Lithuania was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "We Are the Winners", written by Andrius Mamontovas, Saulius Urbonavičius, and Viktoras Diawara, and performed by the group LT United. The Lithuanian participating broadcaster, (LRT), organised the national final in order to select its entry for the contest. The national final took place over eight weeks and involved 49 artists competing in two different competitive streams: newcomers and established artists. In the final, 16 entries remained and a public vote entirely selected "We Are the Winners" performed by LT United as the winner with 32,669 votes. Songwriter and group member Viktoras Diawara represented as part of the group SKAMP.

Lithuania competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 18 May 2006. Performing during the show in position 18, "We Are the Winners" was announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 20 May. This marked the first qualification to the final for Lithuania since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. It was later revealed that Lithuania placed fifth out of the 23 participating countries in the semi-final with 163 points. In the final, Lithuania performed in position 14 and placed sixth out of the 24 participating countries, scoring 162 points.

Background

Prior to the 2006 contest, (LRT) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Lithuania six times since its first entry in 1994. Its best placing in the contest was thirteenth, achieved with the song "You Got Style" performed by Skamp. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the , Lithuania, to this point, had never managed to qualify to the final. In , "Little by Little" performed by Laura and the Lovers failed to qualify to the final.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, LRT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Other than the internal selection of its debut entry in 1994, the broadcaster has selected its entry consistently through a national final procedure. LRT confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2006 contest on 5 October 2005 and announced the organization of , which would be the national final to select its entry for the contest.

Before Eurovision

(Eurovision Song Contest national selection) was the national final format developed by LRT in order to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The competition involved an eight-week-long process that commenced on 14 January 2006 and concluded with a winning song and artist on 4 March 2006. The eight shows took place were hosted by Jurga Šeduikytė and Rolandas Vilkončius and were broadcast on LTV and LTV2 as well as online via the broadcaster's website lrt.lt.

Format The Lithuanian broadcaster overhauled the format of the national final from that of previous years. For the 2006 competition, entries initially competed in two different subgroups: newcomers, and established artists with more than one year of active stage experience or that had participated in the Lithuanian national final for at least two years. Entries from newcomers were higher in number (28) and therefore three heats consisting of eight or 10 entries each were held during the programme Lietuvos dainų dešimtukas, resulting in the top four from each show advancing in the competition. The remaining 12 entries participated in the fourth show on 4 February, where half of the entries were eliminated, leaving six entries remaining in the group. The fifth to seventh shows were the competition's semi-finals, where the established artists and the remaining six newcomers participated together for the first time. Nine entries participated in each of the first two semi-finals and the top five proceeded to the final, while seven entries participated in the third semi-final and the top four proceeded to the final. LRT also selected two wildcard acts for the final out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from the semi-finals. In the final, the winner was selected from the remaining 16 entries.

The results of the newcomers selection were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of three to five members and public televoting. 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. In the semi-finals and the final, the results were determined solely by public televoting. The public could vote through telephone and SMS voting.

Competing entries LRT opened a submission period on 5 October 2005 for artists and songwriters to submit their entries with the deadline on 11 December 2005. On 13 January 2006, LRT announced the 52 entries selected for the competition from 72 submissions received. Among the artists was previous Lithuanian Eurovision contestant Viktoras Diawara (member of LT United), who represented as part of Skamp. The final changes to the list of 52 competing acts were later made with the withdrawal of five songs: "Daydreaming" performed by Eleonora Sobrova, and "Remember" performed by Helada from the newcomers group, as well as "Day or Night" performed by Amberlife, "Escape We Tonight" performed by Mantas, and "Už lango šventė" performed by Egidijus Sipavičius from the established artists group. Artist Song Songwriter(s) 4Fun "Kitą dieną" Julija RitčikAistė Pilvelytė"Just for Fun"Rafael Artesero Alanas Chošnau "The Heat" Eric L., Slavic L. Gravity, Alanas ChošnauAliukai"Madona"Nejolė Laukavičienė, Evaldas Melnikas Antanas Nedzinskas "Pop žvaigždė" Aleksandras Makejevas Artas "Wonder Who Loves You" Artūras Pitkauskas Ashtrey "Window to the World" Ashtrey, Rita Naujokaitytė Augustė "Make Me Wanna Lose You" Augustė Vedrickaitė B'Avarija "If My Dream Came True" Deivydas Zvonkus, Juozas Liesis Banglai "I'm So Happy" Bugs Band"Pajūrio samba"Ričardas RunčaC–Stones and Favour"Flirtin' on the Dance Floor"Mads BB Krog Colder "Halo" Vaidotas Valančius Dove "4 Ever" Paulius Jasiūnas, U. Vaitiekus Dovilė "The Way to You" Alvidas Kavaliauskas, Rūta Lukoševičiūtė Edmundas Kučinskas "Tavo ir mano dalia" Edmundas Kučinskas, Paulius StalionisEduardo Gimenez"Geografias"Eduardo Gimenez Eglė Juodytė "Not Good to Be Mad" Eglė Juodytė Eleonora Sobrova "Daydreaming" Evelina Jocytė "Take Me" Evelina Škėmaitė "Let Me Be Your Star" Fate "Baby You Are" Tadas Čipsas, Ludvikas Čipsas Flaer "Iš lempos" Adomas Stančikas Giulija "Grafiti" Aras Žvirblis, Olegas Zotovas Gravel "Round and Round" Tomas Sinickis, Miroslav Sinickis Helada "Remember" Highway"It's a Longest Way"Seržas Fino, Romanas Njejelovas Hola "All I Need" InCulto"Welcome to Lithuania"InCulto Intro's "Girl You Know" Jonas Čepulis "I Don't Think" Jonas Čepulis, Aurelijus SirgedasLT United"We Are the Winners"Andrius Mamontovas, Saulius Urbonavičius, Viktoras Diawara Margarita Arta "Thoughts" Margarita Arta Milana "Eternal Love" N.E.O."Alright"Raigardas TautkusNacija and Rasa Juzukonytė"Pavasario lietus"Aurelijus Globys Natas "Jūros liga" Aurelijus Sirgedas Nerri "Again" Neringa Žiliūtė Onsa "Time to Change" Tautrimas Rupulevičius Robertas Kupstas "Falling in Love" Stefano Ganopoulos Rugiagėlių Berniukai "Turn Around" Haroldas ŠlikasRūta Lukoševičiūtė"Lithuanian Boy"Stefano Ganopoulos Saulės kliošas "Back to the Future" Saulės kliošas Sėkmė "Funny" Sinir Yok "Give Me Your Heart" Monika Miniotaitė, Oskars Vorobjovas-Pinta Stringaj "Cockroach Love" Vilius Tamošaitis, Tadas Majeris Super Kolegos "Song About Love" Mindaugas Dirda The Road Band "I Feel So Free" Alexander Belkin, Julija Ritčik Tribute "Lifestyle"

Jury members (Newcomers selection) +Jury members by newcomers selection show Jury member Semi-finals Final Occupation(s) 1 2 3Algirdas Kaušpėdas lead singer of the group AntisArina Borunova singerArminas Višinskis journalistArtūras Orlauskas television presenterEdmundas Žalpys music event organiserJanina Miščiukaitė singerJonas Jučas organiser of the Kaunas Jazz festivalJurijus Smoriginas choreographer Povilas Meškėla lead singer of the group Rojaus tūzai Rima Dirsytė-Zeip singerStepas Januška singerVilhelmas Čepinskis musicianViktoras Malinauskas singer Vytautas Juozapavičius producer

Shows

Newcomers selection The newcomers selection of the competition aired from the LRT studios in Vilnius between 14 January and 4 February 2006. The three semi-finals featured the 28 entries from the newcomers and the top four advanced to the newcomers final from each semi-final; the bottom entries were eliminated.

Two acts that were scheduled to perform in the first semi-final didn't appear; Eleonora Sobrova with "Daydreamer" was disqualified for not showing up, whilst Robertas Kupstas with "Falling In Love" was sick, so his performance was moved to the newcomers semi-final 2. In the second heat, Helada with "Remember" was involved in a car accident, forcing her to withdraw from the competition.

Key Qualified Rescheduled Disqualified/Withdrew

+ Newcomers semi-final 114 January 2006 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points 1 Eglė Juodytė "Not Good to Be Mad" 10 142 4 14 3 2 Eleonora Sobrova "Daydreaming" — — — — — 3 Augustė "Make Me Wanna Lose You" 12 984 12 24 1 4 Robertas Kupstas "Falling In Love" — — — — — 5 Antanas Nedzinskas "Pop žvaigždė" 4 442 10 14 3 6 Margarita Arta "Thoughts" 3 15 3 6 8 7 Jonas Čepulis "I Don't Think" 8 225 8 16 2 8 Hola "All I Need" 5 183 7 12 6 9 Fate "Baby You Are" 6 159 5 11 7 10 Evelina Jocytė "Take Me" 7 166 6 13 5 11 colspan="2" align="left" 47

+ Newcomers semi-final 221 January 2006 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points 1 Colder "Halo" 10 125 2 12 4 2 Robertas Kupstas "Falling in Love" 8 895 12 20 1 3 Milana "Eternal Love" 7 259 4 11 5 4 Dove "4 Ever" 12 533 8 20 1 5 Gravel "Round and Round" 5 619 10 15 3 6 Sėkmė "Funny" 6 98 1 7 8 7 Super Kolegos "Song About Love" 4 339 7 11 5 8 Flaer "Iš lempos" 2 272 5 7 8 9 Sinir Yok "Give Me Your Heart" 1 183 3 4 10 10 Evelina Škėmaitė "Let Me Be Your Star" 3 287 6 9 7 — Helada "Remember" — — — — —

+ Newcomers semi-final 328 January 2006 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points 1 Intro's "Girl You Know" 6 654 10 16 3 2 Stringaj "Cockroach Love" 4 237 5 9 7 3 Ashtrey "Window to the World" 10 313 7 17 2 4 Rugiagėlių Berniukai "Turn Around" 2 108 2 4 8 5 Tribute "Lifestyle" 3 92 1 4 8 6 Onsa "Time to Change" 8 346 8 16 3 7 Nerri "Again" 7 133 4 11 5 8 Banglai "I'm So Happy" 1 133 3 4 8 9 Natas "Jūros liga" 5 271 6 11 5 10 Dovilė "The Way to You" 12 1,949 12 24 1 + Newcomers final4 February 2006 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points 1 Dovilė "The Way to You" 10 1,111 8 18 2 2 Ashtrey "Window to the World" 7 317 2 9 6 3 Colder "Halo" 5 121 0 5 10 4 Intro's "Girl You Know" 2 715 6 8 8 5 Antanas Nedzinskas "Pop žvaigždė" 0 562 3 3 11 6 Dove "4 Ever" 12 571 4 16 3 7 Jonas Čepulis "I Don't Think" 1 230 0 1 12 8 Robertas Kupstas "Falling in Love" 3 897 7 10 4 9 Eglė Juodytė "Not Good to Be Mad" 6 261 1 7 9 10 Onsa "Time to Change" 4 700 5 9 6 11 Augustė "Make Me Wanna Lose You" 8 2,392 12 20 1 12 Gravel "Round and Round" 0 1,408 10 10 4

Semi-finals The three semi-finals of the competition aired from the LRT studios in Vilnius on 11, 18, and 25 February 2006 and featured both the established artists and entries that qualified from the newcomers selection. In each of the first two semi-finals, the top five advanced to the final, while the top four entries of the third semi-final advanced to the final; the bottom entries were eliminated. On 27 February 2006, LRT announced the two entries that had received a wildcard to also proceed to the final.

Key Qualifier Wildcard qualifier