Germany confirms debut participation in Junior Eurovision 2020

Germany confirms debut participation in Junior Eurovision 2020
Wednesday, 08 July 2020

  • The ESC fan base has been waiting a long time for German participation and here we are : Germany will send a participant to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 2020. 

    Good news for the Eurovision Family as Germany, one of the Big-5 countries in the Eurovision Song Contest, has decided to join the Junior Eurovision family by competing in the 2020 edition for the first time. The competition has been organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 2003 . Eurovision.de has broadcast the show twice so far.

     

     

    Why has Germany not yet participated in the Junior ESC?

    According to Ulrike Ziesemer, NDR editor in the field of children and youth, and Matthias Huff, program manager and head of the KiKA editorial team "Nonfiction", statements, for two reasons: The broadcasting time of the junior final did not fit into the KiKA broadcasting schedule. In addition, we now have three partners together - KiKA, ZDF and NDR. This constellation did not previously exist.

    KiKA, NDR and ZDF will be in charge of the debut participartion and have already launched the process, looking for young talents between the ages of nine and 14 to represent Germany in the largest European youth music competition.

     All information on the application can be found here - application deadline is July 31, 2020. The 18th Junior Eurovision Song Contest that is set to take place on November 29, 2020 in Warsaw hosted by the Polish broadcaster TVP will be shown live from 5 p.m. on KiKA. 

     

    Levent Geiger behind the JESC entry

    Levent Geiger from the KiKA show "Your Song" with a guitar.  Photo: private

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    Levent Geiger will be responsible for the first German Junior Eurovision Entry. ZDF already produces the successful young talent composition competition "Your Song" for KiKA in its 13th season. Levent Geiger was in the finals of the KiKA show "Your Song" in 2015 and 2019.

    KiKA program manager Dr. Astrid Plenk says:

    "I am extremely happy that we managed to get Germany involved in this big European song contest and to offer it through KiKA. We found a wonderful way of creative collaboration with NDR and ZDF, in which all partners can make an ideal contribution will be a huge event and experience for our KiKA audience and the whole family."

     Michael Stumpf, head of the ZDF main editorial office for children and youth, explains:

    "ZDF was able to win last year's 'Dein-Song' finalist Levent Geiger for the composition of the title song, who also accompanies the casting and is at the side of the young artist until the big show in Warsaw. We also accompany this exciting journey with a two-part documentation ".

    Levent Geiger, "Your-Song" finalist 2019, will compose the German entry for the Junior ESC. Together with the 17-year-old singer and songwriter, the artist that will be selected will work together in order to prepare the best song that will represent the central European country on its first appearance in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. 

    Germany's confirmation raises to seven the nations that have confirmed participation in the upcoming Junior Eurovision in Warsaw. More details on which countries we will see in Poland next November can be read here .

     

    News Source: Eurovision.de