A few weeks separate us from a new edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest — the 2025 edition will be the twenty-third. The 18 participating countries are already preparing the details and releasing the songs that will be presented on the contest stage.
After Andria Putkaradze’s victory in Madrid 2024, the junior contest returns to Georgian soil. The event will take place on Saturday, December 13, in the capital, Tbilisi. The chosen venue is the Tbilisi Olympic Palace, which already hosted the festival in its 2017 edition.
The 18 young talents from across Europe are ready to fulfill their greatest dream: to compete in Junior Eurovision 2025. The 23rd edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest will feature three long-awaited returns from Azerbaijan, Croatia and Montenegro. This time, we travel to Croatia, one of the founding countries of the competition, which returns in 2025 after a long absence of more than 10 years.
After winning in the Croatian version of The Voice Kids, the young Marino Vrgoč was internally selected by broadcaster HRT to lead Croatia’s big comeback to Junior Eurovision. For now, the entry he will perform on the Eurovision stage has not yet been revealed.
This is Marino Vrgoč, the Croatian “Little Pavarotti”
Marino Vrgoč is a young 10-year-old Croatian singer born in Ploče, a picturesque town on the Adriatic coast in Dalmatia. He grew up in a loving family environment full of support. His mother, Manda, works at the Otrić-Seoci primary school and has been a key figure in his personal and artistic life. His grandparents, Bosiljka and Mića, have contributed to his musical training with great sacrifice. Deeply religious, Marino maintains a close relationship with faith.
He is currently in third grade at the Vladimir Nazor school in Ploče, where he is a responsible, cheerful and well-liked student. He participates in the choir, the theatre group, and studies piano with Zlatko Volarević at the local music school. His vocal talent was discovered by Matea Jurilj when he was six years old. He began singing at the age of four, and since then music has been part of his daily life: he sings, writes small songs, and experiments with his voice. He also practices karate with the goal of earning a black belt, plays football, and admires Cristiano Ronaldo. If he weren’t a musician, he would like to be a doctor.
His rise to fame came with The Voice Kids Hrvatska. In the auditions he performed “Ribari” by Vinko Coce, joining Davor Gobac’s team, who nicknamed him “The Little Pavarotti of Ploče”. In the semifinals he sang “Parlami D’amore Mariù”, and in the final “Ako Me Ostaviš” and “The Great Pretender”, winning the competition and earning a ticket to Junior Eurovision. After his victory, he was welcomed in Ploče as a local hero with a mural that read “Ostvari snove”. Since then, he has performed in Split, Kaštela, and before 20,000 people at Zagreb Arena. He admires Oliver Dragojević, Gibonni, Parni Valjak, Michael Jackson, The Beatles and Queen. For Marino, the essential element in a song is emotion.
This is “Snovi”, Croatia’s entry for Junior Eurovision 2025
“Snovi” is a ballad entirely in Croatian, composed by Ines Prajo with lyrics by Arjana Kunštek, under the production of Tihomir Preradović. Prajo and Kunštek are known for having also composed “My Friend” (Croatia 2017) and “Ne Brini” (Bosnia and Herzegovina 2003) for Eurovision.
The song conveys a message of hope and optimism, with poetic lyrics that evoke images of fireflies, stars and wind to represent the transformative power of dreams. It celebrates the union of small wishes which, when brought together, can create great miracles, reminding us that happiness and love are found in the simplest things and in the ability to keep dreaming.
Lyrics of Snovi
Croatian
K’o male krijesnice
Zvijezde svjetlucaju
Ne vide, ne čuju
Kroz kakve prolaze
Tuge nam dolaze
Čime li putuju
A tako malo nam treba
Da sretan bude svaki dan
Bezbroj snova blista svud
I ne postoje uzalud
Kad se spoje, gle
Moguće je sve
Bezbroj snova malenih
Do čuda vode velikih
Možda cijeli svijet
Smijehom oboje
Sklopim oči, zamislim
Poželim
Da s vjetrom poletim,
Preletim
U ljubav zauvijek
Pretvorim sve
K’o male krijesnice
Zvijezde svjetlucaju
Ne vide, ne čuju
A tako malo nam treba
Da sretan bude svaki dan
Bezbroj snova blista svud
I ne postoje uzalud
Kad se spoje, gle
Moguće je sve
Sklopim oči, zamislim
Poželim
Da s vjetrom poletim,
Preletim
U ljubav zauvijek
Pretvorim sve
Bezbroj snova blista svud
I ne postoje uzalud
Kad se spoje, gle
Moguće je sve
Bezbroj snova malenih
Do čuda vode velikih
Možda cijeli svijet
Smijehom oboje
Bezbroj snova malenih
English
Like little fireflies
The stars twinkle
They don’t see, they don’t hear
Through what passages
Sorrows come to us
What do they travel
And we need so little
To be happy every day
Countless dreams shine everywhere
And they don’t exist in vain
When they come together, look
Everything is posible
Countless dreams of the small
To the miracles of the great
Maybe the whole world
With laughter of both
I close my eyes, I imagine
I wish
To fly with the wind,
Flying over
Into love forever
Turning everything
Like little fireflies
The stars twinkle
They don’t see, they don’t hear
And we need so little
To be happy every day
Countless dreams shine everywhere
And they don’t exist in vain
When they come together, look
Everything is posible
I close my eyes, I imagine
I wish
To fly with the wind,
Flying over
Into love forever
Turning everything
Countless dreams shine everywhere
And they don’t exist in vain
When they come together, look
Everything is posible
Countless dreams of the small
To the miracles of the great
Maybe the whole world
With laughter of both
Countless dreams of the small
Croatia in Junior Eurovision
Croatia participated for the first time in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen 2003, debuting with great success thanks to Dino Jelušić and his song “Ti Si Moja Prva Ljubav”. The young artist stood out for his powerful voice and charisma on stage, performing a pop ballad with remarkable maturity. His performance earned him 1st place with 134 points, making Croatia the first country to ever win the junior contest.
In Lillehammer 2004, Croatia continued achieving strong results thanks to Nika Turković and her song “Hej Mali”, a cheerful and youthful entry full of energy and charm. Her performance convinced the televote, securing 3rd place with 126 points, reaffirming the country’s strong start in the contest.
The 2005 edition, held in Hasselt, featured Lorena Jelušić, Dino’s sister, with the song “Rock Baby”. Her more modern and rock-oriented style did not achieve the same impact as previous entries, finishing in 12th place with 36 points. In Bucharest 2006, Mateo Đido performed “Lea”, improving two positions in the ranking and achieving 10th place with 50 points, marking the end of Croatia’s first era in the competition.
Eight years later, the country returned in Malta 2014 with Josie and her song “Game Over”, performed in Croatian and English. Despite its modern and visually striking proposal, Croatia finished in last place (16th) with only 13 points, the country’s worst result in history. After that, broadcaster HRT decided to withdraw from the contest once again.