Australia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
The participation of Australia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest first began in Sofia, Bulgaria, at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015. Special Broadcasting Service an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union was responsible for the selection process of their participants at the 2015 and 2016 contests, with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation taking over the country's participation from the 2017 contest.
The first representative to participate for the nation at the 2015 contest was Bella Paige with the song "My Girls", which finished in eighth place out of seventeen participating entries, achieving a score of sixty-four points. Australia continued their participation at the 2016 contest, having internally selected Alexa Curtis with her song "We Are", which finished in fifth place, scoring 202 points. Isabella Clarke in 2017 and Jael Wena in 2018 both placed 3rd, Australia's best results to date. SBS previously broadcast every edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest on a broadcast delay. After finishing eighth with Jordan Anthony in 2019, Australia announced their withdrawal from the 2020 contest due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions. Upon their return, their participation will once again be organised by SBS.
History
On 7 October 2015, the Australian national broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service announced that they would be making their Junior Eurovision debut at the contest, in Sofia, Bulgaria, following on from their success at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. SBS internally selected Bella Paige as their debut representative, with the song "My Girls". At the running order draw which took place on 15 November 2015, Australia were drawn to perform sixth on 21 November 2015, following and preceding, where she finished in eighth place scoring 64 points. This was Australia's worst result in their contest history.Australian broadcaster SBS, announced on 12 September 2016 that they would be continuing their participation at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and would once again internally select their entrant for the, which took place on 20 November 2016, in Valletta, Malta. Alexa Curtis was announced on 29 September 2016 as being their participant, and would represent Australia with the song "We Are". During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which took place on 14 November 2016, Australia was drawn to perform fourteenth on 20 November 2016, following Israel and preceding the Netherlands, where she finished in fifth place achieving 202 points, their best result at the time until Isabella Clarke's participation of the 2017 edition and Jael both being placed 3rd place overall.
In July 2020, Australian broadcaster SBS announced that they would not participate in the 2020 contest due to COVID-19 restrictions and concerns.
Participation
Year | Artist | Song | Language | Place | Points |
Bella Paige | "My Girls" | English | 8 | 64 | |
Alexa Curtis | "We Are" | English | 5 | 202 | |
Isabella Clarke | "Speak Up" | English | 3 | 172 | |
Jael Wena | "Champion" | English | 3 | 201 | |
Jordan Anthony | "We Will Rise" | English | 8 | 121 |
Gallery
Commentators and spokespersons
The contest are broadcast online worldwide through the official Junior Eurovision Song Contest website junioreurovision.tv and YouTube. In 2015, the online broadcasts featured commentary in English by junioreurovision.tv editor Luke Fisher and 2011 Bulgarian Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrant Ivan Ivanov. The Australian broadcaster send their own commentary team to each contest in order to provide commentary in the English language. Spokespersons were also chosen by the national broadcaster in order to announce the awarding points from Australia. The table below list the details of each commentator and spokesperson since 2003.Year | Commentator | Spokesperson | Channel | |
– | rowspan="3" | SBS TV | ||
Andre Nookadu and Georgia McCarthy | SBS Two | - | ||
Andre Nookadu and Georgia McCarthy | SBS Two | - | ||
Ash London and Toby Truslove | Ellie Blackwell | SBS One | ||
Sebastian Hill | SBS One | |||
Pip Rasmussen, Tim Mathews and Grace Koh | Liam Clarke | ABC Me | ||
Grace Koh, Pip Rasmussen and Lawrence Gunatilaka | Ksenia Galetskaya | ABC Me | ||
Pip Rasmussen, Drew Parker and Ava Madon | Szymon | ABC Me |