Earlier this month Ukraine confirmed that it would stage national selections for both Junior Eurovision and the adult Eurovision. As part of this, it confirmed that the public would be able to choose the jury members to help decide the outcome of both shows.
State broadcaster Suspiline has now opened the public vote to choose the national jury for its Junior contest. There are ten candidates and the top 3 will ultimately serve on the panel. People can vote from August 30 to September 6 (inclusive) on the broadcaster’s dedicated Junior Eurovision site.
Mykola Chernotytskyi, Head of Suspilne’s Managing Board, explained that the move will hopefully engage viewers more fully in the process — no doubt something they also considered when making the decision for the adult competition.
“This year, we added an opportunity to vote for the jury members of the Junior Eurovision national selection. The three selected members will not merely evaluate the young talents. Their professional assessment will decide which song will represent Ukraine on the international stage. The viewers’ voting is always a challenging and very responsible part of contests. We initiate such voting at Suspilne for the first time and hope that such viewers’ engagement in the Eurovision selection will make a good tradition.”
Below you can read the remainder of Suspiline’s press release, which details the candidates and process.
Ukraine launches public vote to choose Junior Eurovision jury (PRESS RELEASE)
The list of the jury candidates:
- Vlad Darwin is a songwriter and performer, producer, initiator of #ThePowerOfHopeUkraine project with Eurovision stars. His songs are in the repertoire of Ukrainian performers. Winner of national awards, including YUNA.
- Sofia Ivanko is a singer and songwriter. She represented Ukraine at Junior Eurovision 2019 and participated in The Voice. Kids. She has released 1 album and 5 singles. She performs abroad to support Ukraine.
- Serhii Kein is a musical journalist with 15 years of experience, a publicist and consultant to performers and brands. He has cooperated with leading Ukrainian media and Deezer streaming platform.
- Mykhailo Klymenko is a songwriter, composer, and musical producer. He is the frontman of ADAM band. He took part in writing songs both for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and the Eurovision Song Contest for a few times.
- Darina Krasnovetska represented Ukraine at Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018. She won Black Sea Games festival twice. She was awarded the titles of Person of the Year and Pride of the Nation. Her debut album is called Inside.
- KRUTЬ is a singer, bandura player, and composer. She got to the final of the Eurovision 2020 national selection. She participated in The X-Factor project. She released a debut album Arche and a mini album Albino.
- Tonya Matvienko is a Merited Artist of Ukraine. In 2011, she was a runner-up in The Voice. She has an authentic voice tone. The geography of her tours encompasses dozens of countries around the world. She released 2 albums and 25 individual singles.
- Anzhelika Rudnytska is a Merited Artist of Ukraine, TV anchor, painter, founder of Terytoriia A art agency. She initiated a number of festivals and art projects. She received a few state awards and badges of merit.
- Myroslava Salii is a co-founder of Pravytsia children folk studio and a teacher of modern vocals with 15 years of experience. She won the award of Chervona Ruta festival. In 2015-2020 she was a leader of Pravytsia band.
- Khrystyna Soloviy is a singer and songwriter. She has won a lot of awards, including YUNA. Her debut single Trymai was in the top of Ukrainian music videos on YouTube. She released 4 studio albums and 11 singles.
The voting results will form the rank of jury candidates. Three candidates scoring the highest number of votes will be offered to sign an agreement with Suspilne Ukraine.
In case someone from the three highest ranking winners cannot sign the agreement for substantial reasons, the next candidate in the rank will become the jury member. After signing the agreement, the three jury members will be publicly announced.
The selected jury together with the viewers will be voting for the Junior Eurovision 2022 Ukrainian representative in the national final.
It is worth noting that until August 31, Suspilne Ukraine accepts applications for participation in the national selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022. Anyone willing to participate, irrespective of the present whereabouts of the child, can apply on the website junior.eurovision.ua.
Shouldn’t it be anonymous? Anyways, these were supposed to be esperts. Not celebs.
i don’t get the point of adult jurors at this kiddie competition
Good and interesting idea!
As with ESC 23, I want Ukraine to do well, but not actually win:
1. If they keep winning, it’s unfair on the other participants and brodcasters.
2. It would also make their win in Turin less significant. Instead, it would just become tiresome.
3. We could do wih being spared all the drama again – ‘They only won because sympathy!’ Will they, won’t they host?
Even if they will have the best song?)
Hmm, the dilema is that best song is very subjective. I think Stefania was one of the best songs, but others don’t.
Hmm, the dilema is that best song is very subjective. I think Stefania was one of the best songs, but others don’t.
I thought it’s solid top 10. But not song that didn’t need jury vote to win. Not literally, they needed like 20 votes?
To still surpass the UK they would only have needed 28 jury points. And imagine if there were no juries, Moldova would have been runner-up! As infectious as it was, it was defintely not the 2nd best song of the year.
Correct that, they would need more because other countries would have got higher points