Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the sixteenth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the Belarusian Television and Radio Company and the European Broadcasting Union. It took place in the Belarusian capital city, Minsk on 25 November 2018 at the Minsk-Arena. It was the second time that the contest was held in Belarus, after it staged the at the same venue.
A record twenty countries took part in the contest, with and participating for the first time. returned for the first time since, alongside for the first time since and after missing the. withdrew from the contest.
The winner was Roksana Węgiel, who represented with the song "Anyone I Want to Be". Poland won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. Returning country came second, their best result at the contest, while placed third for the second year in a row. was the third best performing debuting nation, after and 's victories in 2003 and 2014 respectively, and 's second place in 2007, finishing sixth, whilst came last.
Location
The EBU confirmed on 15 October 2017, that the contest would be hosted by Belarus. This was the second time Belarus hosts the Junior Eurovision Song contest, after hosting the contest.Venue
On 21 November 2017, Belarus' Deputy Prime Minister Vasily Zharko confirmed that the contest was scheduled to be held at Minsk-Arena in November 2018. The arena previously hosted the 2010 contest. However, on 26 November 2017, it was confirmed by the host broadcaster that the exact location of the contest is still unknown, stating that Minsk Arena was one of the possible options. On 18 March 2018, the 15,000-capacity Minsk-Arena was confirmed as the venue by the contest organisers.Format
Visual design
The slogan was the hashtag #LightUp. The logo of the contest was based around a morning star made of vertically inverted soundwaves. The source of inspiration was the artistic potential and creative aspiration of the young participants who fill the scene like a star.Hosts
On 26 October 2018, it was announced that Eugene Perlin and Zinaida Kupriyanovich would host the contest, together with Helena Meraai in the green room. Meraai is the fourth person under the age of sixteen to ever host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, after Ioana Ivan in, Dmytro Borodin in and Lizi Japaridze in, and is also the second former participant to host an edition of the contest. Meraai previously in the 2017 contest, where she placed fifth with the song "". Perlin is a television presenter and the country's Eurovision commentator since 2013, whilst Kupriyanovich is a singer and artist who has participated in Belarus' national selections for the 2015 and 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contests. It was also announced that Denis Dudinsky and Anna Kviloria would host the opening ceremony.Voting
The results were determined by national juries and an online audience vote. Every country used a national jury that consisted of three music industry professionals and two kids aged between 10 and 15 who were citizens of the country they represent. The first phase of the online voting started on 23 November 2018 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances were shown on the official website before the viewers could vote. Following this recap, voters had the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant's rehearsal. This first round of voting ended on 25 November at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting took place during the live show and started 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, including their own country.The number of points were determined by the percentage of votes received. The public vote counted for 50% of the final result, while the other 50% came from the professional juries.
Trophy
The trophy was designed by Kjell Engman of the Swedish glass company Kosta Boda, using the same design as was first introduced in the 2017 contest. The main trophy is a glass microphone with colored lines inside the upper part, which symbolize the flow of sound.Participating countries
On 25 July 2018, the EBU released the official list of participants with 19 competing countries. was given special dispensation by the host broadcaster BTRC and the EBU in order to participate as the country had won the adult contest earlier that year. were invited to make their debut appearance in the contest this year.Despite initially withdrawing from the contest on 2 July 2018 due to financial difficulties, were added to the list of participating countries on 2 August 2018, setting a record of 20 participating countries.
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Place | Points |
| 01 | "" | Ukrainian, English | 4 | 182 | ||
| 02 | "" | Portuguese | 18 | 42 | ||
| 03 | Daneliya Tuleshova | "" | Kazakh, English | 6 | 171 | |
| 04 | "" | Albanian, English | 17 | 44 | ||
| 05 | "" | Russian, English | 10 | 122 | ||
| 06 | "" | Dutch, English | 13 | 91 | ||
| 07 | "" | Azerbaijani, English | 16 | 47 | ||
| 08 | "" | Russian, English | 11 | 114 | ||
| 09 | "" | Irish | 15 | 48 | ||
| 10 | "" | Serbian | 19 | 30 | ||
| 11 | "" | Italian, English | 7 | 151 | ||
| 12 | "" | English | 3 | 201 | ||
| 13 | "" | Georgian, English | 8 | 144 | ||
| 14 | "" | Hebrew | 14 | 81 | ||
| 15 | Angélina | "" | French, English | 2 | 203 | |
| 16 | "" | Macedonian | 12 | 99 | ||
| 17 | "" | Armenian | 9 | 125 | ||
| 18 | "" | Welsh | 20 | 29 | ||
| 19 | "" | English | 5 | 181 | ||
| 20 | Roksana Węgiel | "Anyone I Want to Be" | Polish, English | 1 | 215 |
Scoreboard
Juries
12 points
Online voting results
A total of 1,283,921 valid votes were received during the voting windows.| Contestant | Votes | Points |
| Poland | ~150,529 | 136 |
| France | ~129,499 | 117 |
| Kazakhstan | ~114,003 | 103 |
| Ukraine | ~86,333 | 78 |
| Armenia | ~77,478 | 70 |
| Netherlands | ~75,264 | 68 |
| Russia | ~68,623 | 62 |
| Italy | ~63,089 | 57 |
| Australia | ~58,662 | 53 |
| Belarus | ~58,662 | 53 |
| Israel | ~52,021 | 47 |
| Malta | ~47,594 | 43 |
| Portugal | ~46,487 | 42 |
| Georgia | ~43,166 | 39 |
| Ireland | ~39,846 | 36 |
| Macedonia | ~38,739 | 35 |
| Albania | ~37,632 | 34 |
| Azerbaijan | ~33,205 | 30 |
| Wales | ~32,098 | 29 |
| Serbia | ~30,991 | 28 |
| Total | 1,283,921 | 1,160 |
Other countries
For a country to be eligible for potential participation in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, it needs to be an active member of the EBU. It is currently unknown whether the EBU issue invitations of participation to all 56 active members like they do for the Eurovision Song Contest.Active EBU members
- – On 25 May 2018, the Bosnian broadcaster Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that they would not be allowed to debut at the contest in the near future until the debt-related sanctions placed on them by the EBU were lifted.
- – On 16 February 2018, it was reported that the EBU was calling on Danish broadcaster Danmarks Radio to return to the contest after an 11-year break. However, Jan Lagermand Lundme, the head of Entertainment at the Danish broadcaster, played down the likelihood of Denmark returning to the competition, saying "Now, never say never, but as long as the show is, as it is now, I’m definitely not going to compete again. The values that we put in Denmark in a program for children do not match the values of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest… It seems that the children are on stage and play adults instead of acting as children, and we think that is fundamentally wrong. Children must be children, they should not try to strive to be something they are not. It’s super bad for us, because we really wanted to be part of the show. Participating in a concept like Junior Eurovision would be a natural step for us after MGP, but it does not work when we do not feel the show fits the Danish values."
- – On 28 February 2018, the Lithuanian broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television declared that they would not return to contest in the near future. LRT executive producer Audrius Giržadas stated that "this contest has become a clone of the main Eurovision Song Contest and has nothing to do with childhood, little girls go on stage with clipped hairs, glued eyelashes and bare belly, copying Beyoncé and Christina Aguilera – this is not an event that we would like to participate in." Lithuania last took part in.
- – On 2 January 2018, the Belarusian broadcaster National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus announced that a representative from an unknown British broadcaster would be attending the supervisory meeting for the 2018 contest. Two days later it was confirmed that the United Kingdom would not take part in the Steering Group meetings. United Kingdom last took part in. Wales, a country that is part of the United Kingdom, competed.
- – BNT
- – CyBC
- – Yle
- – NDR
- – MTVA
- – LTV
- –TRM
- – NRK
- – TVR
- – SMRTV
- – RTV SLO
- – SVT
- – RSI
Commentators and spokespersons
Spokespersons
- – Anastasiya Baginska
- – Nadezhda Sidorova
- – Aruzhan Hafiz
- – Daniil Lazuko
- – Dina Baru and Khryusha
- – Vincent Miranovich
- – Valeh Huseynbeyli
- – Arina Rovba
- – Alex Hynes
- – Lana Karić
- – Yan Musvidas
- – Ksenia Galetskaya
- – Nikoloz Vasadze
- – Adi
- – Daniil Rotenko and Lubava Marchuk
- – Arina Pekhtereva
- – Vardan Margaryan
- – Gwen Rowley
- – Milana Borodko
- – Grace
Commentators
- – Andri Xhahu
- – Mika, Dalita
- – Grace Koh, Pip Rasmussen, and Lawrence Gunatilaka
- – Shafiga Efendiyeva
- – Georgiy Koldun and Andrey Makaenok
- – Madame Monsieur and Stéphane Bern
- – Helen Kalandadze and George Abashidze
- – Mícheál Ó Ciarradh and Sinéad Ní Uallacháin
- – Dudu Erez and Alma Zohar
- – Federica Carta and Mario Acampa
- – Unknown
- – Eli Tanaskovska
- – No commentary
- – Jan Smit
- – Artur Orzech
- – Nuno Galopim
- – Anton Zorkin
- – Tamara Petković
- – Timur Miroshnychenko
- – Welsh: Trystan Ellis-Morris, English: Stifyn Parri
Non-participating countries
- – Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright and Ben Robertson
- – Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright and Ben Robertson
Official album