Poland 2020🇺🇦 Ukraine

🇺🇦 Ukraine to select Junior Eurovision 2020 entry in September

Online National Final format returns

Last week UA:PBC the public broadcaster of Ukraine announced they were ready to begin choosing their 2020 Junior Eurovision artist. Now the full details have been released for the online National Final to choose Sophia Ivanko’s successor for Warsaw.

Third time lucky…

For the third year in a row UA:PBC have opted for an online selection format. Which is the safest workable solution with the ongoing Covid-19 situation. The search opened on 5 August and will run until September. Below the rules of the competition are as follows:

Submissions
  • Any participants looking to enter must be between the ages of 9-14 yrs old on the day of the Junior Eurovision 2020 final on 29 November.
  • They must either be citizens of Ukraine or hold current permanent residence.
  • All applications must be submitted through the website online, available here.
  • This can be in the form of an original song or cover. Thus in a new change, applicants can apply without having a song of their own.
  • Ideally submissions should be within 2:30-3:00 in length.
  • A video of each submission will be posted online. Along with the hashtag #uajesc2020. Through which artists can accumulate likes and support for their videos.
Selection
  • On 25 August the submission deadline will close.
  • Across 26-27 August 11 acts will be shortlisted – 8 with original songs, 2 with covers and 1 whose video gained the most likes.
  • From 28 August to 4 September UA:PBC will reveal the artists and their potential Junior Eurovision entries. Artists that submitted covers will record new songs. Although original song artists may also take up this option too.
  • However the songs must be mostly in Ukrainian, with up to 40% allowed to be in another language.
  • Between 5-7 September voting will open to decide the winner from the 11 entries. This will consist of the combined results from the jury – 5 music experts and 3 online voters and a public online vote on the website.
  • By no later than 12 September the winner and act going on to represent Ukraine in Warsaw will be decided. They will have 5 days following victory to confirm their intentions to represent Ukraine in Junior Eurovision.

Junior Eurovision 2020 – what we know so far

Junior Eurovision 2020 will take place on November 29 in the Polish capital of Warsaw. The slogan for the show is ‘Move The World’. Following Viki Gabor’s victory on home soil in 2019, this will mark TVP’s second consecutive time hosting.

Note, unlike previous years, the show is due to be held in a TV studio, rather than an arena. The host venue is yet to be confirmed. However, both the ATM Studio or Transcolor Studio are in contention.

To date, the following countries have confirmed participation in the contest:

Ukraine in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

Back in 2006, Ukraine made their Junior Eurovision debut, 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. This year will mark their 15th participation in the contest.

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 at the time to host the Junior contest twice (after the Netherlands). Of course Poland now boasts back to back wins in 2018 and 2019 to make this three.

Last year they selected Sophia Ivanko to represent them in Gliwice-Silesia with the entry, ‘The Spirit of Music’. During the contest she finished a respectable 15th place with 59 points.

What type of song should Ukraine send this year? Are you looking forward to Junior Eurovision 2020? Let us know! Stay up to date by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! As well as subscribing to our YouTube channel. Where you can watch our reactions to the news in the upcoming months. You can also follow our Spotify for more music from your favourite acts!

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