Despite their absence from the adult contest this year, Ukraine will return to this year’s Junior Eurovision! The news comes as a Ukrainian talent agency opens calls from singers to submit auditions for an internal selection.
Despite their dramatic withdrawal from the Eurovision Song Contest earlier this year, it appears that Ukraine will be participating in this year’s Junior Eurovision. First, Inakshi Casting announced a casting call for Ukrainian performers age 9 to 14 via Instagram. They ask interested parties to upload a Ukrainian language performance video to Instagram with the hashtag #inakshi_casting.
Further, it was announced that one of those who will be determining their entrant will be last year’s representative Darina Krasnovetska!
It is currently unclear whether the Ukrainian broadcaster has faced any sanctions following their withdrawal. Due to the politicisation of their national selection and the manor of their withdrawal, it was possible that UA:PBC could face a fine from the EBU.
Junior Eurovision 2019
This year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Gliwice Arena, Poland, on the 24th November 2019. It marks the first time Poland will host a music-based Eurovision event! Last year, Roksana Węgiel brought Poland its first Eurovision-adjacent win with “Anyone I Want To Be”
At present, the following countries have confirmed their intention to participate:
- Albania
- Australia
- France
- Georgia
- Ireland
- Kazakhstan*
- Malta
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Poland
- Portugal
- Russia
- Serbia
- Ukraine
- Wales
* Although, Kazakhstan have stated their intention to participate in the contest, they must be invited by the host broadcaster in order to participate.
Ukraine at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Ukraine debuted at Junior Eurovision in 2006, finishing 9th with Nazar Slyusarchuk’s “Khlopchyk Rock ‘n’ Roll”. They have participated in every contest since then, and are one of the best-performing countries overall.
They won the 2012 contest with “Nebo” by Anastasiya Petryk, whose sister Viktoria had come second at the 2008 contest. Although the winner of the junior contest doesn’t automatically host the following year, Ukraine hosted the 2009 edition. In fact, they have hosted the contest in Kiev’s Palace of Sports on two occasions now, in 2009 and then in 2013. This made them only the second country to host the Junior contest twice (after the Netherlands).
In July 2018, UA:PBC announced that they would not take part in the 2018 contest in Minsk due to financial difficulties. However, the following month, the EBU announced that Ukraine would indeed be participating. They finished in 4th place with Darina Krasnovetska’s “Say Love”.
Are you happy to see Ukraine back? Did you miss them at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates!
