The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the ninth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and took place in Yerevan, Armenia at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex.[1] It was the first time in history of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest that the contest was held in the previous year's winning country. Public Television Company of Armenia (ARMTV) was the main organizer and host broadcaster of the show, being provided financial aid from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) made of entrance fees from the participating broadcasters, while Swedish company HD Resources assisted with the technical side of the production.[4][5]
Locations of the known bidding countries. The eliminated countries are marked in red. The chosen host country is marked in blue.
During the preparations to the 2010 contest, a series of speculations about the future of the contest began to circulate on the internet forums. On 18 October, during a head of delegations meeting held in Minsk, Belarus the head of the Armenian delegation, Diana Mnatsakanyan, announced that the upcoming eighth edition of the contest could be the last.[7][8] However, these rumours were formally denied on 19 November when the then executive supervisor of the contest, Svante Stockselius, announced that the next edition was scheduled for 2011 and that "We expect this contest to go on for many more years, this is not the last contest".[9][10] Later, it was reported that the EBU were holding discussions with four potential host broadcasters, although further details were not confirmed and would "cautiously consider" to look for a host broadcaster for the 2012 contest at the same time.[11][better source needed]
Originally, unlike in the adult contest, the winning country did not receive the automatic rights to host the next contest but are instead awarded following a bidding process with broadcasters from the participating countries. However rumours suggested that given the lack of interest from other countries, the EBU could invite Armenia as the current winner to host the event.[12] On 18 January 2011, Armenian national broadcaster ARMTV and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that the 2011 contest would take place in the recently renovated main arena of the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex, in Yerevan.[1]
Together with AMPTV, we are eager to put together the coolest Junior Eurovision Song Contest that Europe has seen so far. The event is extremely popular in Armenia and their strong bid gave us the confidence they will be capable to put together a great show.[1]
— Sietse Bakker, Executive Supervisor of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Denying rumours that Armenia was the only one interested in hosting, the chairman of the board of ARMTV, Aleksan Harutyunyan, revealed that Armenia was chosen among two shortlisted candidate countries out of the five which submitted bids.[13][14] Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) had reportedly submitted a formal offer to host, proposing to hold the contest at the Globen Arena in Stockholm.[15] The local television host and the leader of the project Gohar Gasparyan emphasized that "Although Armenia won Junior Eurovision 2010, Armenia’s victory in the selection was due only to our application and submitted proposals".[14]
Participating countries
Cover art of the official album
On 15 July, the EBU announced that 12 countries would compete in the upcoming contest. San Marino was to compete for the first time, with Latvia, Serbia and Malta withdrawing.[16] EBU also had been negotiating with Italy[17] but RAI was not able to confirm their participation due to the shortage of time.[18]
On 15 August, Bulgaria joined the list, returning after a two-year absence from the contest.[19] On 9 September, Latvia reversed its decision to withdraw from the contest and confirmed its participation.[20] On 7 October, San Marino announced that they would not be present in Yerevan as they were not able to find a suitable participant in time for the contest, hoping to send an entry to the 2012 edition.[21] Therefore, a total of 13 countries took part in Armenia.[22]
Prior to the event, a digital compilation album featuring all the songs from the 2011 contest, along with karaoke versions, was put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by Universal Music Group on 25 November 2011.[23]
Participants of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011[22][24]
Even though rules of Junior Eurovision do not allow participation of returning artists - EBU issued special permission for Russian entry 2011 performed by participant of Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009Ekaterina Ryabova, which is first similar case in history of the contest. According to Sietse Bakker, EBU coordinator - EBU may also drop this rule completely, starting from 2012.[25] Notably, Ekaterina had also already applied to national preselection in 2010 as well, but was disqualified following the existing rule.[26][better source needed]
In May 2011, ARMTV announced a competition for children to design the official logo of the contest, which was due to be presented on 1 June.[28] However, in the end the logo was designed by a professional teams from ARMTV, the EBU and Studio of Anton Baranov from Belarus, who also designed logo of Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010 and was presented on 15 July 2011.[29] The logo depicts equalizer bars in the shape of a mountain, hinting a toy version of the famous Mount Ararat.[29]
The logo is vibrant, young and playful. The slogan "Reach For The Top" really reflects the ambition of the contestants, and hopefully inspires a young generation of Armenians to do the same.[29]
— Sietse Bakker, Executive Supervisor of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Voting rules changes
Changes to the voting included that televoting was possible after all songs had been performed, and not from the beginning of the show as in previous years – returning to the rules active in 2003–2005. Each country's spokesperson also announced all the points during their presentation, due to the lower number of participating countries, as it was done in 2003–2004.[31]
Contest overview
The event took place on 3 December 2011 at 21:30 AMT (19:30 CET).[1] Thirteen countries participated, with the running order published on 11 October 2011.[22] All the countries competing were eligible to vote with the jury and televote. Georgia won with 108 points, with the Netherlands and Belarus completing the top three.[32] Ukraine, Macedonia and Latvia occupied the bottom three positions.[33]
The show was opened with a traditional dance performance. The interval included Molly Sanden performing "Spread a Little Light", whilst Sirusho performed a remixed version of "Qélé, Qélé" and last year's winner Vladimir Arzumanyan also took to the stage.[34][35]
The order in which votes were cast during the 2011 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country.
Below is a summary of all 12 points received. All countries were given 12 points at the start of voting to ensure that no country finished with nul points; these 12 points were announced by a spokesperson from Australia.
Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the broadcasting station for which they represented are also included in the table below.
Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
^Two songs tied for third-highest score with 99 points, and two other tied for lowest score with 31 points, but the official scoreboard [1] ranks Belarus as third, Russia as fourth, Macedonia as twelfth and Latvia as thirteenth placer. This is consistent with the tie-breaking rule that the song that received points from the most countries ranks higher in the case of a tie.
