It’s already time for episode six! Today we look back to Junior Eurovision 2008, which took place in Cyprus. What do you remember from this edition?
Quick things to know
- Date: 22 November
- Venue: Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Center
- Host broadcaster: CyBC
- Presenters: Alex Michael & Sophia Paraskeva
- Number of entries: 15
Also this year, broadcasters interested in organizing Junior Eurovision were given the opportunity to make an offer. The battle went between Sweden, Ukraine and Cyprus. On May 27, 2007, the EBU decided to give the festival to Cyprus. Ukraine received the next edition and Sweden withdrew for a year.
Participating countries
Compared to 2007, two countries participated less. After two fairly weak debut years, Portugal withdrew. The most striking retreat, however, was Sweden, as they have been participating since 2003. Sweden’s TV4 had other broadcasting plans during the night. On the other hand, two countries showed interest to debut, Israel and Bosnia & Herzegovina. In the end, nobody debuted and 2008 became the first edition to not have any debutants.
The full list of participating countries
- Romania: Madalina & Andrade – Salvați planeta!
- Armenia: Monica – Im Ergi Hnchyune
- Belarus: Dasha, Alina & Karyna – Serdtse Belarusi
- Russia: Mihail Puntov – Spit angel
- Greece: Niki Yiannouchu – Kapoia nychta
- Georgia: Bzikebi – Bzz
- Belgium: Oliver – Shut Up!
- Bulgaria: Krastyana Kasteva – Edna mechta
- Serbia: Maja Mazic – Uvek kad u nebo pogledam
- Malta: Daniel Testa – Junior Swing
- The Netherlands: Marissa – 1 Dag
- Ukraine: Viktoria Petryk – Matrosy
- Lithuania: Eglè Jugaitytè – Laiminga diena
- North Macedonia: Bobi Andonov – Prati mi SMS
- Cyprus: Elena Mannouri & Charis Savva – Gioupi gia
Interval acts
Dima Bilan
For the second time in the Junior Eurovision history, the organizing broadcaster called on an ex-Eurovision participant. In 2008, then-winner Dima Bilan released a medley of two songs, including his winning song “Believe.”
Common song ‘hand in hand’
Just like the year before, the proceeds from the televoting went to charity. The juniors have again linked a joint song to it. They were able to bring that together during the international final.
Top 3
- 3. Lithuania: Eglè Jugaitytè – Laiminga diena
- 2. Ukraine: Viktoria Petryk – Matrosy
- 1. Georgia: Bzikebi – Bzz
Bzikebi won Junior Eurovision 2008
A year after debut, Georgia already had its first victory. They owed that to the Bzikebi trio. Dressed like bees, they sang the song Bzz. The voting was not very exciting, because the winner was clear pretty quickly. Georgia won with a towering score and more than twenty points difference with second place. Georgia received the maximum 12 points from eight countries, including Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Russia and Ukraine.
Some fun facts
- The winning song of the evening was the first song in made-up language to win the contest.
- Victoria Petryk is Anastasiya’s big sister. The latter won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2012.
- Even before Australia took part in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, there was already an Australian vibe. North Macedonia’s Bobi Andonov has the dual nationality of Macedonia and Australia.
