Officials behind Junior Eurovision are keen to make the show more kid-friendly in 2016 and they’ve unveiled a series of changes to make that happen.

Earlier this summer the Maltese broadcaster, in conjunction with the EBU, revealed that the show would have an earlier time slot — aka, in the daytime; it lowered the age limit of the participants; and it got rid of the televote as a result of “a significant drop in the number of votes that have been cast” in recent years. Well they were just warming up as they’ve now revealed even more changes.

The jury, which will determine the winner of this year’s contest, will consist of both an adult jury composed of five members and a separate children’s jury, also composed of five members. So rather than talking about the jury-televote split, we’ll be talking about the adult-kiddie split.

During the voting segment, the results of the adult juries will be combined and displayed first. Then each country will reveal the results of their children’s juries with a child spokesperson. This means the children will have the final say. As at recent contests, trophies will be awarded to the winner and two runners-up. They want to spread the love.

Interview: Destiny at the Junior Eurovision 2015 after party

PBS hopes for a “fast-paced” and “relevant” show that will target an audience of 13-16 year olds, which is slightly older than the actual participating age (9 to 14). The EBU has also said that it hopes its changes will attract more male participants.

So far, not so good. Of the three participants that have been selected for Junior Eurovision 2016 so far —Albania’s Klesta Qehaja, Bulgaria’s Lydiya Ganeva and the Netherlands’ group Kisses — there’s not a boy in sight.

JESC 2016 Trailer

The official trailer has also been revealed. The video features scenes from the last two Junior Eurovisions, starting with the 2014 contest, which Malta also hosted. Playing on the pun “One Destiny”, honouring the most recent winner, they introduce us to the upcoming contest and its theme “Embrace”.

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 will take place in various location in Valletta on Sunday November 20 from 16:00 CET until 18:00 CET. The kids can enjoy the show — and still make it to bed on time.

Read more Junior Eurovision 2016 news

10 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
7 years ago

@Niceee: But which countries do you assign to send men, and which do you assign to send women, and which do you assign to send bands? It would be unfair across the board, to tell one country that you can’t send someone from 2 of the 3 categories here.

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago

@Niceee

I’m not pissed off at all. What matters is the song and the talent of the performer, not the gender. Please, don’t make such discriminations.

To be honest, the countries that were in my top 10 this year were all represented by a female singer. But that happened just by chance, I’m not discriminating (in contrast with others, *cough* *cough*).

Jonas
Jonas
7 years ago

I think it’s great that they’re gearing the contest more toward kids, seeing as that what’s the competition is all about. I was never a fan of the Junior contest, it was just too creepy. This is definitely a big step in the right direction. It shouldn’t be competing in scale with the “real” adult Eurovision.

jimis2001
jimis2001
7 years ago

@Robin Gallagher

I’m 15 and I always watched Junior Eurovision, because of the entertainment factor not because kids participate in it. I don’t mind most of the changes but what really brought me down is the timeslot. I can’t expect anyone at my age to want to watch the contest at this time. Most wouldn’t even have time to finish their homework by 4 o’ clock. And I always watched the contest with my family, and I’m sure they would have something better to do at Sunday afternoon. I really wish they change the time.

Niceee
Niceee
7 years ago

Of course. Ebu is pissed off and everyone is pissed of, that both Jesc and Esc are full of women and girl. Jesc 2014 had only one boy, other participants were girl. Boring for everyone. This year Esc had 22 solo female singers of 42 countries. Oh my gosh, it is more than 50%. Thats reason, why it was so boring this year. Everyone wants more men and bands. Ebu should make a quotes for solo women, men and bands. 13 men, 13 women, 13 bands and winner can choose, what he wants.

oooops
oooops
7 years ago

I actually think that the new voiting system at ESC is good, and making it more exciting, but it would be better with some kind of ranking system, the one I did talk about earlier with only the 26th/[your country] and the 25th getting no points, and only the 18th/[your country] I think it would be more fair. I am not only saying this because the system would make Jüri Pootsmann(my favourite before grand final). But that were not too much changes, and SVT did have the excitement in focus. Unlike PBS, who do just make the show even more… Read more »

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago

“The EBU has also said that it hopes its changes will attract more male participants.”

Why? I don’t think that the changes have anything to do with the gender of the participants.

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
7 years ago

Poland is in!!!

Justin K.
Justin K.
7 years ago

I still find it odd that the 15-year-olds are in a weird limbo where they wouldn’t be able to try for either contest—that target demographic probably wouldn’t care all that much if their time is limited to such a contest.

However, I like the split jury idea and the presentation of votes—I’d much prefer the spokespeople give the votes from their country’s population rather than their internal jury, so this is a good step forward in that sense. (Logistically, the voting sequence made sense, so I don’t know if my idea would be plausible, but who knows?)

Uroš
Uroš
7 years ago

Armenia, Australia, Georgia will probably confrim, so there is 13 countries. Maybe Serbia and Montenegro too, and if Sweden came back this is 16. Macedonia will unfortanetly withdraw.