Junior Eurovision 2023: What We Know So Far (October 2023)

While for many people, Junior Eurovision is just a cute little footnote for the actual contest, for me and several others, we find it just as important as adult Eurovision. We're starting to get more information now, so let's take a look at what we know so far about Junior Eurovision 2023, a month out from the contest.

Junior Eurovision 2023

Host Country: France

It's actually a rather recent phenomenon that the winning country would then go on to host the upcoming contest. Previously we even had countries like Malta or Bulgaria host the contest, despite having never won the contest. Poland first did it in 2019, they did it again in 2020 (albeit remotely), and then France did it for the first time. After that of course we had Armenia win in Paris, and we went to Yerevan. Then France won in Yerevan, and immediately at the press conference, the French delegation expressed their interest in hosting the upcoming contest.

Host City: Nice (Palais Nikaïa)

It had been rumoured that the initial host city choice in 2021 had been Nice rather than Paris. Presumably the French delegation did not want kids to go any further than Paris due to Covid concerns, so they held the contest in Paris instead. But this year the pandemic situation is of course much better, so we are finally going to the French Riviera. Although according to Eurofans from France, Nice is apparently a rather racist city. So if you don't look outwardly European, be careful if you plan on travelling there.

The Palais Nikaïa is a venue that can hold 9000 people. Would be small by adult Eurovision standards, but a relatively big venue by Junior standards. Incidentally, "Nikaïa" is the French transliteration of the Ancient Greek name of the city, so the name of the arena literally translates to "palace Nice".

Hosts: Olivier Minne, Laury Thilleman, Ophenya (digital ambassador)

The first two of these hosts were announced during a press conference on 27/9. The latter was revealed in a blog post by RTVE, the Spanish broadcaster.

Olivier Minne had already hosted in 2021, having been the English-speaking host (a role which he will probably reprise). Laury Thilleman is a presenter, model, journalist among other things, who has recently presented such shows on France Televisions as Victoires de la Musique and Fête de la Musique.

On 10/10, Ophenya was announced as the digital ambassador of JESC2023. Ophenya is a French TikToker with more than 6 million followers. In addition to stage hosting duties, she will accompany the participants in the green room.

Date: 26th of November

Interesting to note that this is the first November contest since 2020. This year, we seem to be returning to the norm of hosting the contest in late November as opposed to December. The last December contest before 2021 was 2012, and even then it was only the 1st of December. Paris was by far the latest contest in the year; the latest before then was 2007, when it was hosted on the 8th in Rotterdam.

Theme & Slogan: Heroes

The slogan was revealed during the press conference on 10/5 in Liverpool, alongside a dramatic trailer. The French head of delegation, Alexandra Redde-Amiel, says that they "wanted it to be an immediate signal of good times". Also noteworthy that this is the first time the Eurovision heart is being used in the generic logo of JESC, as follows:

This new graphic was posted for the first time when the list of participating countries was announced. More moving graphics were posted on 25/9, when the intro logo to the Albanian national final performance was posted on the official Youtube channel.

Stage Design: revealed on 27/9:

The 30m centrepiece features a 12m-high screen in the shape of wings, which "reflects the desire to fly away, create and imagine".

Interval Acts: Amir

At the press conference on 27/9, it was announced that discussions are underway with big international artist. So far, Amir (France 2016) has been confirmed.

Time: 16:00 CET

I normally wouldn't put a section for this because it's relatively trivial, but there has been some confusion in the past few weeks on the show's timing. On the website of the Palais Nikaïa, they wrote that the contest would start at 20:00. This is in direct conflict with what the post on eurovision.tv wrote, which is 16:00, as it had been for basically every single year before then. To quote the post from the Eurovision website: "Junior Eurovision fans should clear their diaries for Sunday, 26 November at 16:00 CET, because that's when the Competition will take place in the host city, Nice". This is what was written on the Eurovision website as of last month, so I'd trust them rather than the website of the host arena. Some confusion in communication, it appears.

Regardless, tickets went on sale on 26/10, which listed the time as 15:00.

Rule Changes: "all performances must be carried out live", safeguarding policy

This is what was written on the RTVE website when they announced the opening of casting applications. Many people have since interpreted this as requiring fully live vocals, however if you look at the direct next sentence after this, it says: "In addition, no processor will be allowed for ... full-screen insertion of video clips as part of stage performances."

Remember Poland last year? "To The Moon"? Where they had clips of Laura and the backing dancers in school uniforms? I think that's more what they're trying to ban, rather than backing vocals on the backing track. Plus given that kids more easily get nervous than adults, it would be beneficial actually to have backing vocals on the track. So when some people asked why they implemented this first in JESC rather than adult ESC, my answer is that they didn't implement it. They're implementing a ban on cutting to music videos during the live performance. If they were actually banning non-live vocals, they would most likely specify that in a separate clause.

On 3/10, Spanish head of delegation Ana Maria Bordas said during the press conference of the Spanish entry presentation that the EBU will launch a new child protection protocol for the contest. The fundamental point of the document will be the well-being of the young contestants. The new protocol details different important aspects in a contest like Junior Eurovision, where harassment situations will be avoided, participants cannot be forced to go on stage, and the steps to be followed in the event of sick leave of the contestants will be established. For example, Freya Skye (UK), Sophie Lennon (Ireland) and Katarina Savić (Serbia) all suffered vocal issues from sickness in 2022, and the latter was not even able to appear live on-stage. Another reason for the establishment of the protocol is to attract the return of the Nordic countries, many of which were crucial in the founding of the contest, but are now highly critical of the treatment of young talent and have since withdrawn from the contest. The protocol takes inspiration from a long-standing protocol which has been used by the BBC for decades. The document was released on 23/10.

Budget: unknown

Most likely lower than that of Yerevan though. Yerevan 2022 had a literal government working group set up for the show, with a budget almost reaching that of smaller-scale 2010s ADULT Eurovisions. Redde-Amiel didn't mention much in the way of budgeting, other than "different from Armenia 2022".

Steering Group: member changes

Like its equivalent in the adult contest, the Steering Group of JESC has seen some of its members replaced with new ones. In particular, Ekaterina Orlova from the Russian broadcaster was removed from the group after a year of suspension, with Melissa Hardinge of the BBC taking her place. On 4/9, it was announced that Ana Maria Bordas from RTVE had joined the Steering Group for JESC.

Non-participating Countries: Denmark, Norway, Sweden (SVT), Finland, Iceland, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Switzerland, Lithuania, Czechia, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Austria, Luxembourg, Moldova, Belgium, Latvia, San Marino, Romania, Israel, Cyprus, Australia, Azerbaijan, Serbia

Reasoning for the various countries can be found in the previous blog post. Countries in italics had taken part in the contest at least once in the past two years.

Participating Countries: Albania (Viola Gjyzeli), Armenia (Yan Girls), Estonia (Arhanna Sandra Arbma), France (Zoe Clauzure), Georgia (Anastasia & Ranina), Germany (Fia), Ireland (Jessica McKean), Italy (Melissa & Ranya), Malta (Yulan Law), Netherlands (Sep & Jasmijn), North Macedonia (Tamara Grujeska), Poland (Maja Krzyżewska), Portugal (Júlia Machado), Spain (Sandra Valero), Ukraine (Anastasia Dymyd), United Kingdom (STAND UNIQU3)

The participant list was announced on 29/8, noting as above the withdrawals of Kazakhstan and Serbia, the non-participation of Azerbaijan, and the debut of Estonia, being the last Baltic country to debut at the junior contest.

RTSH confirmed on 5/7 that Albania would once again return to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Furthermore, they would also return to the national final "Junior Fest", but this year it would be influenced by the music creation platform "Talent", which encourages the creativity of young Albanian artists. On 20/7, submissions were opened, and stayed open until 25/8. On 3/8, RTSH posted a new trailer for Junior Fest 2023. In addition to a logo change, a slogan was introduced for the first time - "Bëhu Hero I Vetvetes!", which translates to "be your own hero". An Instagram account @junior_fest_rtsh was also created for the JESC national final. The studios would also open a few days before the national final, so contestants could have rehearsals. Contestants will also have their own vocal coaches. On 30/8, the 16 participants of the national final were revealed. On 22/9, the national final took place at the Pyramid of Tirana and was broadcast live. The eventual winner would be Viola Gjyzeli, with the song "Bota Ime" or "my world". Viola will now represent Armenia in Nice. The music video for Bota Ime was posted on 19/10.

On 4/7, AMPTV announced that they will once again select their next representative via an open call. Candidates can apply solo, as a duo, or a group not exceeding 6 members, but they must cover two songs. The deadline for submissions was 23/7, after which there will be two rounds of auditions, the second one being live and judged by a professional jury. Last year, the jury involved such names as David Tserunyan (longtime Armenian head of delegation) and Rosa Linn. This year, the committee consists of Tserunyan, other longtime members of the Armenian delegation, Sona Rubenyan (part of Garik & Sona, Garik being Garik Papoyan who co-hosted JESC2022 and wrote Aram MP3's Eurovision song), as well as Malena and her producer Tokionine, as revealed in an Instagram story on 4/8. On 8/8, it was reported that the pre-final selection stage was complete, and 20 young singers were selected to compete to represent Armenia in Nice. One particular name of note is Sati Sargsyan, who performed Tattoo by Loreen at the auditions with very strong vocals and is strongly speculated to be selected for JESC2023. Owing to the recent conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, during the press conference on 27/9, Martin Osterdahl commented that the EBU is monitoring the evolution of the situation and whether Armenia will still participate in JESC2023. The Armenian head of delegation was also present at that press conference, which suggests likely participation, however it is too early to tell. On 25/10, despite previous rumours with Sati Sargsyan, it was announced that Yan Girls would represent Armenia with the K-pop style track "Do It My Way", also written by Tokionine, with some of the lyrics written by 2021 winner Malena.

Estonia will debut at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2023. In addition, less than an hour after the announcement of the list of countries, ERR revealed that their representative will in fact be 11-year-old Arhanna Sandra Arbma, who had won the "Tähtede Lava" song contest in 2022. In addition, it was revealed that the lyrics to Arhanna's song was written by Leelo Tungal and will entirely be in Estonian, while the song was produced by Karl-Ander Reisman, a co-author of Hope (Estonia ESC2022). On 5/10, Arhanna posted that the music video was filmed at the Mercure Hotel in Tallinn. The song itself was recorded on 17/9. On 16/10, Arhanna's song "Hoiame Kokku" (let's stick together) was released, alongside the music video. Arhanna gave her first live performance of the song on 19/10. On 27/10, it was announced by ERR that Alice Aleksandridi will be the choreographer for Arhanna's performance.

On 27/9, in addition to announcing the stage design and hosts, it was revealed that Zoé Clauzure will be the host entry, with the song "Coeur", which was written by Noée and Jérémy Chapron and Julien Combal, who had also worked with Valentina and Carla. The disco pop song talks about bullying at school. It was also announced that Stéphane Bern and Carla will return to commentate on the show for France Televisions. On 18/10, the music video for Coeur was released. On 26/10, it was revealed that Sabrina Lonis will be the choreographer for the French act. In addition, the 5 dancers were revealed, all of which had already performed at least once for France between 2020 and 2022.

Anastasia Vasadze was selected through the national final named "Ranina". It concluded on 10/6, and the final consisted of 5 candidates. On 12/9, GPB unexpectedly announced that Vasadze will be joined by Oto Bazerashvili and Nikoloz Kharati for JESC2023. The two boys had previously been finalists in Ranina 2022. This marks the first non-solo act for Georgia at JESC since 2015. On 29/9, GPB reported that the Georgian entry is currently being recorded, and that the music video will be filmed in the next few days. The song was written by Betkho and composed by Mebo Nutsubidze, produced by Giorgi Asanishvili, and will be half-English and half-Georgian. This means that for the first time since 2019, Giga Kukhianidze, known for composing many of Georgia's winning and/or successful entries, will not be taking part in the composition. The songwriters commented that the song was built on the slogan "Heroes", and "has a part that makes you feel like a hero". It was announced on 13/10 that the song is named "Over The Sky", and the song was released on 15/10 alongside the music video. In addition, it appears that the two boys have been collectively renamed to "Ranina", so Georgia will be represented by "Anastasia and Ranina". It was later revealed that Mariam Bigvava (Georgia JESC2022) will be present in Nice to give out the points of the Georgian jury.

On 25/5, KiKa (the German children's broadcaster) announced that for the first time they would select their candidate internally. On 23/8, Eurovision.de revealed that instead of a direct internal selection or a televised national final, there will instead be an online vote for the German representative in Nice. The vote took place on kika.de, and the five candidates were announced on 8/9 upon which voting would also start. On 18/9, it was announced that Fia had won the online selection with her song "Ohne Worte" (without words), which she had performed with sign language. On 29/9, it was announced that Consi will return to commentate on JESC for a fourth year. On 13/10, the full version of Ohne Worte was released, along with a music video. Later footage revealed that Fia was practicing a dance for the song, possibly hinting at a dance break in the middle of the performance.

Ireland returned to their national final Junior Eurovision Eire, to be hosted by Irish-language broadcaster TG4. Initial submissions for the national final ended on 15/2, and the second round of submissions ended on 31/3. The national final started broadcasting on 3/9, and there will be four qualifying rounds, one semi-final and a grand final. On 21/8, it was announced that Louise Cantillon and Darragh O Caoimh would return as presenters of the national final, while Aindriu de Paor would be one of the judges, replacing Chris Greene. Niamh Ni Chroinin remained as a judge as well. As with the previous editions, contestants performed Irish cover versions of well-known songs. The final took place on 8/10, and Jessica McKean emerged victorious. It was later revealed that she will sing the song "Aisling" (Dream) in Nice, and the song was released on 28/10. The 2022 representative, Sophie Lennon, featured as one of the songwriters, as well as in the music video. It was revealed that Sophie Lennon will be accompanying Jessica McKean onstage, providing backing vocals.

Italy returned to an internal selection. As reported on 7/7, the contest will this year be broadcast on Rai 2 as opposed to Rai 1. Mario Acampa will return as the commentator. On 4/10, it was revealed that Melissa and Ranya will jointly represent Italy in Junior Eurovision 2023. Both singers were finalists in The Voice Kids Italy, with Melissa having won the contest. Their song, named "Un Mondo Giusto" (A Just World), was released on 12/10.

Malta returned to their national final MJESC, full name Malta Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The "Live Show" took place on 5/8, while the final took place on 12/8, with voting split into 20% televoting and 80% jury. This does not select the song however; the contestants take part in the national final by covering other songs, and the song for JESC2023 will then be selected through a open call to composers. On 3/7, the 24 semi-finalists were announced, 8 of which had already appeared previously on MJESC. These semi-finalists then went through two semi-finals which took take place on 22/7 and 29/7, but the finalists were only determined at the Live Show. On 12/8, the final took place, and Yulan Law was revealed to be the winner of the national final. Yulan had previously attempted to represent Malta in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Song submissions opened on 17/8, and closed on 31/8. Yulan's song is named "Stronger", and was released on 16/10 alongside the music video. It was later revealed that Gaia Gambuzza (Malta JESC2022) will be present in Nice to give out the points of the Maltese jury.

The Netherlands returned to their longstanding national final Junior Songfestival. It was hosted once again by Matheu (NL JESC2019) and Stefania (Greece 2021). The nine finalists were announced on 16/6, with all of them being 11 or older. On 23/9, the national final took place. Sep & Jasmijn were eventually victorious with their song "Holding On To You", getting 12 points from the public, the kids jury and the professional jury. The duo will now represent the Netherlands in Nice. It was later revealed that Luna (NL JESC2022, "La Festa") will be present in Nice to give out the points of the Dutch jury.

North Macedonia stands out for being the only country to take part in Junior Eurovision this year but not adult Eurovision. They have compensated for this by being the first country to announce their candidate for Nice: a 12-year-old named Tamara Grujevska. On 16/5, Tamara was announced as the Macedonian representative in Junior Eurovision 2023, and was selected after a series of live auditions. She has already won multiple awards and contests, such as the "Skoljkice" in Serbia. Cheryl Porter also provides her with online vocal coaching lessons. It is not known when Tamara's song will be released yet, however MRT have announced that Robert Bilbilov will be involved in writing the Macedonian entry. Bilbilov had previously co-written "Green Forces" (NM JESC2021) and "Proud" (NM ESC2019). On 15/9, amidst speculation of North Macedonia returning to adult Eurovision, the Twitter account "Macedonia in Eurovision" posted a photo of Grujevska in the studio with Robert Bilbilov and Darko Dimitrov. On 16/10, Grujeska's song "Kaži Mi, Kaži Mi Koj" (tell me, tell me who) was released alongside the music video. On 28/10, it was announced that Ljupka Gordan, who had staged the 2018 and 2019 Macedonian JESC acts, will return to stage the 2023 act.

Poland returned to their national final Szansa Na Sukces, which has served as the JESC national final since 2021. The casting for the national final took place on 13-14/5, where the participants of the three qualifying episodes were selected. On 25/8, the semi-final jurors were revealed, and included Viki Gabor, Sara James, Roksana Wegiel, among others. The first semi-final took place on 3/9. The final of Szansa Na Sukces took place on 24/9, and Maja Krzyżewska came out on top with the song "I Just Need A Friend". Maja will now represent Poland in Nice. The music video for the song was filmed on 10/10. A revamp of the song was released on streaming platforms on 19/10. The music video was released a day later.

Portuguese participation in the contest in Nice was officially announced on 20/6, in a short clip featuring Nicolas Alves in an Instagram post by the official Festival Da Cancao Instagram page. On 25/6, the final of The Voice Kids Portugal took place, and the winner was Júlia Machado. It was revealed on 9/8 that the composers of Julia's song for JESC are Aurora Pinto, João Direitinho, Fernando Daniel and Twins (co-writer of Ai Coracão). On 22/9, the composers revealed that the song “has a universal message” as “there is a place where you can feel at home and no one is alone in this fight. Although there is a lot of talk about this theme, it’s still something that affects a lot of people across several generations”. Julia added that the song is a reflection of her own journey and a "support anthem" for the younger generation. On 9/10, Julia's song, named "Where I Belong", was released, alongside a music video.

Spain once again used a casting process to select their candidate for Nice. On 7/7, it was announced by RTVE that Sandra Valero, an 11 year old from Valencia, will represent Spain in Nice. It was announced on Twitter on 29/7 that RTVE had received more than 60 songs. Earlier, Valero also said that she would like to sing some sort of ballad that "has its rhythm". On 15/9, it was announced at a press conference that Valero's song will be titled "Loviu". The song was composed by Luis Ramiro, Alejandro Martínez Valderrama and Funambulista, and was produced by David Parejo Martín. The song is described as "catchy, international and with many staging possibilities". "Loviu" was released on 3/10, although the music video was only released on 11/10. On 27/10, it was revealed that Javier Pageo will be the staging director for the Spanish act, while Veronica Ferreira will be the vocal coach.

On 17/6, UA:PBC opened submissions for the Ukrainian JESC national final, which closed on 9/7. The national final was organized in collaboration with producer Svitlana Tarabarova, who had been a JESC juror in 2017 and was also on the shortlist of potential jurors for ESC2023. The five finalists were announced on 24/7. On 30/7, UA:PBC announced that German Nenov will return as the creative director for the Ukrainian entry for 2023. He had fulfilled this role in the two years prior, and was also the general creative director for (adult) Eurovision 2023. On 17/9, the online voting for the jurors ended, and it was revealed 3 days later that Ihor Kondratyuk, Jerry Heil and Alyona Alyona would be the jurors for the national final, and will take up 50% of the vote. On 23/9, the 5 songs in the national final were released. The national final took place on 1/10 presented by Timur Miroshnychenko and Anna Tulieva, and Anastasia Dymyd emerged victorious with her song "Kvitka" (flower). On 16/10, a revamped version of Kvitka, alongside a music video, was released onto the official JESC Youtube channel.

On 19/10, the British JESC entry was revealed on BBC Radio 2, during the Zoe Ball Show. STAND UNIQU3, a girl group consisting of Yazmin from Newcastle, Hayla from Liverpool, and Maisie from Essex, will represent the UK in Nice with the pop song "Back To Life". The song was written by Sky Adams, Jakke Erixson and Jack Hawitt. Lee Smithurst, the UK Head of Delegation at Junior Eurovision, described the girl group as "like mini Spice Girls" in an interview. In addition, Lauren Layfield and HRVY will return as the BBC commentators, and the show will be broadcast on BBC Two, CBBC and BBC iPlayer. It was revealed on 30/10 that the vocal coach for the British act will be Juliet Russell, who has worked on The Voice and The Voice Kids among other shows.

So that's all we know about Junior Eurovision 2023 so far as of October. Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMWB0E_7aK0