The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the sixteenth edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, held on 25 November 2018 at the Minsk-Arena in Minsk, Belarus, and presented by Evgeny Perlin, Zinaida Kupriyanovich, and Helena Meraai. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC). It was the second time that the contest was held in Belarus, after hosting the at the same venue.
Broadcasters from a record of twenty countries took part in the contest, with and participating for the first time, returning for the first time since , alongside for the first time since , and after missing the , while withdrew from the contest. The previous year's winner Polina Bogusevich performed her entry again as the interval act, alongside the common song "#LightUp" sung by all the participants.
The winner was with the song "Anyone I Want to Be" by Roksana Węgiel. This was Poland's first victory in the contest. Returning country came second, while placed third for the second year in a row. was the fourth best performing debuting nation, after and 's victories in 2003 and 2014 respectively, and 's second place in 2007, finishing sixth, whilst came last.
Location
The EBU confirmed on 15 October 2017 that the contest would be hosted by Belarus. This was the second time Belarus hosted the Junior Eurovision Song contest, after hosting the contest.
Venue On 21 November 2017, Belarus' Deputy Prime Minister Vasily Zharko confirmed that the contest was scheduled to be held at Minsk-Arena in November 2018. The arena previously hosted the 2010 contest. However, on 26 November 2017, it was confirmed by the host broadcaster that the exact location of the contest is still unknown, stating that Minsk Arena was one of the possible options. On 18 March 2018, the 15,000-capacity Minsk-Arena was confirmed as the venue by the contest organisers.
Participants On 25 July 2018, the EBU announced that 19 countries would participate in the 2018 contest. and made their debuts, while , and returned to the contest, and opted not to participate after doing so the previous two years. Despite originally confirming non-participation in the contest due to financial and structural difficulties, was added to the list of participating countries on 2 August 2018, bringing the record of already 19-participating countries into a much larger record of 20 participating countries.
+Participants of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018CountryBroadcasterArtistSongLanguageSongwriter(s)RTSHEfi Gjika"Barbie"Albanian, EnglishAMPTVL.E.V.O.N"L.E.V.O.N"ArmenianArtem ValterABCJael"Champion"EnglishMSquaredİTVFidan Huseynova"I Wanna Be Like You"Azerbaijani, EnglishBTRCDaniel Yastremski"Time"Russian, EnglishAngélina""French, EnglishGPBTamar Edilashvili"Your Voice"Georgian, EnglishTG4Taylor Hynes"IOU"IrishIPBCNoam Dadon"Children Like These"HebrewEden HasonRAIMelissa and Marco"What Is Love"Italian, EnglishKADaneliya Tuleshova"" ()Kazakh, EnglishMRTMarija Spasovska"" ()MacedonianPBSEla"Marchin' On"EnglishAVROTROSMax and Anne"Samen"Dutch, EnglishTVPRoksana Węgiel"Anyone I Want to Be"Polish, EnglishRTPRita Laranjeira""PortugueseJoão SóVGTRKAnna Filipchuk"Unbreakable"Russian, EnglishTaras DemchukRTSBojana Radovanović"" ()SerbianDarina Krasnovetska"Say Love"Ukrainian, EnglishS4CManw""Welsh
Format Visual design
The slogan was the hashtag #LightUp. The logo of the contest was based around a morning star made of vertically inverted soundwaves. The source of inspiration was the artistic potential and creative aspiration of the young participants who fill the scene like a star.
Hosts
On 26 October 2018, it was announced that Eugene Perlin and Zinaida Kupriyanovich would be the main hosts of the contest, together with Helena Meraai in the green room. Meraai is the fourth person under the age of sixteen to ever host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, after Ioana Ivan in , Dmytro Borodin in and Lizi Japaridze in , and is also the second former participant to host an edition of the contest. Meraai previously in the 2017 contest, where she placed fifth with the song "". Perlin is one of the main country's television presenters and was the Eurovision commentator between 2013 and 2019, whilst Kupriyanovich is a singer and artist who has participated in Belarus' national selections for the 2015 and 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contests and would later represent the country at the 2019 adult contest. It was also announced that Denis Dudinsky and Anna Kviloria would host the opening ceremony.
Voting The results were determined by national juries and an online audience vote. Every country used a national jury that consisted of three music industry professionals and two kids aged between 10 and 15 who were citizens of the country they represent. The first phase of the online voting started on 23 November 2018 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances were shown on the official website before the viewers could vote. Following this recap, voters had the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant's rehearsal. This first round of voting ended on 25 November at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting took place during the live show and started after the last performance and was open for 15 minutes. International viewers could vote for a minimum of three countries and a maximum of five, including their own country.
The number of points were determined by the percentage of votes received. The public vote counted for 50% of the final result, while the other 50% came from the professional juries.
Trophy The trophy was designed by Kjell Engman of the Swedish glass company Kosta Boda, using the same design as was first introduced in the 2017 contest. The main trophy is a glass microphone with colored lines inside the upper part, which symbolize the flow of sound.
Postcards Each postcard took place in a different location in Belarus. They all consisted of the upcoming participant putting on a virtual reality headset and, through it, experiencing a location in Belarus while doing various activities. At the conclusion of the postcard, the upcoming participant would take their headset off, and the performance would commence.
Chelyuskintsev Park, Minsk Čyžoŭka Arena, Minsk Lake Strusta Strochitsy Minsk Independence Palace, Minsk Minsk Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park Dinamo Stadium, Minsk Belarusian National Arts Museum, Minsk Minsk railway station and the Belarusian countryside Mir Castle Strochitsy National Library of Belarus, Minsk Minsk Minsk National Opera and Ballet of Belarus, Minsk A farm and stable, the Belarusian countryside Minsk Nesvizh Castle
Contest overview
The event took place on 25 November 2018 at 17:00 MSK (16:00 CET). Twenty countries participated, with the running order published on 19 November 2018. All the countries competing were eligible to vote with the jury vote, as well as participating and non-participating countries under an aggregated international online vote, eligible to vote. Poland won with 215 points, also winning the online vote. France came second with 203 points, with Australia (who won the jury vote), Ukraine, and Malta completing the top five. Azerbaijan, Albania, Portugal, Serbia, Wales occupied the bottom five positions.
The opening of the show featured the traditional flag parade. During the interval, Russian singer Polina Bogusevich performed a new version of her winning song "Wings". All participants then joined on stage for a rendition of the common song, "#LightUp". Country Artist Song Points Place 1 Darina Krasnovetska "Say Love" 182 4 2 Rita Laranjeira "" 42 18 3 Daneliya Tuleshova "" 171 6 4 Efi Gjika "Barbie" 44 17 5 Anna Filipchuk "Unbreakable" 122 10 6 Max and Anne "Samen" 91 13 7 Fidan Huseynova "I Wanna Be Like You" 47 16 8 Daniel Yastremski "Time" 114 11 9 Taylor Hynes "IOU" 48 15 10 Bojana Radovanović "" 30 19 11 Melissa and Marco "What Is Love" 151 7 12 Jael "Champion" 201 3 13 Tamar Edilashvili "Your Voice" 144 8 14 Noam Dadon "Children Like These" 81 14 15 Angélina "" 203 2 16 Marija Spasovska "" 99 12 17 L.E.V.O.N "L.E.V.O.N" 125 9 18 Manw "" 29 20 19 Ela "Marchin' On" 181 5 20 Roksana Węgiel "Anyone I Want to Be" 215 1
Spokespersons
Anastasiya Baginska Nadezhda Sidorova Aruzhan Khafiz Daniil Lazuko Dina Baru and Khryusha Vincent Miranovich Valeh Huseynbeyli Arina Rovba Alex Hynes Lana Karić Yan Musvidas Ksenia Galetskaya Nikoloz Vasadze Adi Daniil Rotenko and Lubava Marchuk Arina Pekhtereva Vardan Margaryan Gwen Rowley Milana Borodko Grace
Detailed voting results + Place Combined Jury Online Vote Country Points Country Points Country Points 1215 148136 2 203 138 117 3 201 105 103 4 182 104 78 5 181 94 70 6 171 86 68 7 151 79 62 8 144 68 57 9 125 64 53 10 122 61 53 11 114 60 47 12 99 55 43 13 91 34 42 14 81 23 39 15 48 17 36 16 47 12 35 17 44 10 34 18 42 2 30 19 30 0 29 20 29 0 28
+ Detailed voting results Voting procedure used: scope="colgroup" rowspan="2" scope="colgroup" rowspan="2" scope="colgroup" rowspan="2" Jury vote scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="rowgroup" rowspan="20" Ukraine 182 104 78 7 6 2 3 4 3 3 5 8 7 10 8 5 10 2 5 4 12 Portugal 42 0 42 Kazakhstan 171 68 103 5 4 7 5 8 6 4 5 6 8 4 6 Albania 44 10 34 1 1 1 2 5 Russia 122 60 62 1 4 3 12 2 8 5 10 7 2 6 Netherlands 91 23 68 1 2 1 3 2 3 4 6 1 Azerbaijan 47 17 30 6 3 4 3 1 Belarus 114 61 53 10 2 8 10 2 5 1 1 12 10 Ireland 48 12 36 3 1 8 Serbia 30 2 28 2 Italy 151 94 57 6 4 10 4 7 10 6 7 7 7 3 12 8 3 Australia 201 148 53 12 12 3 7 10 12 6 12 7 3 12 8 2 6 7 7 12 10 Georgia 144 105 39 7 2 5 12 2 2 12 2 10 5 12 10 5 8 10 1 Israel 81 34 47 4 3 7 1 5 1 6 2 3 2 France 203 86 117 5 12 6 7 7 8 6 7 4 4 1 6 1 12 Macedonia 99 64 35 2 12 10 1 1 12 1 2 7 5 4 7 Armenia 125 55 70 3 6 3 6 5 3 6 4 8 7 4 Wales 29 0 29 Malta 181 138 43 10 8 8 5 8 10 5 10 8 4 8 12 12 10 4 3 8 5 Poland 215 79 136 8 1 8 4 4 10 2 10 5 6 12 3 6
12 points Below is a summary of all 12 points received from each country's professional juries.
N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points 6 , , , , , 3 , , 2 , , , 1
Online voting A total of 1,283,921 valid votes were received during the voting windows. + Online voting results Contestant Votes Points ~150,529 136 ~129,499 117 ~114,003 103 ~86,333 78 ~77,478 70 ~75,264 68 ~68,623 62 ~63,089 57 ~58,66253 ~58,662 53 ~52,021 47 ~47,594 43 ~46,487 42 ~43,166 39 ~39,84636 ~38,739 35 ~37,632 34 ~33,205 30 ~32,098 29 ~30,991 28 Total 1,283,921
Other countries For a country to be eligible for potential participation in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, it needs to be an active member of the EBU. It is currently unknown whether the EBU issue invitations of participation to all 56 active members like they do for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Active EBU members On 25 May 2018, the Bosnian broadcaster Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT) stated that they would not be allowed to debut at the contest in the near future until the debt-related sanctions placed on them by the EBU were lifted.