Competing countries Countries that participated in the past but not in 2019
Vote
Voting system
The professional jury of each country awards a set of 12, 10, 8-1 points to 10 songs. Viewers around the world vote for 3-5 songs, and their votes are distributed proportionally. The votes of the jury and the audience make up 50% of all votes.
Nineteen countries participated in the contest, with Spain taking part for the first time since 2006,[1] while Azerbaijan and Israel did not return to the contest after having participated in 2018.
Poland's Viki Gabor with the song "Superhero" was the winner of the contest, making Poland the first country to win the Junior Eurovision Song Contest two years in a row and the first country to win on home soil. Kazakhstan placed second, their best result. Returning country Spain placed third. The Netherlands and France completed the top five. Wales also earned their best result, 18th.
Location
Gliwice Arena in Gliwice, venue of 2019 Junior Eurovision.
The 2019 contest took place in Poland for the first time, following the country's victory at the 2018 edition with the song "Anyone I Want to Be", performed by Roksana Węgiel. It was the sixth time that the contest had been hosted by the previous year's winning country. The contest took place in Gliwice Arena, a sport and entertainment hall with a capacity of 17,178 in the main arena. It is considered one of the mixed uses venue in Poland.
Location of the host city (blue), shortlisted cities (green) and other bidding cities (red)
Prior to Poland's confirmation two other countries had announced their intentions to host the event. These bids were from Armenia and Kazakhstan.[2] Had the Kazakh proposal been accepted, it would've marked the first time an associate member was chosen to host an EBU flagship event.[3] Kazakh broadcaster Khabar Agency said they would have moved the contest to October due to possible adverse weather conditions in the country's capital Astana, which was proposed as the host city. However, for this to happen, the general rules of the competition would have to be changed, because as in the adult competition, the competition cannot be held in a non-full member state of the EBU, even if the country in question is an effective participant of the contest.[4]
After Poland's victory in the 2018 contest, the director-general of Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP), Jacek Kurski, stated that the country would apply to host the event in 2019,[5] and on 10 December 2018, it was confirmed by the EBU that Poland would host the 2019 contest.[6]
Immediately following the final, Kurski stated that Warsaw would not host as it does not have a suitable venue to host an event of this size, marking the first time since the 2014 contest that the event is not hosted in the host country's capital.[7] On 18 January 2019, in an interview for TVP Info, Director-General of the EBU Noel Curran stated that the contest would be held in Kraków,[8] however the same day TVP issued a statement that the city had not yet been chosen.[9] In February 2019 it was revealed that three cities remained in the race: Gliwice, Szczecin and Toruń, and that all of the bids were approved by the EBU, meaning that the final decision regarding the host was exclusively up to the host broadcaster.[10][11] On 6 March 2019, during a press conference held by TVP and the EBU, it was confirmed that the contest would be held in Gliwice in cooperation with the Silesian Voivodeship.[12]
The venue can hold around 11,500 spectators, although in practice this number is limited to between 8 and 10 thousand due to stage set-up obscuring the view.
On 18 July 2019, 19 countries were confirmed to be participating in the contest.[20]Spain returned to the contest, marking their first appearance since 2006.[21]Azerbaijan and Israel both withdrew after returning to the contest for a one-off appearance in 2018.
Prior to the event, a digital compilation album featuring all the songs from the 2019 contest was put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by Universal Music Group on 8 November 2019.[22]
Participants of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019[20][23]
The stage of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019
The theme for the contest, Share the Joy, was revealed on 13 May 2019 during a press conference prior to the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The press conference included Gert Kark (Project Manager), Konrad Smuga (Creative Director), Marta Piekarska (Project Coordinator) and Roksana Węgiel, the winner of the 2018 contest.[24] The logo features a brightly coloured kite to symbolize "freedom, light and shared joyous moments." The creative concept represents "how working together makes us better, stronger and can bring joy and happiness as we celebrate the beautiful things in life."[24]
The trophy was designed by Kjell Engman of the Swedish glass company Kosta Boda, using the same design as was first introduced in the 2017 contest.[25] The main trophy is a glass microphone with colored lines inside the upper part, which symbolize the flow of sound.[26]
Postcards
Each postcard took place in a different location in Poland. They all began with a short clip of the upcoming performer looking through a telescope at their postcard's location. A group of people performing an activity in said location was then shown. This activity was also included as a hashtag at the bottom of the screen. At completion of the activity, the upcoming performer is shown moving a digital kite (the logo of the contest) decorated with their country's flag, signalling the commencement of their performance.[27]
On 22 August 2019, it was announced that Ida Nowakowska, Aleksander Sikora [pl] and the previous year's winner Roksana Węgiel would host the 2019 contest.[28] Węgiel is the first former winner to host an edition of the contest as well as the fifth person under the age of 16 to do so. Nowakowska is a Polish-American digital influencer, while Sikora is a breakfast television host.
Additionally, on 24 September 2019, journalists and TV hosts Agata Konarska and Mateusz Szymkowiak were confirmed as the hosts for the Opening Ceremony, which took place on 18 November in Silesian Theatre in Katowice, the capital city of the host region of Silesia.[29] Konarska previously hosted the Eurovision Young Dancers 2005 in Warsaw.
The event took place on 24 November 2019 at 16:00 CET. Nineteen countries participated, with the running order published on 18 November 2019.[30] All the countries competing were eligible to vote with the jury vote, as well as participating and non-participating countries under an aggregated international online vote, eligible to vote.[31] Poland won with 278 points, also winning the online vote. Kazakhstan came second with 227 points and won the jury vote, with Spain, the Netherlands and France completing the top five. Ukraine, Portugal, Albania, Wales and Malta occupied the bottom five positions.
The opening of the show featured the traditional flag parade, accompanied by theme music created by Polish DJ Gromee, who represented the country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.[32] During the interval, Roksana Węgiel performed her winning song "Anyone I Want to Be". All participants then joined on stage for a rendition of the common song, "Share the Joy", which was followed by a dance routine by host Ida Nowakowska inspired by the competition's slogan.
For a country to be eligible for potential participation in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, it needs to be an active member of the EBU.[36] It is currently unknown whether the EBU issued invitations of participation to all 56 active members like they do for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Active EBU members
Bulgaria – On 11 September 2018, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) announced that at the time being they were not planning a return to the 2019 contest.[37] On 6 January 2019, BNT reiterated that they did not have plans to return to the contest in 2019 via their official Eurovision Twitter account.[38] It was later revealed on 8 June 2019 that BNT had amassed massive debts, and were declared bankrupt.[39] Bulgaria did not appear on the final list of participants published on 18 July 2019.
Czech Republic – On 10 June 2019, it was revealed that Česká televize (ČT) had not made a full decision about participation, but were not expecting to be a participant, stating that their focus was on the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.[40]
Scotland – On 29 June 2019, BBC Alba confirmed that they would not debut in 2019 due to their participation in the Eurovision Choir that year, however they confirmed that talks had taken place that could enable participation in 2020.[42]
Slovakia – According to Eurovision blog Eurofestivales, press spokesperson Erika Rusnáková for Slovak broadcaster Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS) stated that they were evaluating and supervising the possibility of debuting in the contest.[43] However, on 10 June 2019, RTVS confirmed that they would not debut in the 2019 contest.[44]
Slovenia – On 3 June 2019, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija) confirmed that they would not participate in the 2019 contest due to the cost of participation.[45]
