The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the thirteenth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and took place, for the first time, in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian national broadcaster BNT was the host broadcaster for the event. The final took place on 21 November 2015 and was held at the Arena Armeec in Sofia. Poli Genova, a Bulgarian singer and former representative of Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 (and later the Eurovision Song Contest 2016), hosted the show. A total of seventeen countries participated, with Australia and Ireland making their debuts. Albania and Macedonia returned after being absent since the 2012 and 2013 contests, respectively. Croatia and Cyprus withdrew after returning in the 2014 edition, while Sweden withdrew for the first time since 2008.
The winner of the contest was Destiny Chukunyere, who represented Malta with the song "Not My Soul". Armenia and Slovenia finished in second and third place, respectively. This was Malta's second victory in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, having won previously in 2013. This contest marked the second time a country won twice in a three-year period (following Belarus winning twice in a period of three years between 2005 and 2007). Malta's 185 points were also the highest number of points ever received at the time, beating Spain's record of 171 points set during the 2004 edition.
Locations of the bidding countries. The eliminated countries are marked in red. The chosen host country is marked in blue.
Arena Armeec, in Sofia. Venue for the 2015 Junior Eurovision.
Bidding phase
Following Italy's win at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014, the European Broadcasting Union had given the Italian broadcaster RAI the first refusal to host the 2015 contest.[1] However, on 15 January 2015, RAI declined the right to host the contest. The Executive Supervisor for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, Vladislav Yakovlev, praised the Italian broadcaster RAI for their time looking into the possibilities of hosting, even though they made their debut appearance in 2014, and further explained how the EBU were in a lucky position to have received bids from two countries.[2]
The EBU announced later that day that they had received bids from two countries to host the contest; those countries being Bulgaria and last year host Malta,[3] who finished in second and fourth places respectively in 2014.[4] Bulgarian broadcaster BNT confirmed on 15 January they had submitted a bid to host the 2015 contest.[5] The national broadcaster for Malta, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), stated prior to the 2014 contest that they would host again if they won.[6]
On 26 January 2015, it was announced that Bulgaria had been chosen to host the 2015 edition, which took place on 21 November 2015.[7] It was the first time that the nation organised any Eurovision event.[8] In March 2015, it was confirmed that Sofia would be the host city, with the Arena Armeec being the host venue.[7]
Participating countries
Cover art of the official album
On 7 October 2015, it was confirmed that seventeen countries would take part in the contest. Australia and Ireland made their debut, Albania returned after a two-year absence and Macedonia returned after a one-year absence. Croatia and Cyprus withdrew after returning in the 2014 edition, while Sweden withdrew for the first time since 2008. It was the first time since 2007, that 17 countries would take part.[9]
Prior to the event, a digital compilation album featuring all the songs from the 2015 contest was put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by Universal Music Group on 13 November 2015.[10][11] This is the first since the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2005 not to include karaoke versions of all the songs.
Participants of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015[9][12]
Arena Armeec stage during the 2015 Junior Eurovision.
On 22 May 2015, a press conference devoted to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest was held in Vienna during the organisation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. At the press conference, the slogan for the 2015 Junior contest was revealed to be #Discover. The slogan was selected to signify how the Junior Eurovision Song Contest endeavours to find new melodies, explore new people and create links between individuals.[14]
On 23 June 2015, the EBU in conjunction with the host broadcaster BNT, presented the official logo for the 2015 edition, during the Steering Group meeting held in Sofia.[15] Viara Ankova, the Director General of the host broadcaster explained that the logo's concept was inspired behind the idea of a seeded head of a dandelion being blown, "something that everyone has done as a child".[15]
The logo shows how Bulgaria’s young people are the seeds of the future; venturing out from the safety of tradition to explore and discover a new future for themselves and for us all.
The postcards used to introduce each competing nation during the show were built around the concept of selfies.[16] The postcards featured the competing artists sending their selfie to a group of three teenagers in Bulgaria, which would then inspire their adventures. Different sights and cities were showcased with the teenagers documenting their journey through their own selfies and sending them to the competing artist.[16]
Host
Bulgarian singer Poli Genova was announced as the host of the competition on 21 October 2015.[17] Genova had previously represented Bulgaria at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011. In addition, the running order draw and opening ceremonies were hosted by Bulgarian singer Joanna Dragneva, who had also previously represented Bulgaria at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 as part of Deep Zone Project.[18]
Contest overview
The event took place on 21 November 2015 at 20:30 EET (19:30 CET). Seventeen countries participated, with the running order published on 15 November 2015. All the countries competing were eligible to vote with the jury and televote, as well as a Kids Jury, eligible to vote. Malta won with 185 points, with Armenia, Slovenia, Belarus, and Albania completing the top five. Montenegro, San Marino, the Netherlands, Italy, and Macedonia occupied the bottom five positions.[19]
The opening of the show featured Krisia Todorova, Bulgaria's 2014 representative alongside Hasan & Ibrahim, performed a short reworked sequence of the theme song "#Discover". The participants were introduced bt the traditional flag parade to the theme music with dancers on stage and were joined at the end by host Genova who sang the last line of the theme song. The interval acts included the competing artists perform the theme song together, Genova performed during the interlude whilst Bulgaria's representatives in 2014 performed their second placed entry "Planet of the Children" as well as new song "Not The Only One". Vincenzo Cantiello closed the interval and performed his winning song "Tu primo grande amore".[20]
The order in which each country announced their votes was the same as the running order of the performances. Details of the running order were published by the EBU on 15 November 2015.[21] The spokespersons are shown below alongside each participating country.[22]
Destiny Chukunyere who represented Malta with the song "Not My Soul", was declared the winner after all the votes had been cast from all of the seventeen participating countries and the kids' jury.[23] Below is a full breakdown of how the votes were cast.[24]
Below is a summary of all 12 points received. All countries were given 12 points at the start of voting to ensure that no country finished with nul points.
Cyprus – On 29 June 2015, the national broadcaster of Cyprus, Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), revealed that they would not participate in the 2015 contest due to lack of funds.[29]
France – France 2 announced on 24 June 2015 that they had no plans to return to the contest, however the broadcaster sent a delegation to Bulgaria in order to observe the 2015 edition.[30][31]
Germany – Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) were observers at last year's contest.[32] On 2 June 2015, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) stated that they had not ruled out a début in the 2015 contest.[32] On 1 July 2015, ARD consortium member NDR launched an online poll to decide whether or not Germany should participate in Junior Eurovision, which would be broadcast on their children's station, KiKa (which is a joint venture of ARD and ZDF).[33] Germany was originally on the list of participants for the inaugural contest[34] and again in 2004 but later withdrew.[35] The debut of the country in the competition didn't materialize. However, on 4 November 2015, it was announced that NDR would broadcast a livestream of the contest on their Eurovision website for the first time.[36]
Greece – Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) stated on 11 June 2015 that they were undecided about returning to the Junior contest but are "willing to examine interesting projects".[37] However, the country was not among the 2015 edition's list of participants.
Romania – On 4 June 2015, Televisiunea Românâ (TVR) revealed that due to lack of interest, Romania's participation in the 2015 contest would be unlikely.[38]
Spain – Several media outlets reported that Televisión Española (TVE) was working on returning to the contest in 2015. However, these claims were not confirmed by the broadcaster.[39][40] Ultimately the country was not among the 2015 edition's list of participants.
In August 2014, executive supervisor Vladislav Yakovlev said that they are working on finding a way to allow commercial networks to participate in the contest, although they are not EBU members.[42][43]
Spain – Because Spanish broadcaster EBU member, Televisión Española (TVE), has declined invitations to participate since 2007, the European Broadcasting Union TV Committee will discuss in the coming months the possibility to allow commercial channels to take part in the contest.[44] If the final decision is yes, they will continue negotiating with Spanish private TV channels to bring back Spain to the contest.[45]
Broadcasts
The contest was broadcast online worldwide through the official Junior Eurovision Song Contest website and YouTube. The online broadcasts featured commentary in English by junioreurovision.tv editor Luke Fisher and 2011 Bulgarian Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrant Ivan Ivanov.[46]
Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
At the press center during the contest, members of the press were allowed to vote for their favourite acts. Below is the top five overall results, after all the votes had been cast.
^Three songs tied for 12th highest score with 36 points, but the official scoreboard [1] ranks respectively Ireland as 12th, Montenegro as 13th and San Marino as 14th. This is consistent with the tie-breaking rule that the song that received points from the most countries ranks higher in the case of a tie.
