Lithuania was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "C'est ma vie", written by Paulius Zdanavičius and Andrius Kairys. The song was performed by Evelina Sašenko. The Lithuanian broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) organised the national final "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka (Eurovision Song Contest national selection) in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. The national final took place over four weeks and involved 40 competing entries. In the final, thirteen artists and songs remained and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public vote selected the top three to qualify to the superfinal. In the superfinal, a jury vote entirely selected "C'est ma vie" performed by Evelina Sašenko as the winner.

Lithuania was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 10 May 2011. Performing during the show in position 17, "C'est ma vie" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 12 May. It was later revealed that Lithuania placed fifth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 81 points. In the final, Lithuania performed in position 4 and placed nineteenth out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 63 points.

Background

Prior to the 2011 contest, Lithuania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eleven times since its first entry in 1994. The nation’s best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2006 with the song "We Are the Winners", performed by LT United. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Lithuania, to this point, had managed to qualify to the final three times. In the 2010 contest, "Eastern European Funk" performed by InCulto failed to qualify to the final.

For the 2011 contest, the Lithuanian national broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), broadcast the event within Lithuania and organised the selection process for the nation's entry. Other than the internal selection of their debut entry in 1994, Lithuania has selected their entry consistently through a national final procedure. LRT confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest on 24 November 2010 and announced the organization of "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka, which would be the national final to select Lithuania's entry for Düsseldorf.

Before Eurovision

"Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka (Eurovision Song Contest national selection) was the national final format developed by LRT in order to select Lithuania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. The competition involved a four-week-long process that commenced on 5 February 2011 and concluded with a winning song and artist on 24 February 2011. The four shows took place at the LRT studios in Vilnius and were hosted by Giedrius Masalskis. The shows were broadcast on LTV, LTV World, and Lietuvos Radijas, as well as online via the broadcaster's website lrt.lt. The final was also streamed online on the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.

Format The 2011 competition involved 40 entries and consisted of four shows. The first three shows were the semi-finals, consisting of twelve or fourteen entries each. The top three entries from each semi-final proceeded to the final, while four wildcard acts were also selected for the final out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from the semi-finals. Three of the wildcards were selected by LRT, while an additional wildcard was selected by the public through an internet voting platform on the website zebra.lt. In the final, the winner was selected from the remaining fourteen entries over two rounds of voting. The first round results selected the top three entries, while the second round determined the winner. A monetary prize of 25,000 LTL was also awarded to the winning artist(s) by the Lithuanian Copyright Protection Association (LATGA) in order to assist in their preparation for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The results of each of the five shows were determined by a jury panel and public televoting. The qualifiers of the semi-finals and the first round of the final were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from the jury and public. The ranking developed by both streams of voting was converted to points from 1-8, 10 and 12 and assigned based on the number of competing songs in the respective show. The public could vote through telephone and SMS voting. Ties were decided in favour of the entry that received the most points from the jury. In the second round of the final, only the jury voted.

Competing entries LRT opened a submission period on 24 November 2010 for artists and songwriters to submit their entries with the deadline on 3 January 2011. On 11 January 2011, LRT announced the 43 entries selected for the competition from 70 submissions received. Among the artists were previous Lithuanian Eurovision contestants Linas Adomaitis, who represented Lithuania in 2004, and Sasha Song, who represented the Lithuania in 2009. The final changes to the list of 43 competing acts were later made with the withdrawal of the songs "Puffy Lips", performed by 24for7, "Will You", performed by Asta Pilypaitė, and "Dreams", performed by Vilija. +Competing entries Artist Song Songwriter(s) Agnieška "Her Name Is May" Agnieška Dobrovolska, Oleg Jerochin Aurelija Slavinskaitė "The End" Georgios Kalpakidis Avenue Acoustic "Atgal į nuodėmę" Karolis Jančenkovas Dave and Henry "Fresh Air Dream" Jacob Gitkind, Nathan Gitkind Deividas Bastys "My Girl" Žilvinas Liulys Donny Montell "Let Me" Donatas Montvydas Donny Montell and Sasha Son "Best Friends" Dmitrij Šavrov Dovydas Maščinskas "Dirty Avenue" Dovydas Maščinskas EDEN "Sleep of Mind" Andrej Viazinin, Marina Sorohan Eglė Jakštytė "Love Is Alive" Monika Mužaitė, Marius Matulevičius Eglė Petrikaitė "Laimingi kaip mes" Dalius Pletniovas Eglė Petrošiūtė "Smile" Eglė Petrošiutė El Fuego "Esu žmogus" Rūta Lukoševičiūtė, Arvydas Skirutis Evelina Sašenko "C'est ma vie" Andrius Kairys, Paulius Zdanavičius Flaer "Kibernetiniame sode" Adomas Stančikas Gintarė Korsakaitė "Atmerk akis" Andrius Guržauskas, Rūta Lukoševičiūtė Gražina Jonušaitė "Mylėk savo priešą" Darius Žvirblis Greta Šmidt "Elektronic Love" Greta Smidt Guoda Isado "Čiūto tūto" Linas Adomaitis, Guoda Juškevičiūtė The Independent "7th Bus" Kipras Varaneckas Jūratė Miliauskaitė "Tiesiog diena" Jūratė Miliauskaitė, Birutė Masiliauskienė Kas jos tokios? "Unbreakable" Hans Karlsen, Filip Racs, Aidan O'Connor Laura Jaraitė "City of Steel" Jonas Krivckas, Mindaugas Stiga Liepa "Laukiu" Liepa Mondeikaitė Linas Adomaitis "Floating to You" Linas Adomaitis, Irma Adomatienė Martynas Beinaris "Tomorrow and After" Martynas Beinaris, Gražina Guobužaitė Mezzo Tronic "I Mean It" Mezzo Tronic Mino "Don't Go" Romualdas Michailovskis, Mindaugas Mickevičius Monika "Days Go By" Monika Linkytė, Irma Adomaitienė Neferit "3 Wishes" Edgaras Lubys Nora "What Is Love?" Marius Leskauskas, Nora Strolytė Ramūnas Difartas and Gyvo Garso klubas "Before You Go" Ramūnas Difartas, Aušra Sutkauskaitė Rūta Ščiogolevaitė "I Will Break Free" Elvin Dandel, Gero Weber Sasha Son "The Slogan of Our Nation" Dmitrij Šavrov Timohi "Setellite of Setellite" Jan Suchodolski, Timohi Tofu Bubble "Take" Tofu Bubble Urtė Šilagalytė "Candy Baby" Urtė Šilagalytė, Stanislavas Stavickis Valdas Maksvytis "Leisk mylėti" Romualdas Michailovskis, Valdas Maksvytis Vigroses "Freedom of Mind" Giedrė Girnytė, Arūnas Rakšnys Viktorija Ivaškevičiūtė "Be My Baby" Viktorija Ivaškevičiūtė, Linas Adomaitis

Jury members The jury panel in the semi-finals consisted of five members, while the jury panel in the final consisted of fourteen members. +Jury members by show Jury memberSemi-finalsFinal Occupation(s) 1 2 3Artūras Novikas musicianDarius Užkuraitis musicologist, Opus 3 director Eglė Nepaitė choirmaster, producerFaustas Latėnas composer Gytis Ivanauskas choreographer, dancerJonas Vilimas producerLaura Remeikienė singer-songwriterLinas Rimša composer, jazz singerLukas Pačkauskas producerMindaugas Urbaitis composerNeda Malunavičiūtė singerNijolė Švagždienė artistic director of the group DNDRaigardas Tautkus composer, producer, singerRamūnas Zilnys journalistRosita Čivilytė singerSaulius Urbonavičius musician, producer, singerTeisutis Makačinas composerTomas Sinickis musician, singer-songwriterVaclovas Augustinas composer, conductorVytautas Juozapaitis opera singer

Shows

Semi-finals The three semi-finals of the competition aired on 5, 12, and 19 February 2011 and featured the 40 competing entries. The top three entries from each semi final advanced to the final, while the bottom entries were eliminated. On 21 February 2011, the four entries that had received a wildcard to also proceed to the final were announced; "Tomorrow and After", performed by Martynas Beinaris, received the zebra.lt wildcard.

Key Qualifier Wildcard qualifier

+ Semi-final 1 – 5 February 2011 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points 1 Mino "Don't Go" 2 667 6 8 7 2 Aurelija Slavinskaitė "The End" 1 145 1 2 12 3 Mezzo Tronic "I Mean It" 1 174 3 4 9 4 Laura Jaraitė "City of Steel" 3 89 0 3 10 5 Neferit "3 Wishes" 0 30 0 0 14 6 The Independent "7th Bus" 10 722 7 17 2 7 Gintarė Korsakaitė "Atmerk akis" 4 255 5 9 6 8 Dovydas Maščinskas "Dirty Avenue" 0 90 0 0 13 9 Monika "Days Go By" 8 1,432 12 20 1 10 Martynas Beinaris "Tomorrow and After" 5 911 8 13 5 11 Urtė Šilagalytė "Candy Baby" 6 1,323 10 16 4 12 Sasha Son "The Slogan of Our Nation" 12 224 4 16 3 13 Agnieška "Her Name Is May" 0 170 2 2 11 14 Ramūnas Difartas and Gyvo Garso klubas "Before You Go" 8 134 0 8 8

+ Semi-final 2 – 12 February 2011 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points 1 Guoda Isado "Čiūto tūto" 5 582 5 10 6 2 Valdas Maksvytis "Leisk mylėti" 1 235 1 2 14 3 Vigroses "Freedom of Mind" 7 912 10 17 2 4 Dave and Henry "Fresh Air Dream" 8 413 3 11 5 5 Liepa "Laukiu" 10 765 6 16 3 6 Tofu Bubble "Take" 4 406 2 6 10 7 Nora "What Is Love?" 6 204 0 6 9 8 EDEN "Sleep of Mind" 3 205 0 3 12 9 Eglė Petrikaitė "Laimingi kaip mes" 0 771 7 7 8 10 Deividas Bastys "My Girl" 0 800 8 8 7 11 Eglė Jakštytė "Love Is Alive" 2 171 0 2 13 12 Kas jos tokios? "Unbreakable" 4 218 0 4 11 13 Evelina Sašenko "C'est ma vie" 12 1,333 12 24 1 14 Donny Montell "Let Me" 10 487 4 14 4

+ Semi-final 3 – 19 February 2011 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points 1 Timohi "Setellite of Setellite" 0 152 2 2 12 2 Eglė Petrošiūtė "Smile" 1 274 5 6 8 3 Flaer "Kibernetiniame sode" 2 90 0 2 11 4 Gražina Jonušaitė "Mylėk savo priešą" 0 216 4 4 10 5 El Fuego "Esu žmogus" 4 131 1 5 9 6 Greta Šmidt "Elektronic Love" 4 508 7 11 5 7 Linas Adomaitis "Floating to You" 10 1,007 12 22 1 8 Viktorija Ivaškevičiūtė "Be My Baby" 7 977 10 17 3 9 Jūratė Miliauskaitė "Tiesiog diena" 5 206 3 8 6 10 Avenue Acoustic "Atgal į nuodėmę" 7 83 0 7 7 11 Donny Montell and Sasha Son "Best Friends" 8 340 6 14 4 12 Rūta Ščiogolevaitė "I Will Break Free" 12 634 8 20 2

Final