belarus received 35 points and placed 16th, thus failing to qualify for the final on 26 May.
Split results
In the semi-final Belarus came 16th with 35 points: the public awarded Belarus 12th place with 37 points and the jury awarded 11th place with 52 points.
