Prior to the 2018 Contest, Australia had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest three times since its debut in, with the song "My Girls" performed by Bella Paige. In, Alexa Curtis represented Australia with the song "We Are", achieving fifth place. In 2017, Isabella Clarke represented Australia with her song "Speak Up", achieving third place.
On 1 September 2018, it was announced that Jael Wena had been internally chosen by the broadcaster to represent Australia.
Artist and song information
Jael Wena
Jael Wena is an Australian singer who represented Australia at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Champion", finishing third.
Champion
"Champion" is a song by Australian singer Jael Wena. It reprented Australia at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018.
At Junior Eurovision
During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which both took place on 19 November 2018, Australia was drawn to perform twelfth on 25 November 2018, following Italy and preceding Georgia.
Voting
The results of the 2018 Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be determined by national juries and an online audience vote. Every country will have a national jury that will consist of three music industry professionals and two kids aged between 10 and 15 who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury will be 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 will start on 23 November 2018 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances will be shown on junioreurovision.tv before the viewers can vote. After this, voters will also have the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant’s rehearsal. This first round of voting will stop on Sunday, 25 November, at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting will take place during the live show and will start right after the last performance and will be open for 15 minutes. International viewers can vote for a minimum of three countries and a maximum of five. They can also vote for their own country’s song. These votes will then be turned into points which will be determined by the percentage of votes received. For example, if a song receives 20% of the votes, thus it will receive 20% of the available points. The public vote will count for 50% of the final result, while the other 50% will come from the professional juries.
