Ahead of Vidbir 2023, broadcaster Suspilne gave the Ukrainian public the opportunity to vote for who should sit on the national final jury panel. With voting now closed, it’s been revealed that Jamala, Taras Topolia and Julia Sanina earned the most votes and will therefore act as judges for the December show.

More than 500,000 people cast their vote via the Diia app. The public were able to vote from a shortlist of nine candidates, including a mix of former Eurovision contestants, popular musicians and stage directors. 

Suspilne announced the results through their Instagram account, along with the percentage of votes that each candidate received:

  1. Taras Topolia – 17.41%
  2. Jamala – 15.71%
  3. Julia Sanina – 15.70%
  4. Tina Karol – 15.67%
  5. DZIDZIO (Mykhailo Khoma) – 12.60%
  6. Kateryna Pavlenko – 9.20%
  7. Zlata Ognevich – 6.09%
  8. Valeriy Kharchyshyn – 5.77%
  9. Kostyantyn Tomilchenko – 1.85%
 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Євробачення Україна (@suspilne.eurovision)

Vidbir 2023 jurors

Taras Topolia

Antytila’s lead singer, Taras Topolia, is the husband of Eurovision 2010 singer Alyosha. Besides that, his involvement with the contest is quite limited. To Ukrainian Eurovision fans, he is known to have harshly critiqued Go_A’s Eurovision 2020 entry “Solovey”, so it’s likely that folktronica music won’t be his thing. Topolia has been a volunteer in the 130th battalion of the Territorial Defence Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and also co-founded the ANTYTILA charitable foundation.

Jamala

The Eurovision 2016 winner and four-time Vidbir jury member needs barely any introduction. Jamala‘s critique is always honest and is never partial to her colleagues. On top of that, she enjoys everything from rap to ballads. Over recent months, Jamala has been fundraising for Ukraine through concerts and TV appearances. She was also recently given the Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award by the Atlantic Council.

Julia Sanina

In 2016, The Hardkiss finished second in Vidbir after loosing a tiebreak with Jamala. However, it still gave the already popular band and its lead singer Julia Sanina another hit with “Helpless”. As a solo singer, Julia has topped the Ukrainian charts and won a YUNA Music Award for a duet with Tina Karol. She has previous judging experience, having served on the jury panel of X Factor Ukraine in 2016.

Vidbir 2023: Show details

Ukraine’s Eurovision 2023 national final takes place on 17 December. It will be held inside Kyiv’s Independence Square metro station, which has been used as a bomb shelter throughout the war.

Broadcaster Suspilne recently shared the long list of 36 acts who are still in the running to compete. These long-listed acts are now in an audition process. The list of finalists will be revealed no later than 17 November. 

What do you think Jamala, Taras Topolia and Julia Sanina will bring to the Vidbir 2023 jury panel? Are you excited for the show? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

35 Comments
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Harry
Harry
1 year ago

Will Vidbar 2023 have drama?
– drama of course.

Sir Stevia
Sir Stevia
1 year ago

I hope Vidbir won’t be a clusterflop this time but it probably will especially with Jamala being there.

James
James
1 year ago
Reply to  Sir Stevia

How’s so?

Jesse O'Rourke
Jesse O'Rourke
1 year ago

is Jamala having a life/career outside ESC? Oh, wait ….. NO !

James
James
1 year ago
Reply to  Jesse O'Rourke

Being a mom and a wife.

Hermès
Hermès
1 year ago
Reply to  Jesse O'Rourke

Do you?

Tomi
Tomi
1 year ago

Maybe not this time. Have faith!

Dawid
Dawid
1 year ago

Uncomfortable and questionable

Karl
Karl
1 year ago
Reply to  Dawid

OK.. OK.. (claps) OK..

Héctor
Héctor
1 year ago

Is Jamala returning to Ukraine then or will she appear via video-conference?

Teddy
1 year ago
Reply to  Héctor

Ukraine takes Vidbir very seriously and it’s basically being held in a bunker so she’s 99% going to be there, she definitely won’t stay long after through – especially with the Russians threatening her

Ares
Ares
1 year ago

I was expecting Kate tbh

Teddy
1 year ago

Not sure why anyone would be shocked Ukraine chose Jamala. She’s popular over there as most Ukrainian and Russian speakers understood the motivation behind her comments in 2019 and have moved on. She’s also spent all her time campaigning and raising awareness for the country when she could easily have lived a very comfortable life away from Ukraine. There were much worse things said in Russian and Ukrainian that night that no-one here understood and she’s really been scapegoated for something she had no hand in doing. It’s now been 4 years and she’s been involved in every selection since… Read more »

Teddy
1 year ago
Reply to  Teddy

The memes were amazing but many of the other contestants were asked very unprofessional and probing questions by the host if he thought the contestant had any links to Russia. One act were asked whether their mother defecting to Russia was enough to make them unfit to represent the country. And if I remember correctly Danylko (or Verka) had some questionable input too.

Tomi
Tomi
1 year ago
Reply to  Teddy

Sometimes Eurovision gets things very wrong, but sometimes it gets things very right too. Jamala winning was one of those occasions where the best song & the best singer actually won. I have loved Jamala to bits ever since & I’m glad she is on Vidbir’s jury again.

Harry
Harry
1 year ago
Reply to  Teddy

My problem with her us that she brings politics into eurovision. her song is fine, as it is told in the perspective of normal citizens experiencing a tragedy, but the whole ‘Crimea is Ukraine?’ thing went too far imo.

NickC
NickC
1 year ago

I am just hoping they will have power/electricity to make Vidbir happen, despite evil Russian aggression.

Eurotoxic
Eurotoxic
1 year ago

Taras Topolia is a sexy ucranian daddy

Colin
Colin
1 year ago
Reply to  Eurotoxic

Daddy? This man looks 28. I might be out of touch, but isn’t “daddy” reserved for 45+ guys who are still hot?

Tomi
Tomi
1 year ago
Reply to  Colin

Huuuh… Isn’t daddy a way of saying that he’s more of a top than a bottom? In the gay world. And for that matter, the actual age is of no importance. Then, regardless of this. If he is at least 28 years old, he is already old enough to have fathered 1 or 2 or more kids in real life or whatever world he lives in.

Giorgio
Giorgio
1 year ago
Reply to  Tomi

some has daddy issues… i can assure you that a 21-year old top is not a “daddy” by any stretch of the imagination

Tomi
Tomi
1 year ago
Reply to  Giorgio

Ok. I was asking a question. I never pretended to be aware of things. Or to be more right than anyone else.

Sir Stevia
Sir Stevia
1 year ago
Reply to  Tomi

A Daddy is just an attractive older Man. Daddies can be bottoms as well….
Typically Men who are referred to as Daddies are over 30.

Colin
Colin
1 year ago
Reply to  Colin

The interesting question both Tomi and you raise is whether one can be considered ”daddy” (or alternatively MILF) due to age or parental status? Is a 22-year-old father ”a daddy”. Can a childless 50-year-old be considered as such? I know, deep questions in life. 😉

Thallo
Thallo
1 year ago

Shocked that Jamala was chosen, and even more shocked that Go_A’s Kate wasn’t chosen.

Jonas
Jonas
1 year ago
Reply to  Thallo

Why would you be shocked that a Eurovision winner was picked? They’re picking a Eurovision song, it makes sense.

Frisian esc
Frisian esc
1 year ago
Reply to  Thallo

It’s only the eurovision echo chamber that hates jamala. Not the ukrainian audience.

Thallo
Thallo
1 year ago
Reply to  Frisian esc

Interesting! I didn’t know Ukrainians were still fans after the Maruv incident. It makes sense they are though, Jamala is *very* patriotic.

Teddy
1 year ago
Reply to  Thallo

From my understanding of Ukrainian society she’s not particularly patriotic when compared to her fellow Ukrainians. She also had a much larger stake in the pre-invasion conflict over Crimea as she’s not only from there but also was a victim of the genocide that took place there and is banned from returning for the foreseeable future. I’d say she’s pretty moderate considering her circumstances

Ant
Ant
1 year ago
Reply to  Thallo

Maruv has little to no interest for the general Ukrainian public, Jamala is a universally recognized icon

MTD
MTD
1 year ago
Reply to  Ant

Plus, Maruv ain’t in Russia now?

Ant
Ant
1 year ago
Reply to  MTD

She is, she has also been spreading ru conspiracies in the social media and made her accounts unavailable to access from Ukraine. At the same time, she’s shamelessly promoting herself in Europe as a “Ukrainian singer”. She is literally a traitor and a POS human being who doesn’t deserve all those crazy eurofans’ sympathies

Ieva
Ieva
1 year ago

Happy for Julia! Although I would still prefer The Hardkiss to represent Ukraine themselves 😀

James
James
1 year ago

Certainly someone’s not gonna be happy seeing Jamala’s involvement in the Vidbir panel again but anyway…

I’m excited to see the acts and their songs and I’m still hoping for a Tayanna, Khayat, Laud, and Kadnay return. 🙂

Esc addict
Esc addict
1 year ago
Reply to  James

Oh yes Khayat! If it could be true, I love him so much!