Junior Eurovision 2019: It’s a yes from Armenia , a “no return” from Latvia and a maybe from Spain

Armenia has confirmed that it will be present in the next edition of the  Junior Eurovision Song Contest, next November in Poland. 

The national broadcaster, ARMTV revealed that the next representative will be selected through  Depi Mankakan Evratesil as they did last year. This will be the 2nd year in a row to use the same format while the submission window has already opened for children between 9 and 14 years old. The conditions for applying are: 

• Armenian citizens and Armenian children can participate in the project, which will be held later this year
• Participants must have a song ready
• The song (music and lyrics) should not be published before May 1st 2019
• The maximum duration of the song is 3 minutes, with the minimum being 2 minutes 30 seconds

The total rules can be found here.

Since 2015 Armenia selected its Junior Eurovisionact internally while the national final  Junior Eurosong was used as a format for entries selected the years  2008-2014. Last year the show Depi Mankakan Evratesil was used for the first time as a national final format with 10 candidates. L.E.V.O.N eventually won the ticket to Minsk, Belarus, where he came 9th , the country’s worst placing. 

No return for Latvia

Latvia has decided not make a return in the 2019 edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The national broadcaster, LTV, confirmed to  Eurofestivales that they won’t be returning this year, with Krista Luize stating :

Our priorities this year is the participation in the Eurovision Song Contest and Eurovision Choir. The preparation of our entries for both competitions is a long and complicated process both for the artists and production teams, therefore we have decided to participate in these two.”

Latvia was one of the original sixteen nations to participate in the first edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. The country competed in the contest for a period of three years. Their best result during this period was at the 2003 contest where Dzintars Čīča finished 9th. After three years of participation the country withdrew from the competition. 

Latvia came back to the contest in 2010 in Minsk, Belarus. Šarlote Lēnmane & Sea Stones achieve the country’s  second ever top 10 finish with the song “Viva la Dance”. From 2011 up to date Latvia hasn’t took part in the contest. 

The case of Spain 

The Spanish national broadcaster, RTVE, revealed that it will publish its final decision concerning  Junior Eurovision on June 30.

The final decision of a participation in  Gliwice  or not will be revealed during the program  “RTVE responde”, during which the broadcaster answers to viewers’ questions on RTVE. Ο Toñi Prieto, Head of Entertainment, will elaborate on questions concerning the channel’s summer program and among these details will be the decision of a Junior Eurovision participation or not. The program will be aired at  13:00 CET on  La 2.

During the press conference after Miki selection as the Spanish Eurovision representative,the Spanish Head of Delegation, Ana Maria Bordás, stated that RTVE was considering returning to the contest:

It’s something that we debate every year, that every year we try and we’re open again. But it is a decision that has not yet been made. You know that we have to answer in June if we are going to participate or not, we have a few months ahead to say it.

It is a very complicated issue because on the one hand we want to be: France has returned, this year in 2018 it has been incorporated. But it is true that we have not had any music program with children, and well, it is more difficult; but it is a decision that the management will take at the time. Of course, every year is a debate that we have and that is being studied … This year there was a large audience for Junior Eurovision in Spain without us participating and well, that is something we take into account. 

In case of retuning this will be Spain first participation in 13 years. Even though the country has participated only 4 years, it has achieved remarkable results. In 2003 and 2005 was runner up , in 2006 fourth while in 2004 it had finished 1st with María Isabel and her song “Antes muerta que sencilla”. 

The map of participating countries so far

Up to date only Georgia has selected  Giorgi Rostiashvili as its representative after winning TV-1’s show of Ranina. After this week’s confirmation from Armenia  the confirmed participating countries have reached 16. These are: