With ‘adult’ Eurovision now over, we have the opportunity to focus on what is ahead – Junior Eurovision! Late last year, Malta took the title once again, and it has been announced that it will be Malta who will host once again, with their last hosting of the contest back in 2014. The host broadcaster PBS has announced that the contest will be hosted in Valletta, the nations’ capital city on the 20th of November.
This year, we will see a few changes to the contest. Upon cooperative work between the EBU, the steering group and PBS, it was decided that the contest will be held in the afternoon rather than the night. This was done as some members felt that the timeslot during the night wasn’t suited towards the audience that the contest is broadcasting to, and that the afternoon would work better for kids and families who wish to view the contest. PBS CEO Anton Attard is again taking on the role of Executive Producer, and is no stranger to the role. He also had this role back in 2014, and is pleased to be in this position again. Jon Ola Sand will be the Executive Producer, after previous Executive Producer Vladislav Yakolev was dismissed late last year for reasons unclear.
Interestingly enough, it was also announced that the voting format will be different this year. Previous years, there was a 50/50 split between jury and televote, much like regular Eurovision, however from 2016 onwards, it will only be a professional jury contributing to the votes – getting rid of televoting for the first time.
The theme for the contest is ‘Embrace’, and the logos associated with it are down below:
It is estimated that there will be 18 countries participating, however for now we only have a provisional list. As of the 13th of June, only 8 countries have confirmed:
-
Albania
-
Belarus
-
Bulgaria
-
Ireland
-
Italy
-
Malta
-
Netherlands
-
Russia