PRESS RELEASE / UKRAINE – Olena (Ellen) Usenko is the winner of the Ukrainian national selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021. She will represent Ukraine in Paris with the song “Vazhil” (Lever) that she wrote herself.
The winner was decided from among 11 finalists by the combination of jury voting and online voting. Olena and her song “Vazhil” received 52 points from the jury, 11 points from online voting and gained a total of 63 points.
“I want to say a great thank you to everyone. I thank Oleksandr Balabanov whose victory last year gave me an incentive to work hard the whole year. I thank all the jury members! My song is called “Vazhil” (Lever). Lever is about making the decision; the decision to be happy,” commented Olena.
Olena Usenko is 14 years old. She lives in the town of Bila Tserkva. Olena loves singing and dancing, practices vocals, acting, choreography, guitar, piano and percussion playing. Last year Olena participated in the national selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and reached the final where she ended second.
The jury that decided the winner consisted of 5 music experts:
- Alyosha – singer, representative of Ukraine at Eurovision Song Contest 2010
- Ihor Kondratiuk – TV presenter and producer
- Liuba Morozova – musicologist
- Ihor Panasov – editor-in-chief of Karabas Live, music journalist
- Oleksandr Balabanov – representative of Ukraine at Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020
