There are 50 days to go until the 21st edition of Junior Eurovision so we here at Aussievision have taken a look at what we know about this year's Contest so far!
We're off to France!
Junior Eurovision 2023 will take place on November 26 in Nice, France following the country's victory at the 2022 Contest with Lissandro's 'Oh Maman!'.
This will be the second Junior Contest to be held in France after they first hosted in 2021. The show will be held at Palais Nikaïa in Nice and the host broadcaster is France Télévisions.
Hosts
The show will be hosted by France Télévisions presenters Olivier Minne and Laury Thilleman. Minne hosted Junior Eurovision in 2021 and presented the French votes at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992 and 1993, as well as providing broadcast commentary from 1995 through 1997. Thilleman is a French journalist, model, presenter, actress and was crowned Miss France 2011.
Heroes
As revealed in August, this year's theme is 'Heroes' with the host broadcaster emphasising the importance of the the children involved in the contest and how they will be heroes at both the beginning and the end of their Eurovision journey.
As Alexandra Redde at France Télévisions explained:
“Some serious topics like the environmental theme were extremely present in many songs of the last contest, and the children are the real Heroes of tomorrow, and they are the ones who have the solutions. So we wanted to let them empower themselves!”
The accompanying artwork captures the energy of the word ‘Heroes’, with powerful colours and a ‘street art’ look.
The splashes, which will also feature each participating country’s flag, are made of a combination of paint, chalk, powder, and fireworks.
Will Australia be competing?
Back in August, both SBS and the ABC confirmed the news that Australia will not be competing at Junior Eurovision in 2023.
After participating for five years between 2015 to 2019, Australia will miss the competition for the fourth year in a row. Both SBS and most recent broadcaster ABC ME have no plans to participate or broadcast the contest in Australia.
Australians will still be able to watch Junior Eurovision via the official Junior Eurovision YouTube channel.
Who will be participating in the 2023 Contest?
16 countries will participate in Junior Eurovision this year. Estonia will be making their debut in the competition, while Germany are returning after one year away. This makes this the first Junior Eurovision where all of the so-called ‘Big 5’ (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are competing together. Kazakhstan and Serbia have both withdrawn from the Junior Eurovision Song Contest this year.
The countries who have not yet confirmed their artist and song include:
Armenia
Ireland
United Kingdom
The Irish representative will be revealed on October 8, when the winner of national selection show 'Junior Eurovision Éire' is announced.
The countries that have so far only announced their artist include:
Estonia - Arhanna Sandra Arbma
Georgia - Anastasia Vasadze, Nikoloz Kharati and Oto Bazerashvili
Italy - Melissa and Ranya
Malta - Yulan
North Macedonia - Tamara Grujeska
Portugal - Júlia Machado
The Portugese song will be revealed on October 9.
The countries that have announced their artist and song include:
Albania - Viola Gjyzeli - 'Bota ime'
France - Zoé Clauzure - 'Cœur'
Netherlands - Sep & Jasmijn - 'Holding On to You'
Poland - Maja Krzyżewska - 'I Just Need a Friend'
Spain - Sandra Valero - 'Loviu'
Ukraine - Anastasia Dymyd - 'Kvitka'
The official music video for German entry Fia's 'Ohne Worte', will be released on Friday 13 October.
Junior Eurovision 2023 will be held in Nice on November 26, 2023 (November 27, 20223 in Australia).
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