#BestOfJESC – Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Today, we look back on the sixth edition of Junior Eurovision!

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was held in the “Spyros Kyprianou” Athletic Centre in Lemesos, Cyprus on November 22.

THE PARTICIPANTS:

1. Romania: Mădălina & Andrada – Salvaţi Planeta
2. Armenia: Monika Manucharova – Im Ergi Hnchyune
3. Belarus: Dasha, Alina & Karina – Sertse Belarusi
4. Russia: Mihail Puntov – Spit Angel
5. Greece: Niki Yiannouchu – Kapoia Nychta
6. Georgia: Bzikebi – Bzz…
7. Belgium: Oliver – Shut Up
8. Bulgaria: Krestiana Kresteva – Edna Mechta
9. Serbia: Maja Mazić – Uvek Kad U Nebo Pogledam
10. Malta: Daniel Testa – Junior Swing
11. The Netherlands: Marissa – 1 Dag
12. Ukraine: Victoria Petryk – Matrosy
13. Lithuania: Eglė Jurgaitytė – Laiminga Diena
14. F.Y.R. Macedonia: Bobi Andonov – Prati Mi SMS
15. Cyprus: Elena Mannouri & Charis Savva – Gioupi Gia!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoqWjN8CMqk

INTERESTING FACTS:

• The hosts were Alex Michael and Sophia Paraskeva, the interval acts were Dima Bilan, Evridiki and Dimitris Korgialas, and again all of the JESC performers joined together to sing a song, this year they sang the song “Hand in Hand”.
• There were a number of rule changes for 2008: adults were now allowed to assist the young performers in writing the songs provided that the rights are solely owned by the children; the number of participants allowed on stage during the performance was dropped from 8 to 6.
• Portugal withdrew from JESC for this year and Sweden did not take part in 2008, so far the only edition of the show that they have missed until 2015. No new countries took part this year.
• Georgia were represented by the group Bzikebi and, although they are generally known as the “Georgian Bees” the word ‘Bzikebi’ actually means ‘wasp’. They were the 1st entrant from Georgia to win JESC on Georgia’s 2nd time in the competition, they received 12 points from 8 other countries which is the equal highest. The song ‘Bzzz’ was the first entry in JESC that was written in an imaginary language. Those who were responsible for this entry later formed the Bzikebi Studio which has been involved in most Georgian entries in JESC since and is the most successful studio at JESC having had 2 wins, a second and 2 other top 5 positions from having entered JESC 6 times.
• Ukraine was represented by Victoria Petryk who finished in 2nd place becoming the most successful competitor for Ukraine until her younger sister, Anastasiya, won the 2012 edition of JESC.
• FYR Macedonia were represented by Bobi Andonov who was born in Melbourne, Australia and has both Australian and Macedonian nationality. This makes him the contestant that was born the furthest from the venue where he competed.

Steph Parker