Today, Portuguese broadcaster RTP has confirmed that they will participate in the 2020 Junior Eurovision Song Contest due to be held on November 29 in the Polish capital city of Warsaw. This follows a previous report that Portugal was “highly likely” to take part.
RTP will be there “if it happens”
In a statement to ESC Portugal, RTP announced the following (translated from Portuguese):
“If [Junior Eurovision 2020] happens, RTP will be present”
RTP (13 August 2020)
This statement, therefore, clarifies Portugal will take part in November’s contest assuming that it happens. Nevertheless, RTP’s statement suggests that there is still some uncertainty as to whether Junior Eurovision 2020 will go ahead as planned. However, the European Broadcasting Union has given no indication to date that November’s competition is under any threat from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Encouraged by Salvador’s success
To date, Portugal has participated five times in Eurovision’s younger competition. Their initial run of participation was in 2006 and 2007, selecting their entries via Festival da Canção Junior, before withdrawing from 2008 onwards. Then, following the nation’s victory with Salvador Sobral in the adult contest, Portugal returned to Junior Eurovision with a new national selection, Júniores de Portugal, choosing Mariana Venâncio to perform “Youtuber”.
However, for both 2018 and 2019, RTP opted to choose their entry internally and it would be understandable to presume that RTP would adopt the same method to choose their 2020 entry..
Aiming for the top 10?
To date, Portugal’s highest finish at Junior Eurovision came courtesy of Pedro Madeira and Mariana Venâncio who placed 14th in 2006 and 2017 respectively. Last year, Joana Almeida placed 16th with her inspirational midtempo track “Vem comigo (Come With Me)”.
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