Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017
The Netherlands participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 which took place in Tbilisi, Georgia on 26 November 2017. The Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS is responsible for the organisation of their representative at the contest. Their entry was selected through the national selection Junior Songfestival 2017. It consisted of six contestants who were divided into two semifinals, taking place on 2 September 2017 and 9 September 2017. The final took take place on 16 September 2017. The boyband FOURCE, a quartet consisting of the four boys Jannes, Niels, Max and Ian, were selected as the winners of the national selection. Their song for the contest, "Love Me", was released on 6 October 2017.
Background
Prior to the 2017 Contest, the Netherlands had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest fourteen times since its first entry in 2003. The Netherlands have won the contest on one occasion: in 2009 with the song "Click Clack" performed by Ralf Mackenbach. In 2016, the Netherlands placed 8th out of 17 entries with the song "Kisses & Dancin'" performed by the girl band Kisses.
On 7 June 2017, Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS announced that they would return to the televised process Junior Songfestivalfor the first time since 2015. The semifinals took place on 2 September 2017 and 9 September 2017, while the final took place on 16 September 2017. The winner was decided by a jury, and unlike in previous years, the artists performed covers instead of the final songs.
Jury
The Dutch broadcaster revealed the three jury members on 24 August 2017. The three main juries will select one qualifier from each semifinal, and there was also a wildcard jury made up of former Dutch Junior Eurovision contestants who were responsible for selecting an extra qualifier from the semifinals.
Together Max Mies, Jannes Heuvelmans, Niels Schlimback and Ian Kuyper make FOURCE. Right after they were selected for the semi-final, they asked the public to help them come up with a name for them as a boyband. Many fans submitted their ideas and eventually they chose the name FOURCE. The name refers to the group of four and their strength. Their song, “Love Me”, was revealed on 6 October.
At Junior Eurovision
During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which both took place on 20 November 2017, the Netherlands was drawn to perform in position 3 on 26 November 2017, following Poland and preceding Armenia.
Voting
The results of the 2017 Junior Eurovision Song Contest were determined by national juries and an online audience vote. Every country had a national jury that consisted of three music industry professionals and two kids aged between 10 and 15 who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury was 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 started on 24 November 2017 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances was shown on junioreurovision.tv before the viewers could vote. After this, voters also had the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant's rehearsal. This first round of voting ended on Sunday 26 November at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting took place during the live show and started right 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. They could also vote for their own country's song. These votes were then turned into points. The number of points was determined by the percentage of votes received. For example, if a song received 20% of the votes, thus it would receive 20% of the available points. The public vote counted for 50% of the final result, while the other 50% came from the professional juries. The Netherlands was ninth after the jury vote with a total of 44 points. The Netherlands however were tops with the online voting with 112 points. They finished fourth overall with a total of 156 points: their best JESC finish since 2011. Thijs Schlimback, older brother of FOURCE member Niels Schlimback, was the spokesperson declaring the results of the Dutch jury.
Points awarded to The Netherlands
The Netherlands received 112 points from Online voting.
