Junior Eurovision – May the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011 have been the last of its sort? It seems more and more likely that the 2012 edition will not be able to be held as more and more countries announce their disinterest in the format.The crisis may well end in the cancellation of Junior Eurovision 2012. The contest is supposed to be held this December in Amsterdam.
According to esckaz.com Latvia and Lithuania join the long list of EBU members who will not participate this year. The head of the Lithuanian delegation said that due to the royalties for the broadcast of Euro 2012 and the Olymic Games from London, LRT’s budget does not allow a Lithuanian participation in the contest.
Latvia did not give specific reasons for the decision but it is no secret, that the Latvian national broadcaster also faces severe financial problems at the moment. To date only 8 countries have announced their participation. Macedonia and Moldova are still elaborating a possible participation. The deadline for participation is this Friday. For the contest to be held in the current format, at least 11 countries have to participate as otherwise there would not be enough countries to give the traditional 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10 and 12 points to.
Stay tuned for more on this issue!
To be honest I have never paid much attention to the Junior ESC. Something about having children under that kind of pressure and public display dosen’t sit well with me. Any way the money would be better spent on the real Eurovision. Perhaps a way for the EBU to reduce its costs.
It may even reduce the need for the, “big”, funding from the you know who??
I hope they don’t cancel it, there are gems to be found and it’s nice to get some Eurovision magic in December, 5 and a half months before the real one.
Thank god, may this travesty of a show end for good!
It would be good if Junior Eurovision did carry on, it is actually quite good and there have been some great stars to come out of it, eg. Maria Isabel, Molly Sanden, Anne Gagegaard etc. The show is reaally good and it would be nice if some previous countries returned
You missed out the netherlands Ralf Mackenbach and Girl Band Lisa/Amy/Shelley
If 8 countries compete can’t they go back to the old days and use the 1956-1974 Voting Style with 10 Jury members from each country giving away 10pts between all the countries!
I’ll be in mourning December 1st, that’s already decided.
After the EDC, the JESC.
I’m Almost sure that the format won’t survive any pause.
Sad because what made JESC great is that, unlike ESC, the contest is fun and since 2009 adults can compose songs (which made it a watchable event for a family and not a kiddie show), without or with very few western countries that don’t care at all (meaning that, from a western point of view, i don’t have to spend the night watching it since it usually start @ 19:30 CET nowadays).
And of course great interval acts in recent years (the EBU wanted JESC to be a family show, and they did it)
And it’s mainly thanks to the eastern interest that the contest is still going, otherwise it would have been dead after the 2008 edition (Cyprus actually lost money for hosting the show lol, considering the bidding format (so they wanted to host), it’s funny).
ESC is about the season from the semi final allocation draw (end of January) and June (split results, I don’t care that much about the contest, aside from interval/opening act
But I think it’s those good points that killed it, the JESC concept was never clear for many broadcasters .
“we want competitors from 8-15, and that children write lyrics and songs themselves” is the reason Bulgaria gave.
Adults composing entries is what made JESC watchable for a family/adult viewer, and children from 8 to 10 taking part is something that was critizised by many former participating broadcasters.
We would have probably never had “Faller”, “Europa” last year if it was the case, or songs like Russia 2011 or Moldova 2011, or even Russia 2012 lol.
I don’t remember the exact list, but i do know most songs last year had adult penned songs
Many broadcasters want to have their way (some want the show to be broadcasted in the morning, some with the same schedule as ESC (aka 21:00 CET) etc (that’s the case of most western countries)), and that’s what is Killing JESC, with the lack of interest and “JESC not being a priority” thing
So far only 9 countries are likely to compete (with Moldova being out of the contest, they didn’t confirm it but it’s likely)
We need 2 countries back, it will be very complicated.
Serbia seem likely, and maybe one newcomer or one return as well.
If the EBU don’t manage to save JESC this year, the contest will die. Which is sad.
But i’d rather see it cancelled than see countries that don’t care , complain for no reason and change the rules/concept (as seen in ESC with the stupid 50/50 system).
I’ve been watching JESC since 2008, have a rather good opinion on it, and if it dies, I wish it stays that way.
and yes I do know JESC also thave the 50/50 system, never had any problems with it unlike with ESC, Borda count work better with few countries, “erased points” and “two 7 make a 12″ problems are less… problematic, because there’s almost no erased points with only 13 countries taking part. And juries actually have A REASON to be clueless about music, because it’s JESC.
ESC is supposed to be serious, but juries just like commercial songs, kitchy songs, and stupid divas, those 3 things are not at JESC obviously (and ironically)
And of course all JESC voting were really close (for obvious reasons), something that 50/50 killed twice in a row @ ESC (2011 and 2012 were close with full televoting, 50/50 killed the credibility of the results AND the fun of the voting)
Aw thats a shame I didnt start watching JESC untill 2009 really when Ralf Mackenbach won, I think realy for the JESC to continue some new rules need to be established with a re-styled format, plus it would be best if the times where changed to a Friday Central European time 16:00, 15:00 in the uk, this would make it easier then for broadcasters like the BBC to broadcast the contest on a Kids Channle, out kids channels end at 19:00 and the target audience would mainly watch tv after school not on a weekend. BBC would return the UK to JESC if more western countries returned, the format and time changed and other countries started sending better quality entries (GEORGIA lol). There should also be a chnage in the Language rule and for there to be 50% National Language and then 50% English or French, all imaginary languages should be banned! Adults cannot write songs for children and children must be aged at least 12 to participate, the age limit should be extended to 18.
agree 100 %
But who needs the UK at JESC? Who needs any big 5 country at JESC, while they shouldn’t even be at ESC considering all the cr** they send.
So then a age limit 12 to 18 would mean only College and Secondary school children would participate meaning the contest would be more ethical, but then again I’m still thinking 12 is still quite young, which is the main problem BBC would have.
the Netherlands seems to ha- o wait, that’s just because of the 0 semifinals….
there ‘s no need 11 countries to participate . for example if 8 countries will compete . the votes will be 12 , 10 . 8 , 6 , 4 ,2 and 1 and for example if then macedonia comfirm participation the . the votes will be 12 , 10 , 8 , 6 ,4 ,3 ,2 ,1or if not then the jury votes from 1 to 10 .
If a participation fee problem, that’s why they cancelled EDC .JESC without at least 11 countries is pointless, too expensive for each individual country , specially if the original ESC voting goes away. Might at least cancel it (but it won’t happen according to the recent Sietse Bakker tweet)
And for the UK to return in 2013 JESC will have to be hosted in Sweden or Belgium, I doubt they would return if the contest was being held in some eastern country like Armenia, Belarus or Georgia. It should be hosted in Sweden next in the hope to get the scandanavian broadcasters back , they could even ask whether they would participate if they had the honour of hosting JESC again (Norway or Denmark)
Albania and Israel will bedut this year, so there are 10 countries in it. And there is discussion about Italy and San Marino also debuting this year (so this will make them 12)… Let’s hope they do and thus the competition will be saved. If this year will take place, i doubt that there will be one in 2013 if they continue like this.
I would like to see some changes in the competition.
For example, no ‘professional’ singers to be allowed to take part, songs should be written by kids (so Norway will come back), a 70/30 jury/televoting should take place, and don’t know about having the full results published… They are kids, which kid would like finishing last and have the whole europe know about it? (so maybe the top 5 should be announced…)