As the end of the summer nears closer and closer, the start of the fall is soon upon us. With that, we also get closer and closer to a new season for the song contest, but as usual, we also approach the junior edition. Lots has happened over the summer months, so let’s have a quick refresher.
Tbilisi here we come
Georgia were victorious at the 2024 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Madrid, Spain, which was held all the way back in November 2024, but it’s only rather recent that it was confirmed, that the upcoming edition of the contest, would be held in the winning nation. Since, some countries have announced their participant, while others have decided to drop out fully and others even decided to return.
Withdrawals
The most important thing to point out at the moment, is that the EBU are still yet to confirm the full list of participants themselves. This has however, not halted some participating nations from publicly declaring themselves their decision ahead of time.
Both 🇪🇪 Estonia and 🇩🇪 Germany have decided to withdraw from the competition. The two countries, are the only countries that also made their debut during this decade and only have few participations under their belt. Unfortunately, both countries have struggled to impress at the contest with their few attempts with both countries finishing near the bottom of their first 2 attempts.
🇪🇪 Estonia made their debut in the contest, in the 2023 edition, and despite the low result, they didn’t give up hope towards the 2024 edition. Sadly, due to budget cuts, it became an easy decision for the Estonian broadcaster (ERR) to cut out any further Junior participations for now.
🇩🇪 Germany on the other hand, is now withdrawing for the second time in their history. The country made their debut in 2020, during the COVID-19 edition, and also struggled to make a great first impression, by even finishing last on their attempt. Ahead of the 2022 edition, the country withdrew in order to take a “creative break” from the contest, as well due to travel warnings to Armenia at the time. The country came back for 2023 and 2024, which did result in more mid-table results. However, due to changes at the German broadcaster, the responsible broadcaster for the contest (KiKa) are now, solely in charge of the country’s participation. In the past, the broadcaster were assisted by both ARD/NDR and ZDF.
Returners
With the bad news out of the way, then we can also look forward to some good news. Once again, the EBU have still not announced the full list of participants, so changes can still occur. However, both 🇭🇷 Croatia and 🇲🇪 Montenegro have announced their intention, of returning to the competition.
🇲🇪 Montenegro surprisingly announced their return to the competition a bit over a month ago by now, and it will mark their 3rd attempt at the contest, after they also participated in 2014 and 2015. In both their previous attempts, the country failed to impress and finished near the bottom, so let’s see if third time will be the charm for the Balkan nation.
🇭🇷 Croatia have we already covered, but since it’s been a while now, and as a refresher, this Balkan nation will be represented by Marino Vrgoč. This will be Croatia’s 6th entry into the competition. Well known for being the winner of the first edition, the nation quickly lost interest in the competition. Participating in the first 4 edition, before withdrawing and only returning for the 2014 contest, where the country finished last. Now back after 11 years, we will soon see how the country will fare this time. There is still no further details regarding the song that will be performed.
Confirmed representatives
Now where it gets slightly more interesting, a few countries has over the summer selected their representative and even one song has been confirmed as well. The countries are 🇦🇱 Albania, 🇲🇰 North Macedonia, 🇵🇱 Poland, 🇵🇹 Portugal and 🇪🇸 Spain. Let’s dive in, and see what has happened.
🇦🇱 Albania held their annual children’s song festival in order to select their entry. The song festival was also used to select their entry in 2015 & 2016, before the Albanian broadcaster decided to hold “Junior Fest” since 2017 (with the exception of 2020). The winner was Kroni Pula, who performed her song “Fruta Perime“, which is the song that will be used as the Albanian entry in Tbilisi, Georgia.
🇲🇰 North Macedonia withdrew from participating at the adult version after the 2022 contest, but has remained in the junior edition ever since. Nearly two months ago, Nela Mančeska was announced as the next representative for the country, after an internal selection. For now, there’s no further details regarding who will write the song, or when the song will be released, but preparations are indeed underway in this Balkan nation.
🇵🇱 Poland has unlike their recent years, decided to select their singer from a different show this time. For the past several years, the winner of Szansa na Sukces was selected to represent the Poles at the song contest, but this year, their representative came from The Voice Kids – Poland. Marianna Kłos competed in the most recent season, where she finished 2nd overall, but was awarded with the chance, to represent Poland in Tbilisi, Georgia. When the song will be released, is still unknown.
🇵🇹 Portugal continued their way of selecting their representative, but this time, it was announced prior to the final taking place. It was known that the winner of The Voice Kids – Portugal would be given the chance to represent the country. Here Inês Gonçalves was declared the winner, and given the right to represent the country. Hopes are high, after Portugal impressed last year, when they finished 2nd place in Madrid, Spain.
🇪🇸 Spain is the last country on this list for now, and after an internal decision, the Iberian country will be represented by Gonzalo Pinillos. The Spanish broadcaster had an open call for anyone who had interest of taking part, and now the team will work on composing the best possible song for the young Spanish singer. When a song can be expected, has not yet been revealed, but will be made public in due time.
Futher details
A few other countries are also underway with their decision and selection, in both 🇳🇱 The Netherlands and 🇺🇦 Ukraine, a national selection is already underway. All the finalists and songs in 🇳🇱 The Netherlands have been released, while a longlist of competitors has been released in 🇺🇦 Ukraine, with the songs to eventually follow. Further details regarding participants from all other countries are still remaining.
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Source(s): All sources are official and listed above in either English or the respective language – dependent on which country it’s about.
