TG4 has just broadcast the first heat of the Irish national selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The show featured seven candidates but only Arabella Dolan and Anna Kearney will compete at the semi-final stage.
These are the seven entrants that performed at today’s show:
- Anna Kearney (Qualifier 2)
- Aoife McNelis
- Arabella Dolan (Top 1 – Qualifier 1)
- Ciara McShane
- Riaghan Boardman
- Joya Hobson & Priya Hobson
- Mollie Kennedy
Today’s qualifiers were decided by a professional jury panel, made up of Gráinne Bleasdale, Chris Greene, and this week’s guest judge Brendan Murray, who represented Ireland at Eurovision 2017. The experts rated the performances from 0 to 10 stars and the top 1 automatically qualified for the semi-final. Then, a sing-off decided the second qualifier after a new voting procedure that included ‘Yes’ and ‘No’.
Remember that this year’s edition is only aimed to select who will sing for Ireland at Junior Eurovision 2019 as the song will be chosen internally by the broadcaster. That’s why Junior Eurovision Éire is being broadcast earlier than ever.
Next week, the Irish national selection will continue with the second heat, another seven candidates and a new guest judge, Paul Harrington (Eurovision 1994).
What do you think about today’s qualifiers? Who was your favourite?