Pernilla Karlsson

Since 1961, a selection show that was often titled Euroviisukarsinta highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision.

Finland has won the contest once in 2006 with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi.

In the 2011 contest, "Da Da Dam" performed by Paradise Oskar managed to qualify Finland to the final and placed twenty-first.

The Finnish national broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), broadcasts the event within Finland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry.

Yle confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest on 16 May 2011.

Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest have been selected through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years.

A submission period was opened by Yle which lasted between 15 August 2011 and 1 October 2011.

At least one of the writers and the lead singer(s) had to hold Finnish citizenship or live in Finland permanently in order for the entry to qualify to compete.

A panel of eleven experts appointed by Yle shortlisted 40 entries from the 540 received submissions.

Demo versions of the shortlisted entries were released on 2 November 2011 at yle.fi and an online vote took place which was won by "Aamuyön ikuisuus" performed by Jari and Taika.

The judging panel selected twelve entries for the competition and an additional three entries for a wildcard selection.

Finland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "När jag blundar" written by Jonas Karlsson.

The song was performed by Pernilla Karlsson.

The Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle) organised the national final Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2012 in order to select the Finnish entry for the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan.

13 entries were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of four performance shows and a final, taking place in January and February 2012.

Six entries ultimately competed in the final on 25 February where votes from the public selected "När jag blundar" performed by Pernilla Karlsson as the winner.

Finland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 22 May 2012.

Performing during the show in position 9, "När jag blundar" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.

It was later revealed that Finland placed twelfth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 41 points.

Prior to the 2012 contest, Finland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-five times since its first entry in 1961.

However, along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster also announced that the Finnish entry for the 2012 contest would be selected through the selection show Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), which would focus on showcasing new music with the winning song being selected as the Finnish Contest entry.

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2012 was the first edition of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), the music competition that selects Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The competition consisted of five shows that commenced with the first of four performance shows on 3 February 2012 and concluded with a final on 25 February 2012.

The four shows were hosted by YleX DJs Anne Lainto and Joona Kortesmäki.

All shows were broadcast on Yle TV2, Yle HD and online at yle.fi.

The final was also broadcast via radio on Yle Radio Suomi.

The format of the competition consisted of five shows: four performance shows and a final.

Six songs competed in each of the first two performance shows and two entries from each show were eliminated.

Nine songs consisting of the remaining eight songs and a wildcard selected by a public vote competed in the third performance show and two entries were eliminated to complete the six-song lineup in the final.

The results for the first three shows were determined by a five-member judging panel, the results for the fourth show were determined by public voting and judges' voting, while the results in the final were determined exclusively by a public vote.

Public voting included the options of telephone and SMS voting.

The judging panel participated in each show by providing feedback to the competing artists and selecting entries to qualify in the competition.

The panel consisted of:

The competing entries were presented during a televised preview programme on 27 January 2012, hosted by Anne Lainto and Joona Kortesmäki, and the public was able to vote via telephone and SMS for the wildcard until 2 February 2012.

"Teleport My Heart" performed by The Spyro was selected as the public wildcard and was announced during the second performance show on 10 February 2012.

The four performance shows took place on 3, 10, 17 and 24 February 2012 in Helsinki; the first two shows took place at the M1 Studios, while the third show took place at the Club Dom as a live gig in front of an audience and the fourth show took place at the Helsinki Ice Hall as part of the final rehearsals.

The public wildcard, "Teleport My Heart" performed by The Spyro, performed starting from the third show.

The judges eliminated two of the competing entries in the first three shows, while one was eliminated by the judges in the fourth show after a public vote starting on 17 February 2012 nominated two of the seven remaining entries for elimination.

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Laura Närhi performed as the interval act in the first show.

The final took place on 25 February 2012 at the Helsinki Ice Hall in Helsinki where the six entries that qualified from the preceding four performance shows competed.