Who is Nela Mancheska? Meet the representative of North Macedonia for Junior Eurovision 2025

Junior Eurovision 2025 will return to Georgia in just over a month, becoming the second time the country hosts the children’s music event. The host city will once again be Tbilisi, the same city that welcomed the festival in 2017. A total of 18 countries will take part in this edition, which will feature the highly anticipated return of Azerbaijan, Croatia, and Montenegro. With this number, the contest will reach its highest number of participants since Paris 2021.

The grand show will take place on Saturday, December 13, when the Tbilisi Olympic Palace will open its doors to the young European artists who will fill the stage with music and talent. The competition returns to Georgia following the victory of young Andria Putkaradze in Madrid 2024, who triumphed thanks to his emotional performance of “To My Mom.” His success brings Eurovision magic back to the Caucasus country for a new edition full of hope.

North Macedonia will be present at the contest once again, totaling 20 participations. This time, the Balkan country’s representative will be the young Nela Mancheska, a 13-year-old artist with great vocal skills and stage presence. She will perform her emotional song “Miracle,” aiming for North Macedonia’s first victory in the contest.

This is Nela Mancheska: experience and major musical influences.

Nela Mancheska, a 13-year-old singer born in Skopje, North Macedonia, is in eighth grade at Vera Ciriviri-Trena School, where she combines academic studies with musical training. She dedicates four days a week to singing and also plays the piano, as well as drawing and knitting. She dreams of studying at a conservatory, then attending a music college, and living in the United States. She admires Whitney Houston, Ariana Grande, and Cynthia Erivo, and from her country, Toše Proeski, Andrijana Janevska, and Tamara Todevska. She prefers challenging songs that reveal her inner world and enjoys choral singing as a spiritual experience that unites voices and elevates the soul.

She has competed in more than twenty national and international music contests. In 2024, she won the Grand Prize at the “Toše Proeski Songs” Festival performing “For This World,” and in April 2025 she earned gold at Angel Voice Belgrade (Serbia). She has also been awarded at Rising Stars, Wings of Music 2024, Sergey Mihajlov, ART IN, Voz de la Estrella, and the state music education contest. Her fame grew after participating in Supertalent Hrvatska with “I Have Nothing,” a viral performance that sparked debate due to the use of English.

She performed in the series Zoki Poki (2020), the children’s show Dajte Muzika, and concerts with the National Jazz Orchestra, where she sang Christmas classics. She was a soloist with the Lale Menada Children’s Choir and participated in events such as Karpoš Has Talent and the European Judo Championship.

“Miracle,” composed by Lazar Cvetkoski and Magdalena Cvetkoska, is a ballad in North Macedonian and English about transformation, hope, and self-confidence, celebrating inner light and personal strength.

This is “Miracle”, North Macedonia’s entry for Junior Eurovision 2025

Nela Mancheska will perform “Miracle” on the stage in Tbilisi, a powerful contemporary-tinged pop ballad that combines emotion, sensitivity, and a message of hope. The entry is more than a song: it is a feeling. It speaks about the light we all carry inside, about hope, courage, and the belief that even in the darkest moments we can rise again and shine.

The song was composed, produced, and mixed by Lazar Cvetkoski, a prominent figure in the country’s Eurovision history, while the lyrics were written by Magdalena Cvetkoska, a regular collaborator in North Macedonia’s entries for the contest. Both also contribute their voices in the backing vocals alongside Nela Mancheska herself, achieving a warm, inspiring, and technically flawless result.

The name Lazar Cvetkoski is familiar to Eurovision fans: he composed “Pred Da Se Razdeni,” the song with which Esma & Lozano represented North Macedonia at Eurovision 2013, and he was also a co-writer of “Fire,” performed by Mila Moskov at Junior Eurovision 2019, as well as participating in the creation of “Marathon,” North Macedonia’s entry for Junior Eurovision 2024. Alongside him, Magdalena Cvetkoska has written several of these songs, establishing herself as one of the most consistent and recognizable lyricists in the country’s Eurovision scene.

Through her emotional and powerful performance, Nela Mancheska conveys a clear message: every child, every person, is a miracle in their own way. The music video, directed by Ognen Shapkovski, beautifully captures the transformation from fragility to brightness through a cinematic narrative and warm golden tones, creating a deep visual reflection of the song’s message.

The entire creative team, led by head of delegation Dijana Gogova, has worked to shape a performance that moves both emotionally and visually on the Junior Eurovision stage.

The “Miracle” music video stands out for its elegant cinematic aesthetic and a visual narrative that reinforces the intimate and hopeful nature of the song. Shapkovski, who has previously worked on videos for former North Macedonian Junior Eurovision representatives, leads a creative team including Kristijan Teodorov (director of photography), Vlatko Zafirovski (set design), and Ivan Kurtevski and Jovan Kamberski (visual effects).

Lyrics of Miracle

North Macedonia in Junior Eurovision

North Macedonia was one of the founding countries of Junior Eurovision, debuting in the inaugural 2003 edition. Since then, it has maintained a fairly regular participation, although with some absences caused by adjustments within the national broadcaster, disagreements with the format, and in 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite its absence from Eurovision, the North Macedonian television continues to support the children’s contest.

Its track record shows mixed results. It has finished last three times, in 2006, 2013, and 2015, while its best placement was 5th place on two occasions: in 2007 with Rosica Kulakova & Dimitar Stojmenovski performing “Ding Ding Dong,” and in 2008 with Bobi Andonov and “Prati mi SMS.” Its highest historical score came in 2019, when Mila Moskov scored 150 points with “Fire.”

The country has had two phases in its selection system: first through open preselections under the format Dečja Pesna Eurovizije, and later, due to costs, through internal selections made by an expert committee from the broadcaster MKRTV.

In 2022, Lara, Jovan, and Irina performed “Životot E Pred Mene,” achieving a modest 14th place. In 2023, Tamara Grujeska presented “Kaži Mi, Kaži Mi Koj,” finishing 12th, a position reached for the ninth time in their history. In Madrid 2024, Ana & Aleksej participated with “Marathon,” finishing in sixteenth place.