Sophie Lennon won the right to represent Ireland at Junior Eurovision 2022 after winning the selection Junior Eurovision Éire last month. This was the first time Ireland’s Junior Eurovision representative was chosen exclusively by public vote.
After impressive performances of Tom Walker’s “Leave A Light On” and Linda Martin’s “Why Me?”, Sophie was selected to fly the Irish flag in Yerevan last month.
Sophie’s entry “Solas” (“Light”) was selected internally and was written and composed by Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff, Matthew Ker, Hannah Featherstone and Ken McHugh. As noted by Eurovoix, Niall has written every Irish Junior Eurovision entry since 2018, while Jonas has composed three Irish Eurovision entries (2009, 2010 and 2014) and three Irish Junior Eurovision entries (2015, 2018 and 2019).
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 is the second time that Yerevan is hosting the contest, after previously having this honour in 2011. A total of 16 countries will ‘Spin The Magic’ later this year. Take a look at the participating countries below.
- Albania – Kejtlin Gjata
- Armenia (Host) – Nare
- France – Lissandro
- Georgia – Mariam Bigvava
- Ireland – Sophie Lennon
- Italy – Chanel Dilecta
- Kazakhstan – David Charlin
- Malta – Gaia Gambuzza
- Netherlands – Luna
- North Macedonia – Lara feat. Jovan & Irina
- Poland – Laura Bączkiewicz
- Portugal – Nicolas Alves
- Serbia – Katarina Savić
- Spain – Carlos Higes
- Ukraine – Zlata Dyzunka
- United Kingdom – Freya Skye
Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Thus far Ireland has taken part in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest six times. Since their debut they have chosen their artist through the Junior Eurovision Éire selection show. The Gaelic country made their debut in 2015 with Aimee Banks and her song ‘Réalta na Mara‘, which placed twelfth. Their best result came in 2016, when they sent Zena Donnelly with her song ‘Bríce Ar Bhríce‘, which placed tenth in Malta.
Last year, Maiú Levi Lawlor won Junior Eurovision Éire. His entry “Saor (Disappear)” was later selected internally, and went on to place 18th in Paris with 44 points.
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