France has sent one French entry to the Junior EurovisionSong Contest, competing in the 2004 contest with Thomas Pontier and "Si on voulait bien". Despite coming sixth, France Télévisions decided to withdraw from the contest after 2004, saying there was no motivation to compete and that "too much Eurovision kills Eurovision". On 18 November 2015, it was revealed that the French broadcaster was interested in returning to the contest. However, France 2 announced on 24 June 2015 that they had no plans to return to the contest, however the broadcaster sent a delegation to Bulgaria in order to observe the 2015 edition. On 13 May 2016, executive supervisor Jon Ola Sand announced at a press conference, that the EBU were in contact with broadcasters from several countries including France, so that they would participate in the 2016 contest. Edoardo Grassi, the Head of Delegation for France in the Eurovision Song Contest was one of the jury members at the Maltese national selection for the 2016 Junior Eurovision, and was introduced by the hosts of the show as being the Head of Delegation for France in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. On 12 May 2018, it was announced that France would return to the contest in 2018. France was represented by Angélina Nava, winner of the fourth season of The Voice Kids France.
National selection process
When France entered in 2004, they held a national final at France Televisions studios in Paris. Before the national final was broadcast, 7000 children auditioned for the broadcast, and an extra 1,000 were invited to the final. In the end, 11 candidates became the finalists, including Thomas. He won the competition with his cover of the rock ballad "Un Autre Monde". After France returned to the contest, the broadcaster used an internal selection process to select their participant to save money.
The contests 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 French broadcaster, France Télévisions, sent their own commentators to the contest in order to provide commentary in the French language. Spokespersons were also chosen by the national broadcaster in order to announce the awarding points from France. The table below list the details of each commentator and spokesperson since 2004.
