Junior Athas Song Contest

in 31st of may the admin of the contest have announced that Junior Athas will happen. The First edition will contain 12 to 16 countries and the voting system will be similar to the Adult version of the contest. The host country was chosen to be  Norway and the city that will host it will be Bergen and the first edition is supposed to start in September 2021.

## Infromation about the host city

**Bergen** historically **Bjørgvin**, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. As of 2021, its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers 465 square kilometres (180 sq mi) and is on the peninsula of Bergenshalvøyen. The city centre and northern neighbourhoods are on Byfjorden, 'the city fjord', and the city is surrounded by mountains; Bergen is known as the "city of seven mountains". Many of the extra-municipal suburbs are on islands. Bergen is the administrative centre of Vestland county. The city consists of eight boroughs: Arna, Bergenhus, Fana, Fyllingsdalen, Laksevåg, Ytrebygda, Årstad, and Åsane.

Trading in Bergen may have started as early as the 1020s. According to tradition, the city was founded in 1070 by king Olav Kyrre and was named Bjørgvin, 'the green meadow among the mountains'. It served as Norway's capital in the 13th century, and from the end of the 13th century became a bureau city of the Hanseatic League. Until 1789, Bergen enjoyed exclusive rights to mediate trade between Northern Norway and abroad and it was the largest city in Norway until the 1830s when it was overtaken by the capital, Christiania (now known as Oslo). What remains of the quays, Bryggen, is a World Heritage Site. The city was hit by numerous fires over the years. The Bergen School of Meteorology was developed at the Geophysical Institute starting in 1917, the Norwegian School of Economics was founded in 1936, and the University of Bergen in 1946. From 1831 to 1972, Bergen was its own county. In 1972 the municipality absorbed four surrounding municipalities and became a part of Hordaland county.

The city is an international center for aquaculture, shipping, the offshore petroleum industry and subsea technology, and a national centre for higher education, media, tourism and finance. Bergen Port is Norway's busiest in terms of both freight and passengers, with over 300 cruise ship calls a year bringing nearly a half a million passengers to Bergen, a number that has doubled in 10 years. Almost half of the passengers are German or British. The city's main football team is SK Brann and a unique tradition of the city is the buekorps. Natives speak a distinct dialect, known as Bergensk. The city features Bergen Airport, Flesland and Bergen Light Rail, and is the terminus of the Bergen Line. Four large bridges connect Bergen to its suburban municipalities.

Bergen has a mild winter climate, though with a lot of precipitation. From December to March, Bergen can be, in rare cases, up to 20 °C warmer than Oslo, even though both cities are at about 60° North. The Gulf Stream keeps the sea relatively warm, considering the latitude, and the mountains protect the city from cold winds from the north, north-east and east.

## Participation Rules

The representative of the country needs to be 8 to 17 years old to be allowed to participate in the contest. And the country needs to have the ASBU membership cause otherwise they could not participate until they will make their appereance in the adult contest.

## Participating Countries

in 26th of august ASBU confirmed that 17 countries will be participating in the first edition of the junior contest. Including a country that has the ASBU membership but havent participated in the adult contest  Cuba.

### List of the Participants

* Azerbaijan
* Belarus
* Canada
* Cuba
* France
* Georgia
* Israel
* Italy
* Kazakhstan
* Malta
* Norway
* Poland
* Russia
* South Korea
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom
* United States

## Other Countries

 Australia: SBS confirmed that they would be interested to host the contest in june and participate in the contest even if they would not host it. However they were not on the final participating countries list

 Denmark: DR was interested of taking part in the contest but decided not to join since they won the 10th edition and Denmark would host the adult contest but they announced that they will take part in the future.