It’s taken a while. But just in time for the contest’s 18th edition, Germany has confirmed that it will make its debut at Junior Eurovision 2020 in Warsaw.
Germany to debut at Junior Eurovision 2020
The official press release outlines that the participation will be a joint venture between three public broadcasters — KiKA, NDR and ZDF. The live show on 29 November will be shown on KiKA.
“I’m absolutely delighted to have succeeded in getting Germany involved in this wonderful European Song Contest, and to be broadcasting it on KiKA. Together with NDR and ZDF, we found a wonderful approach to creative collaboration which plays to all of our respective strengths. It will be a major event for our KiKA audience and for the whole family”, says KiKA’s Director of Programming Dr. Astrid Plenk.
As per JESC rules, performers must be between the ages of nine and 14.
The German representative will be selected with the help of an existing format. Dein Song (Your Song) is a ZDF produced talent show airing on KiKA. “ZDF are pleased to have secured Levent Geiger, a finalist in last year’s ‘Your Song’, to compose the German entry. He will also be involved in the casting, and will accompany the young performer on every step along the way to the big night in Warsaw. We’ll accompany them on this thrilling journey in a two-part documentary”, says Michael Stumpf, director of children’s and youth content at ZDF.
“Since 1996, the NDR has been the leading broadcaster for German involvement in the ESC. It’s fantastic that we’ll be delivering the junior contest for the first time together with KiKA and ZDF. This year’s slogan, ‘Move the World’, is highly symbolic, encouraging children to take an active part in shaping their world. That’s why it will also play a role in the music video we are producing”, says Ole Kampowski, director of children’s and youth content at NDR.
More information about Germany’s JESC 2020 participation will be available soon at the KiKA Press Lounge at kika-presse.de.
Junior Eurovision 2020
Confirmed countries
The German announcement brings the number of confirmed countries for Junior Eurovision 2020 to eleven.
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Russia
- Spain
- Ukraine
COVID-19 impact
While Eurovision 2020 may have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all stakeholders are committed to making Junior Eurovision happen.
It remains to be seen what implications coronavirus will have on the contest.
Organisers may follow the lead of the Dutch national selection. Junior Songfestival 2020 will be held in Rotterdam’s Ahoy Arena with an audience limited to only family members of the competing acts.
Broadcaster AVROTROS says it would be “irresponsible to have so many children from all over the Netherlands come together singing, dancing and screaming”.
The pandemic may also have an impact on the number of participating countries. For instance, Australia has yet to RSVP. As of July, the country has very strict quarantine rules regarding international travel. These may prove too burdensome for a young act and delegation should they still be in place later in the year.
What do you think of Germany’s participation? Are you excited for Junior Eurovision? Let us know in the comments below.
Just by the way, a huge thanks to Wiwibloggs for deleting my comments on multiple pages and yet still allowing racists and homophobes to thrive on this platform. 🙂
Oh wow
Why is it surprising or shocking? I’m just saying the truth.
On a related note: is there any way to submit oneself for consideration for the “fan jury” Germany uses for adult ESC? Just curious.
I think (maybe I am wrong with that) Germany just joint the contest because the EBU has problems to get enough countries to participate this year ….and the contest could be cancelled due to that ….so the EBU bagged Germany to take part. What do you think?
I think that’s awfully cynical
When is the new voting sistem confirmed? A 3rd polish win in a row is coming closer with online voting. Everyone knows how super nationatic polish people are. And even that is strange when you read about how the polish goverment are against more and more the freedom of speach in their media….
your funny. A. You have done a very bad research about Polands current political situation with free gay zones and not free press, its not something for polish people to be nationalistic about. Do you think that? B. Ignorant/stupid fans who say they HATE Sweden because of 1. We bribe jurys 2. They will never vote for Sweden again ever. 3. Martin is the supervisor and i hate him. 4. Sweden should fail. thats just to stupid not to call them out so your wrong.
The quality of the JESC is (since 2017) on the same high level (venue, stage, acts, songs, staging etc.) as the adult ESC ……and it is really amazing to watch it. When you see the videos from the backstage area – the kids are very warmhearted and there is no “I sing better than you” – that is an area where friendship is created between kids from different countries.
I don’t want it to be like the “senior” version. It’s for children. It shouldn’t be about hype and spectacle, with songs written and produced by adults. The spirit is nice, though, you’re right. Hopefully it stays that way.
It’s insane how apolitical the voting can be. Think about it: Russia and Georgia, exchanging twelve points! That happened! In 2017!
You are partly right…..but in JESC 2019 the Polish Jury gave their 12 points to top contender Spain and Spain gave 10 to Poland (if I remember right).
No they didn’t. Poland gave 12 to Kazakhstan, and they gave 12 to Poland, but there’s no neighborly connection there that I can see.
Would be interesting to see if Wales would score Scotland with 12 points and would get 12 points back from them.
Ireland also sends songs in a Celtic language and they’ve given Wales pretty much nothing.
Those two languages aren’t at all similar, though.
Yeah, but you’d figure that just by virtue of both being Celtic languages, the similar heritage and all would be enough to score with each other. That hasn’t been the case.
So for the first time ever all the Big 5 will be represented in JESC!
(While it’s presented as “Wales”, S4C is a branch of the BBC and competes in JESC using the British ticket/invite)
We almost got Scotland too!
So what you’re saying is that a 2020 German Eurovision representative will have to tell their mama what they’re doing tonight after all.
No surprise at all, but we all expected Germany to debut since the beginning after JESC 2019.
4 out of the Big 5 countries from adult ESC now + Wales in only 3 years, this is interesting in the way it shows those broadcasters are taking the contest more and more seriously, not only with the goal of winning but with the will of participating in a song celebration, and attracting new generations into it after hard times and “moqueries” about Eurovision among people there. I think this is a really virtuous process that will succeed for sure for one of them at least soon (adult or JESC) if all the efforts are heard and maintained. Congrats,… Read more »
Not gonna lie: I legit didn’t see that coming. Considering that they’ve been circling the contest for years without ever actually participating, I’m genuinely surprised that they’re actually gonna do it at last. A lot of the more devoted JESC fans are probably losing their minds right now, and I can’t blame them!
(Psst…ball’s in your court, Austria! Also, come back Switzerland and Israel!)
I am very happy with this great news !!! A very warm welcome for Germany !! I hope fpr a great song and wish them good luck in Warsaw !!
I’ve been staring at this article for like the last hour, and refreshing the page to see the new comments, and trying to think of what to say to express the immense joy I feel right now. Words just fail me at the moment. It just feels so long since we last had an edition of our beloved song contest, and this pandemic really created insecurities of when a new edition will return, and if it did, would many countries opt out of participating, due to safety or financial reasons. This news, that we have a debuting country, isn’t just… Read more »
is warsaw really the host? i was thinking it’d be in krakow considering warsaw doesnt have an arena that would work
it’s not going to be in an arena, but instead a studio because of corona.
It’s gonna be in a large TV studio facility instead of an arena due to Coronavirus precautions.
Why do we downvote honest questions??
Yes! Yes! Yes! Ja Deutschland!
YES, I’m so excited for them. Ever since I started watching JESC in 2014 they have been teasing a debut every single year, but now they’re finally in! I think the recent succes of Spain, France (and to some extent Italy and maybe the Netherlands) has finally convinced them. JESC has seen such a turnaround, it almost dies in 2012-2013, but now the viewing figures and participating countries are completely back again.
the quality of the JESC is since 2017 on the same high level (venue, stage, acts, songs, staging etc.) as the adult ESC ……and it is really amazing to watch it. When you see the videos from the backstage area – the kids are very warmhearted and there is no “I sing better than you” – that is an area where friendship is created between kids from different countries.
No surprise at all. The 2nd place from France in 2018 and then from Spain in 2019 probably convinced them.
Poland beware, you’re getting a competitor for winning the online vote. 😉
7 million poles will do it for a 3rd time: Voting for poland. with online voting this is going to be the last show ever
I never though I’d see the day Germany would debut at JESC. I’m so excited for JESC 2020.
YASS FINALLY MY COUNTRY WILL GO TO JESC! YES!
Great news. Germany have been teasing us with a possible debut for years now. Glad they’re finally doing it.
I wonder if many other countries that withdrew/haven’t taken part yet, will return/debut at JESC20 because they didn’t get a chance to go to the main ESC this year.
I hope Portugal doesn’t withdraw and it would be nice if Iceland debuted too and of course a Swedish return.
I very much doubt that Australia will be there this year, I really would be surprised if they did.
Yes baby yes! We here in Germany waited so long for this announcement. So happy right now …..and I guess we will send a good act….the problem is (like in the adult ESC) to find a catchy song with a good hook.
Some good news for once! Herzlich willkommen! 🙂