 A jury panel evaluated the received submissions and selected 30 entries for the competition from 57 shortlisted entries.The selection jury consisted of Konstantin Ernst (general manager of C1R), Yuriy Aksyuta (music director of C1R), Igor Matvienko (composer/producer), Maxim Fadeev (composer/producer), Viktor Drobysh (producer), Alexei Charykov, Ilya Bachurin (producer), Artur Gasparyan (journalist), Vladimir Polupanov (journalist), Maxim Kononenko (journalist), Larisa Havkina (journalist), Vladimir Matetsky (composer), Maxim Dunayevsky (composer), Larisa Dolina (singer), Alexander Malinin (singer) and Larisa Sinelshikova.The first semi-final took place on 4 February 2005 and featured ten songs competing for three qualifier spots for the final.