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Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026

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Georgia in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2026
Eurovision Song Contest 2026
Participating broadcasterGeorgian Public Broadcaster (GPB)
Country Georgia
Selection processInternal selection
Announcement date
  • Artist: 14 January 2026
  • Song: 11 March 2026
Competing entry
Song"On Replay"
ArtistBzikebi
Songwriters
Placement
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (15th)
Participation chronology
◄2025 2026

Georgia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 with the song "On Replay", written by Giga Kukhianidze and Liza Japaridze, and performed by the group Bzikebi. The Georgian participating broadcaster, the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), internally selected its entry for the contest.

Background

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Prior to the 2026 contest, the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest seventeen times since its first entry in 2007.[1] Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been ninth place, which was achieved on two occasions: in 2010 with the song "Shine" performed by Sofia Nizharadze, and in 2011 with the song "One More Day" performed by Eldrine. GPB briefly withdrew from the contest in 2009 after the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) rejected its entry, "We Don't Wanna Put In", for perceived political references to Vladimir Putin who was the Russian Prime Minister at the time. The withdrawal and fallout was tied to tense relations between Georgia and then host country Russia, which stemmed from the 2008 Russo-Georgian War.[2][3][4] Georgia has, to this point, qualified to the final on eight occasions. In 2025, the song "Freedom" performed by Mariam Shengelia failed to qualify for the grand final, placing 15th out of all 16 participating countries in the semi final with 28 points.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, GPB organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. GPB was announced as one of the participants for Eurovision 2026 on 15 December 2025.[5] The broadcaster has selected its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest both through national finals and internal selections in the past. In 2025, GPB opted to internally select its entry, a method which was continued for its 2026 participation.[6]

Before Eurovision

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Internal selection

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On 14 January 2026, GPB announced that it had internally selected Bzikebi, who had previously won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008, to represent Georgia at the 2026 contest.[7] They were reported to have recorded their song around 27 February—1 March 2026, with producer Giga Kukhianidze.[8] The entry, titled "On Replay", was released on 11 March; it was composed by Kukhianidze with lyrics by Lizi Pop, who represented Georgia in Junior Eurovision 2014.[9]

At Eurovision

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The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 took place at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, and consisted of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 12 and 14 May and the final on 16 May 2026. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final will progress to the final. On 12 January 2026, an allocation draw was held to determine which of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show, each country will perform in; the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[10]

Semi final

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Georgia was allocated for the first semi final, and later, was announced to perform in position six during the show.[11] Shortly after, the qualification–announcement segment took place, and, at the end of the segment Georgia was not announced as one of the ten qualifiers, therefore, Georgia would not move on onto the final.[12]

Voting

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Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Georgia and awarded by Georgia in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Georgia

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Points awarded to Georgia (Semi-final 1)[13]
Score Televote Jury
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points  Greece  San Marino
1 point  Israel

Points awarded by Georgia

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Detailed voting results

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Each participating broadcaster assembles a seven-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent and two of which have to be between 18 and 25 years old. Each jury, and individual jury member, is required to meet a strict set of criteria regarding professional background, as well as diversity in gender and age. 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.[15] The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

The following members comprised the Georgian jury:[14]

  • Giorgi Asanishvili
  • Kakhaber Grigalashvili
  • Onise Kakhniashvili
  • Ani Tatinashvili
  • Eliso Shengelia
  • Irine Sanikidze
  • Medea Meko Kavtaradze
Detailed voting results from Georgia (Semi-final 1)[13]
R/O Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Juror F Juror G Rank Points Rank Points
01  Moldova 3 3 5 5 4 5 5 4 7 2 10
02  Sweden 4 1 2 4 3 7 3 3 8 13
03  Croatia 14 9 7 9 8 3 10 8 3 10 1
04  Greece 1 4 3 2 2 2 1 2 10 4 7
05  Portugal 13 12 14 14 11 13 12 14 11
06  Georgia
07  Finland 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 12 7 4
08  Montenegro 12 11 12 8 13 14 11 11 6 5
09  Estonia 9 14 9 13 14 11 13 12 14
10  Israel 6 5 6 7 6 6 4 6 5 1 12
11  Belgium 11 10 13 12 12 12 14 13 9 2
12  Lithuania 8 8 10 10 10 9 9 10 1 5 6
13  San Marino 10 7 8 6 7 8 8 7 4 12
14  Poland 7 13 11 11 9 4 7 9 2 8 3
15  Serbia 5 6 4 3 5 10 6 5 6 3 8
Detailed voting results from Georgia (Final)[14]
R/O Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Juror F Juror G Rank Points Rank Points
01  Denmark 21 21 15 19 18 17 18 22 7 4
02  Germany 4 20 16 18 14 10 19 18 25
03  Israel 6 5 7 8 10 5 6 5 6 2 10
04  Belgium 12 10 17 20 8 3 14 12 23
05  Albania 14 6 20 16 9 4 11 11 16
06  Greece 13 8 19 4 20 11 16 17 6 5
07  Ukraine 10 9 8 10 17 7 17 14 1 12
08  Australia 3 19 25 5 11 22 21 13 9 2
09  Serbia 25 23 18 24 24 23 23 25 8 3
10  Malta 7 2 22 17 4 12 12 7 4 14
11  Czechia 9 17 21 6 2 18 15 10 1 12
12  Bulgaria 16 4 13 9 15 8 3 8 3 5 6
13  Croatia 17 22 14 22 21 19 22 24 15
14  United Kingdom 19 18 23 14 25 15 25 23 21
15  France 1 1 12 1 3 6 8 1 12 17
16  Moldova 18 24 24 13 23 9 9 21 3 8
17  Finland 2 13 11 3 16 14 1 4 7 10 1
18  Poland 11 14 4 25 12 2 13 9 2 19
19  Lithuania 24 16 3 23 19 24 24 20 13
20  Sweden 22 15 2 11 13 25 20 16 22
21  Cyprus 8 7 1 12 5 21 2 3 8 20
22  Italy 5 3 5 2 1 13 5 2 10 11
23  Norway 20 25 6 15 7 1 4 6 5 18
24  Romania 15 11 9 21 22 16 7 19 4 7
25  Austria 23 12 10 7 6 20 10 15 24

References

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  1. ^ "Georgia". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 2023-09-15.
  2. ^ Bakker, Sietse (10 March 2009). "Georgian song lyrics do not comply with Rules". Eurovision.tv. EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  3. ^ Jonze, Tim (11 March 2009). "Eurovision 2009: Georgia pulls out of contest over 'Putin song'". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Putin jibe picked for Eurovision". bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 19 February 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  5. ^ "Confirmed: 35 countries will take part in Eurovision 2026". Eurovisionworld. 2025-12-15. Retrieved 2026-01-15.
  6. ^ Petersen, Christian (2026-01-14). "Georgia: Bzikebi to Eurovision 2026". Eurovisionworld. Retrieved 2026-01-14.
  7. ^ "საქართველოს ევროვიზია 2026-ზე საბავშვო ევროვიზია 2008-ის გამარჯვებული ჯგუფი „ბზიკები" წარადგენს". 1TV (in Georgian). Retrieved 2026-03-01.
  8. ^ Granger, Anthony (1 March 2026). "🇬🇪 Georgia: Bzikebi Are Recording Their Eurovision Song". Eurovoix.
  9. ^ "Bzikebi premiere 'On Replay' for Georgia". Eurovision.com. EBU. 2026-03-11. Retrieved 2026-03-13.
  10. ^ "The Semi-Final Draw for Vienna 2026: All you need to know". Eurovision.com. EBU. 2026-01-06. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
  11. ^ "Vienna 2026: Semi-Final Running Orders revealed". Eurovision Song Contest. 2026-04-02. Retrieved 2026-05-14.
  12. ^ "Eurovision 2026: The First Semi-Final Qualifiers". eurovision.com. 12 May 2026. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  13. ^ a b c "Results of the First Semi-Final of Vienna 2026". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 17 May 2026.
  14. ^ a b c "Results of the Grand Final of Vienna 2026". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 17 May 2026.
  15. ^ "How the Eurovision Song Contest works". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 May 2024.