Andria Putkaradze won the 22nd edition of Junuor Eurovision singing “To My Mom” and brought the trophy home for a fourth time in the contest's history making Georgia the nation with the most victories having won back in 2008, 2011 and 2016.

After weeks of preparations and four days of rehearsals here at the Caja Magica (Magic Box) in Madrid the final show of  the 22nd Junior Eurovision took place this afternnoon in order to determine the successor of Zoé Clauzure . The show was hosted by the Spanish ESC 2014 representative Ruth Lorenzo, the award-winning actor, Marc Clotet and the JESC 2019 hopeful Melani García who hosted the green room talking to the contestants. 

A total of 17 countries participated in this year's edition with Cyprus returning to the competition for the first time since 2017 and San Marino make their return to Junior Eurovision after 9 years away.

Opening of the Show

The show opened with the  last year's winner Zoé Clauzure,  Spain first victorious 2003  particpant María Isabel & last year's hopeful  Sandra Valero singing the song 'Let's Bloom' with flag parade folllowing and the presentation of the 17 delegates following.

THE COMPETING COUNTRIES 

This year a total of 17 competing countries were in the run for the trophy which  appeared on stage in the following running order:

1. 🇮🇹 Italy: Simone Grande - Pigiama Party

2. 🇪🇪 Estonia: ANNABELLE - Tänavad

3. 🇦🇱 Albania: Nikol Çabeli - Vallëzoj

4. 🇦🇲 Armenia: Leo - Cosmic Friend

5. 🇨🇾 Cyprus: Maria Pissarides - Crystal Waters

6. 🇫🇷 France: Titouan - Comme ci comme ça

7. 🇲🇰 North Macedonia: Ana & Aleksej - Marathon

8. 🇵🇱 Poland: Dominik Arim - All Together

9. 🇬🇪 Georgia: Andria Putkaradze - To My Mom

10. 🇪🇸 Spain: Chloe DelaRosa - Como La Lola

11. 🇩🇪 Germany: Bjarne - Save The Best For Us

12. 🇳🇱 Netherlands: Stay Tuned - Music

13. 🇸🇲 San Marino: Idols SM - Come Noi

14. 🇺🇦 Ukraine: Artem Kotenko - HEAR ME NOW

15. 🇵🇹 Portugal: Victoria Nicole - Esperança

16. 🇮🇪 Ireland: Enya Cox Dempsey - Le Chéile

17. 🇲🇹 Malta: Ramires Sciberras - Stilla Ċkejkna

Interval Acts

While the voting lines opened again for 15 minutes we got the chance to see on stage singer, songwriter and producer 26 year old  Abraham Mateo performing 'Maniaca' . Mateo from Spanish Cadiz marks already a 14 year career enjoying global recognition and scoring hits on the S. America and US Billboard Latin charts. 

In addition the interval act of Time To Bloom unfolded on stage , conceived by artistic director Sergio Jaén and performed by Anastasia Russo.The song, with music by Federico Jusid and choreography by Borja Rueda, explores self-growth and acceptance, emphasising the value of authenticity.

THE RESULTS

The winner was determined by a combination of jury voting and an online voting. The jury vote was determined one day before during the jury show while the online voting that had started on Friday evening and closed just before the live show, reopened for 15 minutes after all acts had completed their performances. Each individual had the right to cast up to three choices.  Each voting had a 50% share on the final outcome.

Jury Voting

With all national juries points counted Georgia finished first scoring 180 points,  with Ukraine in second place with a total of 122 points and  and France closing the top 3 with 103 points . Here is how the voting results came out: 

You can watch the whole reveal of the jury voting here.

Online Voting

Once the jury voting was revealed the hosts went on with the points from the online voting with the overall scoreboard declaring winner Georgia's Andria Putkaradze receiving a total of 239 points ( 59 points from the online voting) leaving second behind Portugal with 213 points (117 points from public voting) and Ukraine in third place scoring 203 points ( 81 points from public voting). Portugal's Vicotria Nicole won the public vote but the 117 points she got were not enough for her to top the overall score. 

Here is how the final scoreboard turned out: 

You can watch the online points and the final results here

A few words about the winner 

The winning song “To My Mom” was performed by 11-year-old Andria Putkaradze who  has  always dreamed  of becoming a professional singer. He has been performing since the age of two, later becoming a member of the vocal ensemble group Children of the Sea before studying piano at the Zakaria Paliashvili Music School. During his free time when he doesn't deal with music he loves playing PlayStation with his friends.

Andria secured his spot in the Junior Eurovision 2024 class after winning the televised talent contest of RANINA, which is the formula Georgia's broadcaster has used to determine each year's JESC hopeful.

“To My Mom” was written by Georgian composer Giorgi Kukhianidze, with lyrics co-written by Maka Davitaia. Giorgi has been the country's Junior Eurovision songs since the nation's participation back in 2007 and has now penned all four victorious entries. 

In case you missed out watch the whole show below on the link: 

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 - Live Show | Madrid 🇪🇸

Congratulations to Georgia for it's fourth trophy and to Andria making it happen for his country! 

News Source: Junior Eurovision tv

Images: Corrine Cumming/EBU

The host nation has kicked off its serch for the Spanish hopeful for the forthcoming Junior Eurovision Song Contest that will be held in Madrid on November 16. 

The first phase of the selection process commenced today with the interested acts between 9 and 14 years old able to send in their application  here.  The submission window will be remain active up to July 3 at 23:59 CEST. 

Once the submissions are completed a casting will take place the next two weeks, after which the jury will have seven days to review all candidates and hand in the results to the RTVE administration. 

The song that the Spanish act will be singing on home grounds next November will be determined internally and will adjusted to the style of the artist and reflecting Spanish elements. 

Spain in Junior Eurovision

Spain has a total of five participations in the youth competition and has achieved remarkable results in its short history. The country counts a victory thanks to  "Antes muerta que sencilla" (Before dead than simple) by María Isabel (2004) , two second places ( Sergio, in 2003  and  Antonio José, in 2005 ) and a fourth position ( Dani Fernández, in 2006 ).

Spain returned to the competition in the 2019 edition after 13 years of absence  and did it with an impressive. The young talented act starred in a memorable performance with "Marte" (Mars)  on the  stage of Gliwice-Silesia and achieved to finish in 3rd place. In 2020 the nation was represented by Soleá who performed the song 'Palante' which finished thrid on the overall scoreboard with 133 points. 

In 2021 Levi Diaz was selected to fly the flag in Paris with his song 'Reir' which eventually finished in the 15th place with 77 points which marked the first non top-5 placing for Spain in his JESC history. 

In 2022 in Yerevan Carlos Hinges flew the flag singing 'Senorita' and finished in 6th place. Last year Sandra Valero defended the Spanish coloer with 'Loviu' and came 2nd on the overall scrorboard. 

News Source: RTVE

Image: Corinne Cumming/EBU

Poland is kicking of its search for their next Junior Eurovision act that will represent the country in Madrid next November. 

TVP will be selecting once again their Junior Eurovision hopeful via the show of Szansa na Sukces: Eurowizja Junior , the show that has servered as the national selection format since 2019. 

The casting is set to take place in Warsaw at the broadcaster's headquaters with act aged  between 9 to 14 years old eligible to take part. A total of 21 acts will advance to the the national selection. 

The next edition of Junior Eurovision is set to take place in Spain which came second in last year contest and stepped in to host the next competition after the winner country France declined to host second year in a row the contest. The 2024  contest will be held in Madrid on November 16, 2024. 

Poland in Junior Eurovision

Poland’s first participation at the competition was in  2003, while she was absent the years 2005 – 2015. The country’s worst result came in 2004 when it finished 17th . In 2018 with  Roksana Węgiel the country scored its first victory in Minsk, Belarus with her entry  Anyone I Want To Be , which was followed by a second in a row win with Viki Gabor and her song "Superhero" in Gliwice- Silesia. 

In 2021 in Paris Sara James defened the Polish colors with her song 'Somebody' offering to the country one more outstanding result by finishing in 2nd place. In 2022 Laura sang  "To the Moon" and came 10th in the overall scrore while last year Maja Krzyżewska with "I Just Need a Friend" finished 6th. 

Nerws Source: TVP

Image: Corinne Cumming/EBU

The EBU and the Spanish national broadcaster, RTVE,  announced this afternoon that Madrid will be hosting the 22nd edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest this year.

France was last year's winner with Zoe and her song 'Cœur' marking the country's third victory. Having already hosted the contest twice in the last three years and with the Olympic Game held this summer in Paris, the French Televisions decided to hand over the hosting while last year's runner up, Spain, accepted EBU's invitation to host the next edition. 

Spain came second in last year's contest with Sandra Valero singing LOVIU. Today RTVE revealed that Madrid has been assigned to host the next contest. This will be the second time Spain will be hosting the contest, 20 years after 20 years after María Isabel’s victory with Antes Muerta Que Sencilla.

The Date and Venue

The 2024 Junior Eurovision will be taking place in Madrid on November 16 at the  Caja Mágica. The slogan of the contest will go public on a later date. 

Caja Mágica, also known as the Manzanares Park Tennis Center, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Madrid, Spain. Since 2009, it has been the home of the Madrid Open tennis tournament.There are three courts under the one structure, and a series of retractable roofs. The seating capacity of Courts 1 and 2 would have been increased if Madrid's bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics had been successful.

Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, said:

“We’re very excited to be heading to Madrid 55 years after the Spanish capital hosted its last Eurovision event. We are looking forward to seeing RTVE’s exciting ideas to make this wonderful venue come alive, and to welcoming young artists from across Europe to Caja Mágica in November.”

News Source: Junioreurovision.tv

Cover photo: RTVE / Image: Wikipedia

With the next Eurovision Song Contest a stone throw away the two major international fan clubs around the Eurovision Song Contest, OGAE (Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l’Eurovision) and INFE (International Network of Fanclubs of Eurovision) are holding their annual polls giving us an indication of which acts are fans' favorites for this year.

OGAE Poland results

OGAE continues today their poll with the next set of points coming from the Polish fan club:

The Polish 12 points go to Switzerland's NEMO while Angelina Mango from Italy is Poland's second favorite with 10 points. The top 3 closes with 8 points awared to Mustii and Belgium. 

Overall Score

Here is how the overall scoreboard looks like after 9 countries have voted: 

The Netherlands will be taking part in the 22nd edition of Junior Eurovision that will take place in Spain and have already began their national selection process. 

Once again the Junior Songfestival format will be the formula through which the coutry will be selecting their Junior Eurovision 2024 representative. 

The first episode of Junior Songfestival 2024 of the selection has been released on the Junior Songfestival Youtube channel with the first set of acts going through auditions held earlier this year. 

Dewi, Elaine, Elise, Emma, Felicity, Hidde, Janna, Kaz, Keturah, Koen, Nova, Olivier, Ruben, Veronika and Zehra, performed in order to secure one spot in the Junior Songfestival Academy.

The Netherlands in Junior Eurovision

The Netherlands has been participating in the contest since day 1 in 2003 and haven’t missed a year. In 2009 they won the competition and have achieved nine times to finish in the top 10 places. The country’s worst place came in 2015 when it finished 15th. In 2018 the country was represented by the duo Max & Anne and their entry Samen, which finished in 13th place with 91 points.

In 2022 the country was represented by Luna with the song “La Festa” defened the Dutch colors in Yerevan. She finished 7th scoring a total of 128 points.

Last year the duo Sep and Jasmijn defended the Dutch colors in Nice, France with “Holding On to You”. They finsihed 7th on the overall scoreboard with 122 points.

News Source/Image: Junior Songfestival