Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Czech Republic participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "My Turn " written by DWB and Kyler Niko. The song is performed by Martina Bárta, who was internally selected by the Czech broadcaster Česká televize to represent the nation at the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine. Martina Bárta's appointment as the Czech representative was announced on 15 February 2017, while the song, "My Turn", was presented to the public on 7 March 2017. Czech Republic was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 14, "My Turn" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.
Background
Prior to the 2017 Contest, Czech Republic had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest five times since its first entry in. The nation competed in the contest on four consecutive occasions between 2007 and 2009 without qualifying to the final: in 2007 Kabát performing "Malá dáma" placed 28th in the semi-final achieving only one point, in 2008Tereza Kerndlová performing "Have Some Fun" placed 18th in her semi-final scoring nine points, in 2009 Gipsy.cz performing the song "Aven Romale" placed 18th in their semi-final failing to score any points and in 2015Marta Jandová and Václav Noid Bárta performing "Hope Never Dies" placed 13th in their semi-final scoring thirty-three points. The Czech broadcaster withdrew from the contest between 2010 and 2014 citing reasons such as low viewing figures and poor results for their absence. In 2015, 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. In 2016, Czech Republic was represented by Gabriela Gunčíková and the song "I Stand". As a result, the country qualified for the final and placed 25th out of 26 entries. This marked the first qualification to the final for the Czech Republic since they debuted in the contest in 2007. Meanwhile, the Czech entry for the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine was selected through an internal selection.
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
On 15 February 2017, Bárta was confirmed to be the Czech entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. On 21 February, the song was confirmed to be called "My Turn". The song's audio was released on 7 March, while its music video premiered on 13 March.
Promotion
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 OGAELatvia and held at the Cristal Club in Riga, Latvia. On 2 April, she performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French. Between 3 and 6 April, Martina Bárta took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where she performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue. 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. On 15 April, she performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" 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 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 31 January 2017, 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 first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2017 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 14, following the entry from Iceland and before the entry from Cyprus.
