The European Broadcasting Union this morning has announced the sixteen countries that will be participating at this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

Video Source: European Broadcasting Union

The participating broadcasters are as follows: Albania (RTSH), Armenia (AMPTV), Australia (ABC), Belarus (BTRC), Cyprus (CyBC), FYR Macedonia (MKRTV), Georgia (GPB), Ireland (TG4), Italy (RAI), Malta (PBS), Poland (TVP), Portugal (RTP), Russia (RTR), Serbia (RTS), The Netherlands (AVROTROS) and Ukraine (UA:PBC).

Sadly, both Bulgaria and Israel have withdrawn from this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest – BNT held the contest as recently as 2015 in Sofia. Portugal have returned to the contest for the first time since 2007 – a ten year gap.

Other Updates

The venue for this year’s contest has changed. The previously announced Sports Palace has now been replaced by the 4000 seat Olympic Palace. This venue is deemed to have better facilities for the delegations, press and fans.

An online voting element has been introduced to this year’s contest. Between Friday 24th November and Sunday 26th November, 15:59 CET, viewers can watch a recap of all the songs and take part in the first round of online voting. A second round of online voting will then open after everyone has performed in the live show for a further 15 minutes. Both the pre-show and live online votes will form 50% of the overall vote.

Jon Ola Sand, the EBU’s Head of Live Events and Executive Supervisor of the JESC, said ‘We are thrilled to be celebrating 15 editions of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Throughout the Contest’s history we have seen some incredibly talented children perform, some of whom are now successful artists in their own right. The new voting system is an exciting new addition that will allow millions of viewers to take part in the show once again”.

National Finals

There are still a few National Finals to take place. They are Belarus & Ukraine (25th August), The Netherlands (16th September), Albania (23rd September) and Poland (1st October).

Stay with us here for all the latest Junior Eurovision Song Contest news, where we will continue to cover all the build up, before bringing you everything to you live from Tbilisi in November.

Author: Richard Taylor

Source: European Broadcasting Union