Jamala, whose full name is Susana Jamaladynova, told Ukraine Today in February that she wrote the song because she was inspired by a story her great-grandmother told her about the deportation of her family and others in Crimea.
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The 32-year-old victor is a member of the Muslim Tatar minority of Crimea who saw her great-grandmother deported along with 240,000 others by Stalin in the penultimate year of World War II.
Ukraine was able to collect 534 points thanks to its song 1944, which is centered around the deportation of Crimean Tatars, BBC reported.
Jamala got 534 points on Saturday, Australia’s Dami Im came second with 511 for Sound Of Silence and Russian Federation got 491 for You Are The Only One.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko hailed Jamala’s “unbelievable” victory with a political song about Russian-annexed Crimea.
He said only singers who do not support Crimea’s reunification with Russian Federation will be able to take part, according to the news agency.
In a show known for its playfulness and camp, 32-year-old Jamala struck a sombre tone with her lyrics about strangers coming to “kill you all”, in reference to the forced removal of ethnic Tatars by Josef Stalin during the Second World War.
Jamala said Europe had voted for her song as “they understood and felt me”.
Eurovision 2016 had everything: A politically-charged battle for first place, a near-upset by Australia (which is in Europe now?) and then a surprise half-time show by Justin Timberlake.
The first, and more extensive, presentation was the votes of the national juries – judging panels comprised of professional musicians and media personalities in each country, who give out half of its votes.
There’s been criticism out of Russian Federation in response to Ukraine’s victory in the European Song Contest.
Jamala sung mostly in English but the chorus was in a Crimean Tatar Turkic dialect.
The tensions clouded the lead-up to 2016 Eurovision, with the head of Ukrainian broadcaster Zurab Alasania declaring his country would not take part next year if Russian Federation won.
He called for a Russian boycott of next year’s contest, in Ukraine. It said Armenia’s public broadcaster would face “yet-to-be-determined” sanctions and warned that “any further breach of the rules of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest could lead to [Armenia’s] disqualification from this year’s event or any successive editions”.
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He added: “Eight years ago, when I was lucky enough to get this job of commentating, Sir Terry very kindly and graciously phoned me, and the only bit of advice he had for me was “Don’t have a drink before song nine”.
