Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020


The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 will be the 18th edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, organised by Telewizja Polska and the European Broadcasting Union. The contest will take place on 29 November 2020, and will be held in Warsaw, Poland, following the country's victory at the 2019 contest. This would be the first time the contest is held in the same country for two consecutive years.

Location

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 is set to take place in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. The country received the right to host when it won the 2019 edition with the song "Superhero" by Viki Gabor. It would be the third time Warsaw hosts a Eurovision event, and the first time a JESC is held in the same country in two consecutive years.

Bidding phase and host city selection

After Poland's victory in the contest on home soil in Gliwice, the director-general of Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska, Jacek Kurski, stated that the country would apply to host the event again in 2020. However, Kurski stated that the possibility of two consecutive editions of the event in Poland could be frowned upon by the EBU. After a period of uncertainty, in the last week of December 2019, it was reported by the newspaper Wyborcza, that some city councillors in the city of Kraków, were expressing interest in taking the proposal that the contest to be held at the city, focused on Tauron Arena. A few days later on 8 January 2020, the proposal was discussed at the City Council and accepted by the majority of its members. Poland was confirmed as the host country in March 2020. Current champion, Viki Gabor, also expressed her desire for the event to be held in Kraków, her place of residence. The host city has yet to be announced but local newspaper Gazeta Krakowska informed that the event will go to Krakow on the basis of a contract under which the city will make available the necessary locations and TVP will deal with financial issues.
Following the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 due the COVID-19 pandemic, work on the event was suspended indefinitely. On 16 May 2020, during the airing of ', it was confirmed that the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 would be held in a studio in Warsaw on 29 November. Junior Eurovision 2019 winner Viki Gabor also revealed the competition's logo and slogan during the broadcast.
Key: Host venue
CityVenue
KrakówTauron Arena Kraków
WarsawATM Studio
Warsaw'''Transcolor Studio

Format

Visual design

The theme for the contest, #MoveTheWorld!, was revealed on 16 May 2020, during the airing of by Junior Eurovision 2019 winner Viki Gabor.

New executive supervisor

In January 2020, the European Broadcasting Union announced that the Swedish Martin Österdahl would become the new executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest after the edition, succeeding Jon Ola Sand. Prior to the appointment, Österdahl had been an executive producer for the and adult contests, and had been a member of the Eurovision Song Contest reference group between and.

Hosts

In July 2020, eight months after her victory in Gliwice, Viki Gabor announced her interest in hosting the 2020 contest.

Provisional list of participating countries

The following countries have confirmed their intent to participate:
CountryArtistSongLanguage
TBA September 2020
TBA September 2020TBA September 2020
TBD 26 September 2020TBD 26 September 2020
TBD September 2020TBD September 2020
TBD 19 September 2020TBD 19 September 2020

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.

Active EBU members

  • – In December 2019, Bulgarian National Television stated that they had no plans to return to the contest at the time, as it was consolidating its participation in the adult contest. However, in July 2020, they stated that the broadcaster was looking to return to the contest in 2021 and had not completely ruled out the possibility of returning to the contest in 2020. Bulgaria last participated in.
  • – In April 2020, Danish broadcaster DR stated that they would not return to the contest in 2020, with Head of Entertainment Jan Lagermand Lundme stating that they did not want children to "play adults". Denmark last participated in 2005.
  • – In June 2020, it was reported that Greek broadcaster ERT was seriously considering returning to the contest in 2020. However, weeks later, it was revealed that the broadcaster had decided not to return to the contest in 2020. Greece last participated in.
  • – In December 2019, the Icelandic Head of Delegation for the Eurovision Song Contest Felix Bergsson revealed that no decision had yet been made regarding a potential debut in the contest.
  • – Rai Gulp previously stated in an Instagram story dated 4 November 2019 that they would be participating in the 2020 contest; however, in July 2020, they stated that they had yet to make a decision on participation.
  • – In July 2020, Macedonian Radio Television announced that North Macedonia would not participate in the 2020 contest due to the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • – In July 2020, Portuguese broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal stated that while no formal announcement would be made until the end of that week, they were "highly likely" to confirm their participation.
  • – In January 2020, Head of SVT Barn Safa Safiyari stated that Sveriges Television had no plans at the time to return to the contest, having concluded that it "does not fit the mix we want on our content". Nonetheless, the broadcaster did not rule out participation in the future. Sweden last participated in.
  • – In July 2020, the BBC stated that a decision on participating in the 2020 contest had not been made. The United Kingdom last competed as a single country in, with previous UK entries provided by ITV.
  • * – In June 2019, BBC Alba stated that talks had taken place that could enable its participation in 2020. However, in April 2020, the broadcaster announced that it had no plans to debut at the contest in 2020.
  • * – In April 2020, it was reported that Welsh broadcaster S4C and production company Rondo Media had stopped any decision on Junior Eurovision participation due to the situation caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On 14 July 2020, it was confirmed that Wales would not participate in 2020 due to the pandemic, with hopes of returning to it in 2021.
The following countries and broadcasters confirmed their non-participation without offering further explanation:

Commentators

Participating countries

  • – TBA
  • – TBA