Hundreds entered the race to sing for the Netherlands at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016. But in the end Kymora, Stefania and Sterre emerged victorious.

Their selection marks a huge departure for the Netherlands. After more than a decade of staging Junior Songfestival — the televised national selection process for JESC — AVROTROS decided to drastically change the selection this year in response to a steady decline in ratings.

This year’s selection took place entirely on the Junior Songfestival YouTube channel, and the goal was the select members for a group to represent the Netherlands.

Children aged between 9 and 14 could audition for the selection and 28 lucky candidates were selected for the first round. Each candidate had to make a vlog introducing themselves to the public. The public were then asked to like the vlog of the person they most wanted to make the final round. The winner of the like-a-thon — it turned out to be Sterre — earned a spot directly in the final.

AVROTROS announced the three members of the girl group via an Instagram post, shortly after the final round video was released. The group has not yet decided on a name.

About Kymora, Stefania & Sterre

Kymora (11) loves singing and attempted to represent the Netherlands last year with her self-written song “Ik wil mezelf zijn“. Kymora plays several instruments: the acoustic guitar, the ukelele and the keys.

Stefania (13) has been singing for some time. She participated in the third series of Dutch version of the Voice Kids, making it all the way to the battle rounds. She has been part of VARA‘s childrens’ television choir Kinderen Voor Kinderen as well.

Sterre (13) has been musically active since a young age, singing and playing the guitar. Just like Stefania, she has been part of Kinderen Voor Kinderen, with whom she cracked the charts with “Klaar voor de start” in 2013. She was also the main star in a fish finger commercial released by the Iglo Group last year.

Do you think these three girls can win Junior Eurovision for the Netherlands? Let us know in the comments below.

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beccaboo1212
7 years ago

And here’s another problem: what’ll be the name of this trio? :/

beccaboo1212
7 years ago

This is going great! Who knows? Whatever song AVROTROS chooses for this talented trio might lead to Amsterdam 2017. Let’s find out… 🙂

Nicky91
Nicky91
7 years ago

@The Brightest falling star

I want Stefania to represent my country 🙂

kmirck
kmirck
7 years ago

RIP JSF al die herinneringen 🙁

Yudhistira Mahasena
7 years ago

Cool!

Ben Rafter
Ben Rafter
7 years ago

Can’t wait for the song!

DenizNL
DenizNL
7 years ago

Oh that’s really unexpected. We were the first to confirm our Eurovision artist and now our Junior Eurovision artist. But they seem cool.

Jr esc nl
Jr esc nl
7 years ago

@ooops
Esc is much more popular than jesc especially with the good results in the last few years. Interest in jesc is declining. When i was on primary school around 6-11 years most people in my class always watched jesc and some Dutch jesc songs were populaire but now none of those people watch it anymore (because they’ve become older ofc) and the new generation of kids hasn’t picked up on jesc.

The Brightest Falling Star
The Brightest Falling Star
7 years ago

@oooops

Here in Greece almost nobody knows that a junior version of the contest exists…

oooops
oooops
7 years ago

One question to Renske. Do dutch people prefer JESC or ESC? Swedish people prefer ESC by around 300,000 miles. Everyone in Sweden watch Melodifestivalen and ESC, except a group of people who either hates it or do not know what it is. But almost no one in Sweden does even know what JESC is, and SVT didn’t even try to make it more popular. Like they just pretended to take it serious.

The Brightest Falling Star
The Brightest Falling Star
7 years ago

Great! Now I’m waiting for Albania’s decision.

oooops
oooops
7 years ago

This could turn out like Supernova. In the end, there are only the international fans deciding the winner. And it has been successful. I prefer the televised show, because I love past editions of JESC before this time, when my interest sank to the bottom, the question is “Will I listen to the songs at JESC”. Most likely not. But I still think the Netherlands did a good decision to try on internet. But if they don’t get more than a middle placing, they should do a crossover of the televised show, and internet. Copy Supernova, while Latvia has withdrawn.… Read more »