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 (BTRC) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). 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 fourth 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. Postcards. Each postcard took place in a different location in Belarus. They all consisted of the upcoming participant putting on a virtual reality headset and, through it, experiencing a location in Belarus while doing various activities. At the conclusion of the postcard, the upcoming participant would take their headset off, and the performance would commence. 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. Scoreboard. 12 points. Below is a summary of all 12 points received from each country's professional juries. Online voting. A total of 1,283,921 valid votes were received during the voting windows. 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. The following broadcasters publicly declined to participate in the contest without providing any further explanation: Official album. Junior Eurovision Song Contest Minsk 2018 is a compilation album put together by the European Broadcasting Union, and was released by Universal Music Group on 16 November 2018. The album features all the songs from the 2018 contest.