On May 31, Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) confirmde the Iberian nation would return to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Yerevan, Armenia, on December 11, 2022. This will mark Portugal’s seventh Junior Eurovision appearance.
RTP did not confirm how they would select their entrant, as they have employed many methods to do so: internal selection, a national final, and most recently, sending the winner of the Portuguese version of The Voice Kids.
Portugal in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Portugal first appeared in Junior Eurovision in 2006, when Pedro Madeira represented the country with the song “Deixa-me sentir,” which placed 14th in the final out of 15 with 22 points. After withdrawing from the contest in 2008, Portugal returned in 2017 with the song “Youtuber” by Mariana Venâncio, finishing 14th out of 16 with 54 points.
Their best placing to date is their most recent as well. In 2021, Portugal sent Simão Oliveira with the song “O Rapaz.” Though the song would finish in 18th place with the national juries, a third place result with the public vote would rocket Portugal to 11th place overall out of 19 with 101 points, their best results in both placing and score.
Junior Eurovision 2022
The 2022 Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be held on December 11th in the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan, Armenia. This will be the second time that Yerevan will host the competition, as they hosted in 2011 after winning the year prior. With the confirmation of Portugal, nine countries have confirmed that they will compete in this year’s contest:
- Armenia
- Bulgaria
- France
- Georgia
- Ireland
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Portugal
- Spain
While Kazakhstan has expressed a desire to compete in JESC again this year, their participation is awaiting approval by the European Broadcasting Union, as they are only an associate member of the EBU.
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