Congratulations Lucie!

So now we know – the UK will be represented at Eurovision 2017 in Kyiv by Lucie Jones.

The West End star and former X-Factor participant took the crown at Eurovision You Decide, held at London’s Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith. There’s a winning connection to the song, as it is co-written by the Eurovision 2013 victor, Emmelie de Forest.

The show brings to an end the process of choosing the UK’s entry for 2017 which once again the fan club was lucky enough to be involved in.

Around 400 members applied to be on the selection panel, however we were only able to accommodate 50 for the initial selection round to shortlist the songs (around 300) submitted through the open public process. These members were drawn at random from those who applied, divided into five groups, with a balance of gender, age and geographic location, with each group listening to a set number of songs. To ensure fairness, members who took part in last year’s selection panel were not able to take part this year.

Each group them nominated a top five.

The final 25 were then whittled down to one by a further selection panel (with different panellists to those who had taken place in the first roun), held at a top secret central London venue. Unlike last year where there was a runaway winner, this year’s voting was very close, however one song did emerge as a favourite.

Unlike last year, this song went through to an “Expert Check” round, alongside 11 songs submitted through the music industry. Unfortunately on this occasion our choice didn’t make it through to be one of the final six songs.

However the club would like to warmly thank the BBC for allowing OGAE UK to participate in the selection process and we look forward to future involvement.

The club committee would also like to thank all those members who took part in the selection process and acted with confidentiality and professionalism at all times.

And finally – good luck to Lucie Jones in Ukraine!