As we are reaching mid June more national broadcasters across Europe confirm their participation in the next edition of Junior Eurovision. It was Ukraine’s, Azerbaijan’s and Malta’s turn to declare their presence in the next contest set to take place in Poland.
Ukraine
Through a post on its Instagram account, Inakshi Casting made an open call to performers aged 9 to 14 to upload a video of performance of a song in Ukrainian adding the hashtag #inakshi_casting.
Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη ¡naksh¡ (@inakshi.casting) στις
The Ukrainian representative in Junior Eurovision 2018 Darina Krasnovestka, who came 4th with her song “Say Love,” will be among the jury members to review the submitted entries.
Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη ¡naksh¡ (@inakshi.casting) στις
Even though Ukraine withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv after a dramatic conflict for political reasons and terms of contract , with the national final winner Maruv and further on with the runner ups Freedom Jazz και Kazka, the country is returning decisively to another EBU contest in which the country has shown remarkable results . lets not forget the country’s victory in 2012 with Anastasiya Petryk and her entry“Nebo”.
Azerbaijan
Songfestival Azerbaijan through its Instagram account made public that it is kicking off the preparations for Junior Eurovision 2019 participation. Last year the Land of fire was represented by Fidan Huseynova and her“I Wanna Be Like You.” which finished 16th.
Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη Eurovision Azerbaijan (@songfestival.azerbaijan) στις
Azerbaijan’s participation in Junior Eurovision isn’t as regular in the adults’ contest. In 2019 it will be the 4th participation for the Land of fire. Best result for the country came in 2013 with Rustam Karimov and his entry “Me and My Guitar” which achieved a 7th placing.
MALTA
The country’s national broadcaster Television Malta (TVM) announced that it intends to participate in the forthcoming Junior Eurovision 2019, rising the number of confirmed countries to 14. TVM uploaded an application form on its Eurovision Song Malta account on Facebook, elaborating on the details of the national selection process.
The post calls for submissions of entries with a 2,5- 3 minute duration up to June 30,2019. The acts must from Maltese nationals while with an explicit rule it forbids last year’s Junior Eurovision participant , Ela Mangion, who came 5th with “Marchin’ On,” to participate again in this year’s selection.
As soon as submissions are completed, the entries will be shortlisted by a professional jury ,which remains unknown, to 12 songs. On July 7 the 12 entries will be revealed while on July 20 the 12 acts will record their entries live in a studio. On August 1 all performances will be released on television and social media in order for the public to cast its votes until August 13. The final winner will come from a combination of public and jury voting by 50% each and will be officially announced on August 20.
Malta is one of the most succeful nations in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, having won already twice: in 2013 with Gaia Cauchi and her entry“The Start”, and in 2015 with Destiny Chukunyere singing “Not My Soul,”. Chukunyere achieved to reach the final of Britain’s Got Talent while this year was a backing vocalist in Michela Pace’s Eurovision 2019 performance of her entry “Chameleon.”
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.
Finland for one more year rules out any participation as its stays stable to the principle that such event is only for adults suitable to go through. After this week’s confirmations the number of confirmed participating countries has reach the number 14. These are:
Albania
Azerbaijan
Australia
France
Georgia
Ireland
Malta
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Ukraine
Wales
The countries that have not officially confirmed but are more than likely to confirm as they attend the Reference Group meeting are:
Armenia
Belarus
Italy
Additionally countries that participated in 2018 and are likely to compete in 2019 edition too are :
Israel
Kazakhstan
Serbia
On the other hand the countries that have ruled out their participation in Poland are:
Croatia
Moldova
Montenegro
Slovenia
Sweden
Cyprus
Slovakia
After Roksana Węgiel’s victory for Poland at the 2018 contest in Minsk with her entry “Anyone I Want To Be” and TVP winning the bid to host this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest, Gliwice-Silesia has been chosen as the Host City by TVP after reviewing a row of cities and venues across the country.
Last month during a special joint press conference of EBU and the host broadcaster TVP revealed this year’s logo inviting the world to “Share the joy”. Lets remember Roksana’s winning performance last year in Minsk:
