Preparations for Junior Eurovision 2022 have begun! Last week, EBU representatives met with host broadcaster Armenian Public Television in Yerevan. The contest is due to take place in December, following in the footsteps of the 2021 contest.
On February 12, an EBU delegation met with ARMTV in Yerevan to begin preparations for the 20th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
We are here because we are starting all the work of organizing the competition with the team of your TV company. Usually, we start the preparations much later, but since we have a new strategy and big plans, we want to start this year as early as possible, to make this competition the best in its history.
In the last 5-6 years it has really turned into a very big event…We are not going to go into too much detail, we will leave it to the next meetings. And there will be many of them. Working with your team during Eurovision and Junior Eurovision, I am 100% confident that we can have a great show, a great week for the participating delegations. Because your team is very experienced in organizing such shows.
Gert Kark, EBU representative
As part of the visit, the EBU delegation visited potential venues for the contest, including the Karen Demirchyan Complex in Yerevan, which hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Although the report claims the host city will be Yerevan, this has not been officially confirmed.
“A big event for both the city and the country”
The Armenian broadcaster have stressed the magnitude of the event, and the complexity involved in organising it within a year.
As we know, Junior Eurovision is not just a TV project, it is a big event for both the city and the country. Therefore, in addition to the show being broadcast on the air, there will be a number of other events on the air that need to be planned.
In fact, one year is not enough time to organise such a big event, so we do not spare effort and energy, we have already started working, the Reference Group for Junior Eurovision will arrive in Armenia in March or April. This is a group of professionals from the participating countries, a committee that will follow all the organisational steps of the competition.
David Tserunyan, the Head of the Armenian delegation
Further, in the spirit of this year being the 20th anniversary edition of the Junior contest, the broadcaster have teased that this will be factored into the show.
It was very important that the European Broadcasting Union stressed that this is the 20th anniversary of Eurovision, it should be different from the others. We also noticed that it should be different.
Hovhannes Movsisyan, CEO of Armenian Public Television
Junior Eurovision 2022 so far
According to the report, ARMTV are planning for at least 18 participating countries in total. The 2021 edition featured 19 participating countries, reaching a total of 33 million viewers.
The exact dates will be confirmed in due course, but so far, it has been stated that the contest will take place in December once again.
So far, the following countries have confirmed their intention to participate:
- Armenia (host)
- Bulgaria
- France
- Georgia
- Ireland
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Russia
- Spain
Maléna’s victory gives Armenia their second Junior Eurovision win after previously winning the competition in 2010 with the song Mama, performed by Vladimir Arzumanyan.
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