On November 25th, Minsk Arena will host the sixteenth Junior Eurovision Song Contest. It will be the second time that the event takes place in the venue in Belarus’s capital. So far, 14 countries have confirmed participation. Therefore, it is the perfect time to look back at the journeys of all of this year’s participating countries in the contest so far. Just a few days ago, FYR Macedonia became the latest country to confirm participation in this year’s edition of the show. Let’s take a look at the country’s Junior Eurovision journey so far.
Quick facts
- Country: FYR Macedonia
- Broadcaster: MKRTV
- Debut appearance: 2003
- Number of participations: 14
- Highest finish: 5th (2007, 2008)
- Lowest finish: Last (2006, 2013, 2015)
Back to the very beginning…
FYR Macedonia was one of the 16 countries that competed in the very first edition of the show in Copenhagen back in 2003. Marija and Viktorija were the first to fly the country’s flag at the contest with their entry “Ti ne me poznavas”. The start of the journey wasn’t overly successful as they finished 12th with a total of 19 points.
FYR Macedonia’s Junior Eurovision Journey so far
FYR Macedonia is one of the countries with the most appearances at the contest. In fact, with 14 appearances it only lags behind The Netherlands and Belarus, having both took part to all contests. The country missed out twice, in 2012 due to financial difficulties of the broadcaster and in 2014. Despite the many appearances, however, the country hasn’t managed to win the trophy just yet. The best results they achieved so far are two 5th places in 2007 and 2008 by Rosica Kulakova and Dimitar Stojmenovski and Bobi Andonov respectively. Since then, their results at the contest have been frail and they haven’t managed to place better than 12th ever since. Interestingly, they placed 12th in 6 of the past 7 contests they took part to.
Looking ahead to 2018
MKRTV has indeed confirmed participation but to date no further information regarding their plans for 2018 is available. Nevertheless, considering their strategy in recent years, it is very likely that they will opt for internal selection to select their entrant for Minsk.
My favourite FYR Macedonia entry!
If on one hand I am a fairly recent Eurovision fan, I am a total newbie at Junior Eurovision as I only watched the first full contest just last year. Part of writing this piece thus involved me listening through all the past Macedonian entries. Three of their songs impressed me the most: 2005, 2016 and 2017. However, out of the three, Martija Stanojković 2016’s entry “Love Will Lead Our Way” easily wins it for me.
She was one of the six 12th places, earning 41 points on the night. While I do have some issues with the staging and performance, especially the intro, I am SO IN LOVE with the refrain and its instrumental bits. So refreshing and uplifting and radio friendly and Martija’s vocals are also top notch. I think it was a totally underrated entry and it deserved to at least crack the top 5 if not win it all.
Which is your favourite Macedonian Junior Eurovision entry so far? Furthermore, are you looking forward to their performance in Minsk?
Let us know in the comments below or on social media @ESCXTRA.
