Young hopefuls will be making their way to Belarus this November to take part in the 16th Junior Eurovision Song Contest. A record-breaking 19 countries will participate in Minsk – the most in the history of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – celebrating the extraordinary young musical talent across Europe.
Belarus’ public broadcaster BTRC (Belarusian Television and Radio Company) will host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018, which will take place at the Minsk Arena on Sunday 25 November, the second time the contest has been held at the 15000 seat stadium in the Belarusian capital. Following their triumph with Polina Bogusevich winning at last year’s contest Russia return to defend their title in Belarus, facing tough competition for the accolade from previous winners Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Italy, Malta and The Netherlands plus the rest of the 2018 contenders Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, France, FYR Macedonia, Ireland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Poland, Portugal, Serbia and Wales.

“We are delighted to have a record-breaking 19 countries taking part at the 16th Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Since the contest began in 2003 we have been thrilled to see a wealth of young talented performers take to the stage, some of whom have gone on to represent their countries in the Eurovision Song Contest. We are looking forward to seeing the next generation of young musical talent shine in the 2018 contest at the Minsk Arena in Belarus” Jon Ola Sand, the EBU’s head of Live Events and Executive Supervisor of the JESC commented.
Ola Sand pointed out that young contestants will look to emulate the success of previous Junior Eurovision contestants, including Ieva Zasimauskaitė who performed for Lithuania in 2007 and went on to represent her country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon. As in previous years, the winner of this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be invited to perform at the prestigious Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Israel. Ola Sand also added that having won the competition twice before Belarus are among the few countries who have won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest multiple times along with Russia and Malta who have also won twice, and Georgia who have won a record three times. Kazakhstan and Wales will both take part for the first time.