Albania was represented at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with the song "", composed by Endri Muçaj, with lyrics by Eriona Rushiti, and performed by Nikol Çabeli. The Albanian participating broadcaster, (RTSH), organised the national final Junior Fest Albania 2024 in order to select it entry for the contest.
Background
Prior to the 2024 contest, Albania had participated in the contest nine times since its first entry in the . Albania has never won the contest, with their best result being in , when Mishela Rapo represented the country with "Dambaje", placing 5th. The nation opted not to take part in the contest in and , and in (due to the COVID-19 pandemic). In , Viola Gjyzeli competed for Albania with the song "", which ended up in 8th place with 115 points; this marked the first top ten entry for Albania since 2015.
Before Junior Eurovision
Junior Fest Albania 2024
Junior Fest Albania 2024 was the seventh edition of Junior Fest Albania, the national final format developed by RTSH to select Albanian entries for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The submission process for interested artists aged between nine and fourteen and composers to submit their entries for the competition was open between 29 July 2024 and 31 August 2024. Eighteen finalists were selected by a jury panel composed of music industry professionals and announced on 3 September 2024, with one-minute snippets of the songs published on the following 12 September.
RTSH had announced their intention to apply changes to the format of the competitionwhich took place on 27 September 2024 at the RTSH Symphony Orchestra Hall in Tirana, hosted by Angelo Shkreli and Julian Hurdha, and broadcast on RTSH 1, RTSH Muzikë and Radio Tirana 1stating it would take place under a "brand new formula, in the form of a spectacle". and were appointed the artistic and musical director of the event, respectively. The slogan for the competition was "" ("You bloom"), inspired by the theme art and slogan of the 2024 contest.
The winner of the competition was determined by the combination of the votes by a five-member jury panel, with the final also seeing several acts receive special awards for their participation; these included the prize for best vocals to Eden Dani, the prize for best lyrics to Ami Kokurti and the encouragement prize to Ema Deda. Nikol Çabeli, born in Ioannina, Greece and residing in Gjirokastër, Albania, was declared the winner with the song "". In addition to the competing entries, the guest performers included (winner of ) with "", Eranda Libohova with "" and Viola Gjyzeli with "", after which a children's choir also performed "Footloose" and the finalists performed a common song; Retkoceri was also one of the members of the jury panel.
Key: Winner Second place Third place
+Final27 September 2024 Artist Song Songwriter(s) Place 1Kejt Hitaj""Adrian Hila 2Elora Tahitri""Enis Mullaj 3Gjon Gjipali""Renis Gjoka 2 4Arbëri Dajko""Fabian Basha 5Doris Canaj""Melodajn Mancaku 6Armina Kajnozi"" 7Boris Metaj"" 3 8Nikol Çabeli"" 1 9Hana Lamaj""Arbër Koçllari 10David Kerri"" 11Ema Deda""Mario Deda 12Eden Dani""Alban Kondi 13Gedis Germani"" 14Ami Kokurti"" 15Kejsi Xheladini""Reinald Foçi 16Klejda Bashota"" 17Marina Daka"" 18Kristel Xhafka"Party"Metila Dervishi
Preparation In early October 2024, the producers behind "" confirmed that it would undergo a revamp ahead of the contest; it was released on 8 October alongside an accompanying music video.
At Junior Eurovision The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 took place at in Madrid, Spain on 16 November 2024. Albania performed 3rd, following and preceding .
Voting
At the end of the show, Albania received 82 points from juries and 44 points from online voting, placing 7th.
+ Points awarded to Albania Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point Albania received 44 points from the online vote
+ Points awarded by Albania Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Detailed voting results The following members comprised the Albanian jury:https://junioreurovision.tv/event/madrid-2024/final/jury Boris Metaj Endri Sina Blerina Arbana Kejsi Xheladini Vesa Luma
+ Draw Country Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points 01 3 13 6 4 4 5 6 02 11 15 11 10 8 12 03 04 9 9 9 9 10 9 2 05 12 7 15 14 14 13 06 5 10 3 5 7 6 5 07 7 12 5 7 6 8 3 08 13 14 13 11 15 15 09 1 2 2 1 1 1 12 10 6 3 1 6 9 4 7 11 15 5 14 15 12 11 12 10 6 10 12 11 10 1 13 16 16 16 16 16 16 14 4 1 4 3 2 2 10 15 2 4 7 2 5 3 8 16 14 11 12 13 13 14 17 8 8 8 8 3 7 4
References