Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Supernova 2018 was the fourth edition of Supernova, the music competition that selects Latvia's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.[4]

The format of the competition consisted of four shows: three semi-finals and a final. The three semi-finals featured seven competing entries each, from which two were selected to advance to the final from each show.[5] Results during the semi-final and final shows were determined by a jury panel and votes from the public.[4]

Applications could be submitted to the broadcaster between 6 September 2017 to 15 October 2017.[4] A jury of music experts appointed by LTV evaluated the submitted entries and selected the artists and songs that would compete in the televised shows. 93 entries were submitted, and 63 were shortlisted to proceed to the online voting stage. LTV introduced an online voting system for Internet users so that the jury panel could take the public's opinion into consideration. From 18 October 2017 to 29 October 2017, Internet users could listen to the 63 entries while the artists remained anonymous, and rate the songs by either selecting the “Like” or “Dislike” option for each entry.[6] The jury then selected 33 entries, taking the results of the online voting into consideration, to proceed to the live hearing; auditions in front of the jury took place on 5 November 2017 at the Alfa Park in Riga. The jury consisted of Supernova producer Ilze Jansone, music producer DJ Rudd, host Toms Grēviņš and jazz singer Jolanta Gulbe.[7] The selected performers and songs were determined by 9 November 2017. The competing artists and songs were announced on 6 December 2017.[5][8]

The first semi-final took place on 3 February 2018. Seven of the competing entries performed, and two qualified to the final via a combination of votes from a jury of music professionals and the Latvian public.[9][10]

The second semi-final took place on 10 February 2018. Seven of the competing entries performed, and three qualified to the final via a combination of votes from a jury of music professionals and the Latvian public.[9][10]

At first, only two entries had qualified, MADARA and Ritvars. However, some days later it was announced that there had been technical errors in the voting during the semifinal, which caused Markus Riva not to qualify. In order to fix this, producers decided to allow both Riva and Ritvars to qualify to the final, due to the errors being internal. As a result, three artists qualified instead of two.[12]

The third semi-final took place on 17 February 2018. Seven of the competing entries performed, and two qualified to the final via a combination of votes from a jury of music professionals and the Latvian public.[9][10]

The final took place on 24 February 2018. The eight qualifying entries performed, from which the winner, Laura Rizzotto with the song Funny Girl, was chosen via a combination of votes from a jury of music professionals and the Latvian public.[9][12][13][14][15]

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.

The following five members comprised the Latvian jury:[18]

• Valters Pūce – Chairperson – composer, musician, producer, conductor, music educator
• Mārtiņš Makreckis (Makree) – music producer, songwriter
• Aminata Savadogo (Aminata) – singer, songwriter, music producer, model, represented Latvia in the 2015 Contest
• Annija Putniņa – singer, actress, head of musical theatre department in Riga Cathedral Choir School
• Agnese Cimuška – CEO at Music Export Latvia

Split voting results from Latvia (Semi-final 2)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		V. Pūce	Makree	Aminata	A. Putniņa	A. Cimuška	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Norway	3	6	9	4	10	6	5	7	4
02	Romania	12	4	5	12	9	8	3	15
03	Serbia	11	12	11	5	6	11		14
04	San Marino	15	11	14	17	15	17		17
05	Denmark	13	13	17	13	11	16		4	7
06	Russia	16	14	4	15	17	12		1	12
07	Moldova	7	7	7	7	2	5	6	3	8
08	Netherlands	1	3	2	6	12	3	8	10	1
09	Australia	4	2	3	2	3	1	12	9	2
10	Georgia	6	5	16	9	8	9	2	6	5
11	Poland	14	17	13	8	7	13		12
12	Malta	2	8	10	1	13	4	7	13
13	Hungary	9	15	8	11	16	14		8	3
14	Latvia
15	Sweden	17	1	1	10	1	2	10	5	6
16	Montenegro	8	9	15	16	14	15		16
17	Slovenia	5	16	12	3	4	7	4	11
18	Ukraine	10	10	6	14	5	10	1	2	10

Split voting results from Latvia (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		V. Pūce	Makree	Aminata	A. Putniņa	A. Cimuška	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Ukraine	18	10	12	18	12	18		8	3
02	Spain	26	14	25	16	15	23		25
03	Slovenia	14	26	24	1	13	10	1	22
04	Lithuania	3	6	16	8	6	7	4	1	12
05	Austria	13	3	2	10	8	4	7	19
06	Estonia	1	8	8	12	5	3	8	2	10
07	Norway	5	16	13	5	21	11		9	2
08	Portugal	24	7	10	26	22	17		26
09	United Kingdom	6	25	26	2	26	9	2	18
10	Serbia	12	18	11	9	14	15		23
11	Germany	11	4	5	14	7	8	3	17
12	Albania	10	22	20	17	24	22		24
13	France	22	1	7	11	3	2	10	16
14	Czech Republic	23	17	17	25	2	13		7	4
15	Denmark	17	21	22	13	19	24		6	5
16	Australia	7	9	6	4	4	5	6	13
17	Finland	19	19	14	24	20	26		21
18	Bulgaria	8	15	4	19	25	14		20
19	Moldova	20	20	15	6	18	16		4	7
20	Sweden	4	2	1	3	1	1	12	11
21	Hungary	15	24	9	20	23	20		12
22	Israel	2	23	18	21	10	12		3	8
23	Netherlands	9	5	3	7	9	6	5	15
24	Ireland	21	11	21	15	17	21		14
25	Cyprus	16	12	19	22	11	19		10	1
26	Italy	25	13	23	23	16	25		5	6