The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2026 is the upcoming 24th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, to be held on 24 October 2026 at the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali, Malta, and presented by Gaia Cauchi, Destiny Chukunyere, and Keane Cutajar. It is being organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS). It will be the third time that the contest has been held in Malta, with PBS having previously hosted it in and , as well as the first contest to be held in October.
Broadcasters from sixteen countries will participate in the contest, with and both opting not to participate after doing so the previous year.
Location Unlike the Eurovision Song Contest, the winning broadcaster of the previous year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest does not automatically receive the right to host the next contest. However, since (with the exceptions of , , , and ) it has become customary for winners to take on hosting duties, and since , the winning broadcaster has had the right of first refusal on hosting the following competition. On 18 December 2025, French broadcaster , which won the , announced it had declined to host in 2026, citing plans to reduce spending. This marked the second time in three years that the broadcaster refused to stage the event, also having done so in 2024. Following ' decision, SMRTV announced its candidacy to host the 2026 contest in San Marino.
On 15 May 2026, the EBU announced Malta had been selected to host the 2026 contest, with the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre in Ta' Qaliwhich will be transformed for the event into a "Eurovision Festa Village", inspired by Malta's patronal festivalas the selected venue. This will be the third time that Malta has hosted the contest, having previously done so in and .
Participants
Eligibility for participation in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with an EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issues an invitation to participate in the contest to all members.
On 24 July 2026, the EBU announced that broadcasters from 16 countries would participate in the 2026 contest. and opted not to compete after making one-off appearances the previous year. For the first time since , there were no returning or debuting countries.
+ Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2026 participants Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) RTSH Eslin Kurti "" Albanian AMPTV Naré "Boo!" Armenian, English CyBC Harry Georgiou "Who I Can Be" Greek, English Alec "" French GPB Davit Lomidze "Sun on the Rooftops" Georgian TG4 Caleb Kirwan and Naomi Gribben "" Irish RAI Matteo Trullu "" Italian PBS Beppe "Blue Bird" English RTCG Mija Vujović "" Montenegrin AVROTROS Maria "Stronger Together" Dutch, English MRT Ana Stojanoska "" Macedonian TVP Wiktor Sas "Gravity" Polish, English RTP Salvador Rio "" Portuguese Diogo Piçarra SMRTV Violamarie "" Italian, English RTVE Lucas Paulano " ()" Spanish Erika Kolesnichenko "Not a Lullaby" Ukrainian, English Svitlana Tarabarova
Production The date of the event (24 October) is earlier than usual, with most editions having been staged in November. According to PBS, this was for logistical reasons.
Visual and stage design On 7 September 2026, PBS unveiled the official theme art and stage design for the 2026 contest. The artwork, named "The Festa" and inspired by Malta's patronal festival, features colourful curves and geometric shapes that frame the generic logo, evoking the festive decorations that characterise the festival. The stage design features a central performance area surrounded by elements inspired by Maltese streets, including colourful façades and traditional balconies.
Presenters On 15 September 2026, it was announced that Gaia Cauchi, Destiny Chukunyere, and Keane Cutajar would be the presenters of the show. The trio had previously hosted the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2026. Cauchi and Chukunyere won the contest in and , respectively; Chukunyere later in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.
Contest overview The event will take place on 24 October 2026 at 21:00 CEST. Sixteen countries will participate, with the running order published on 28 September. All the countries competing will be eligible to vote with the jury vote, as well as participating and non-participating countries under an aggregated international online vote.
CountryArtistSong 1 Maria "Stronger Together" 2 Harry Georgiou "Who I Can Be" 3 Salvador Rio "" 4 Mija Vujović "" 5 Violamarie "" 6 Alec "" 7 Wiktor Sas "Gravity" 8 Naré "Boo!" 9 Beppe "Blue Bird" 10 Matteo Trullu "" 11 Erika Kolesnichenko "Not a Lullaby" 12 Ana Stojanoska "" 13 Caleb Kirwan and Naomi Gribben "" 14 Eslin Kurti "" 15 Davit Lomidze "Sun on the Rooftops" 16 Lucas Paulano " ()"
Broadcasts All participating broadcasters may choose to have on-site or remote commentators providing insight and voting information to their local audience. Some non-participating broadcasters also air the contest. The Junior Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel provides an international live stream of the contest with no commentary.
The following are the broadcasters that have confirmed in whole or in part their broadcasting plans and/or commentators: Planned broadcasts and commentators in participating countriesCountryBroadcasterChannel(s)Commentator(s) CyBC RIK 1 France Télévisions France 4 RAI Rai Gulp MRT MRT 1 TVP TVP2, TVP Polonia RTP RTP2 RTVE Julia Varela and Tony Aguilar Planned broadcasts and commentators in non-participating countries Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) RTK colspan="2"
See also Eurovision Song Contest 2026 Eurovision Young Musicians 2026 Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026
References
External links