Albania in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Albania participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017, which took place in Tbilisi, Georgia on 26 November 2017. The Albanian broadcaster RTSH was responsible for the organization of their representative at the contest. Their entry was selected through Junior Fest 2017, a national selection process consisting of sixteen artists who competed in order to become the Albanian representative on 14 October 2017. Ana Kodra is an Albanian singer who won the selection with the song "Mos ma prekni pemën", meaning "Don't Touch My Tree".
Background
Prior to the 2017 contest, Albania had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest three times since its first entry in 2012, only opting not to participate at the 2013 and 2014 contests. Albania has never won the contest, with their best result being in, with the song "Dambaje" performed by Mishela Rapo, achieving fifth place with a score of 93 points. In 2016, Klesta Qehaja represented Albania in Valletta, Malta with the song "Besoj". The country ended in 13th place out of 17 countries, achieving 38 points.Before Junior Eurovision
National final
The national final Junior Fest 2017 took place on 14 October 2017. It consisted sixteen competing acts participating in a televised production where the winner was determined by a jury panel. Sixteen songs took part in Junior Fest 2017, which was held in the Palace of Congresses in Tirana. A three-member professional jury, made up of Fatma Methasani, Andi Bajgora and Lum Veseli, selected Ana Kodra as the winner of the selection with the song "Mos ma prekni pemën".The song was later entitled "Don't Touch My Tree" along with the release of the official video on 14 November 2017.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Language | English translation | Place |
| 1 | Ajla Buzi | "DJ Pom" | Albanian | - | 15 |
| 2 | Alina Jani | "Yjet" | Albanian | Stardom | 14 |
| 3 | Amela Agastra | "Dance Up" | Albanian | - | 16 |
| 4 | Ana Kodra | "Mos ma prekni pemën" | Albanian | Do Not Touch My Tree | 1 |
| 5 | Argisa Sako | "Ola" | Albanian, Spanish | - | 4 |
| 6 | Auron Ismaili | "Shkolla e vjetër " | Albanian | Old School | 5 |
| 7 | Diana Tahiri | "Një sekret " | Albanian | A Secret | 13 |
| 8 | Jana Shala | "Si një melodi" | Albanian | Like a Melody | 6 |
| 9 | Klaudia & Eliza Thartori | "Garderoba" | Albanian | Wardrobe | 12 |
| 10 | Kleanca Susaj | "Melodi" | Albanian | Melody | 3 |
| 11 | Kristiana Veshaj | "Profesioni " | Albanian | Profession | 7 |
| 12 | Sara Bajraktari | "Flas me ëndrrën" | Albanian | I Speak with Dreams | 2 |
| 13 | Uendi Goga | "Të japim ty një shpresë " | Albanian | Let's give you hope | 8 |
| 14 | Valeria Cara | "Kohën pas ta kthe" | Albanian | Time to return | 10 |
| 15 | Vivian Biaggioni | "Si në përrallë" | Albanian | In the Fairytale | 9 |
| 16 | Vivian Kokeri | "Historia që nuk flet" | Albanian | History Does not Speak | 11 |
Artist and song information
Ana Kodra
Ana Kodra is an Albanian singer. She represented Albania in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Mos ma prekni pemën". She finished in 13th place with 67 points.Ana began performing at the age of eight years old when she participated in the TV show Tú sí que vales. Despite her young age, she managed to go to the final and to create her own fan base. At the age of nine, Ana became part of the TV show Gjeniu i vogël. In addition to that, she won the second prize at the National Children's Festival in Shkodër.
Ana participated in the second series of The Voice Kids Albania where she gave a very impressive and confident performance in the Blind Auditions of the song Evil Like Me from the Disney movie, Descendants. All judges turned their chair, and she picked Miriam Cani as her coach. She finished in the top 6.
In 2019, she auditioned for Britain's Got Talent.
Don't Touch My Tree
"Don't Touch My Tree" is a song performed by Albanian child singer Ana Kodra. It represented Albania in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017.At Junior Eurovision
During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which took place on 20 November 2017, Albania was drawn to perform tenth on 26 November 2017, following Georgia and preceding Ukraine.Voting
The results of the 2017 Junior Eurovision Song Contest were determined by national juries and an online audience vote. Every country had a national jury that consisted of three music industry professionals and two kids aged between 10 and 15 who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The first phase of the online voting started on 24 November 2017 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances was shown on junioreurovision.tv before the viewers could vote. After this, voters also had the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant's rehearsal. This first round of voting stopped on Sunday, 26 November, at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting took place during the live show and started right 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. They could also vote for their own country's song. These votes were then turned into points. The number of points was determined by the percentage of votes received. For example, if a song received 20% of the votes, thus it would receive 20% of the available points. The public vote counted for 50% of the final result, while the other 50% came from the professional juries.Points awarded to Albania
- Albania received 35 points from Online voting.
Points awarded by Albania
| 12 points | |
| 10 points | |
| 8 points | |
| 7 points | |
| 6 points | |
| 5 points | |
| 4 points | |
| 3 points | |
| 2 points | |
| 1 point |