This week, the 21th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Nice, France. ESCplus is ready to keep all our readers informed, both on the website and social networks. In the meantime, you can download our exclusive handbook for this year’s edition to find out everything you need to know about all 16 competing entries.
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest, following its successful edition in Yerevan, Armenia in December 2022, is preparing for its next installment in 2023 in the beautiful coastal city of Nice, France. This will be the second time in three years that France has hosted the event, promoting the country and its tourist cities. Nice, located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region on the shores of the Mediterranean, will serve as the venue at the Palais Nikaïa, a versatile venue that can accommodate around 5,000 live spectators.
After months of uncertainty over the Junior Eurovision venue in France, Nice was finally chosen as the host instead of Paris. The choice of Nice aims to promote the country and its attractive tourist cities. Nice joins other French cities that have hosted Eurovision network events, such as Paris, Cannes, Lyon and Montpellier.
The event will be based on the theme “Heroes”, with a focus on children as the “heroes of our time”. The competition will focus on supporting young talents from all over Europe, and the EBU will implement a child protection and safety protocol to ensure transparency and the well-being of the participants.
In terms of participation, 16 countries will compete in this edition, which is on par with the previous edition. Despite efforts to increase participation, it was not possible to reach 20 countries, partly due to the unstable geopolitical situation in Eastern Europe. However, the presence of six founding countries stands out: Spain, North Macedonia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom.
One of the notable achievements of this year’s edition is the reunion of Europe’s Big 5 countries at the contest, demonstrating the strong interest of Europe’s public broadcasters in the competition. Germany returns after a year of creative retirement, and Estonia makes its Junior Eurovision debut. However, there are notable absentees, such as Kazakhstan and Serbia, who decided to withdraw. In addition, Azerbaijan was expected to return, but did not materialise.
Junior Eurovision will inaugurate a new child protection and safety protocol for the children participating in the contest to provide transparency in the competition. The welfare of the young contestants will be at the heart of the document. The Junior Eurovision Song Contest will take place on 26 November, a change from previous editions which used to take place over Christmas. The competition aims to encourage young people to be confident and promote the diversity and richness of cultures in Europe.
Remember you can still vote in our Junior Eurovision 2023 poll just below: