Palais Nikaïa

France promised to take us somewhere other than Paris after their second Junior Eurovision victory in three years in 2022, and they delivered: Nice will host the 2023 Junior Eurovision Song Contest on November 26. Get ready for months of very Nice play-on-words.

This year marks the 21st anniversary of Junior Eurovision. The venue will be Palais Nikaïa, in the outskirts of Nice. It fits up to 9,000 viewers within its main hall, and it has several smaller venues and zones within the building. Évidemment, France has made sure to find a nice enough venue for the contest.

Last time they hosted the contest in 2021, it was in La Seine Musicale, in Paris. It was a slightly smaller venue, but there were still Covid-19 restrictions back then. Now, the French will (hopefully) get to host a Eurovision event to its full extent.

Junior Eurovision 2023 heads to Nice

French Head of Delegation, Alexandra Redde-Amiel, said that “the Junior Eurovision Song Contest shows how much cultural and musical power our new generations have in the world”. We are extremely lucky to be welcomed by the City of Nice, the famous and iconic ‘French Riviera’, with its international aura. We’re incredibly grateful to Mayor Christian Estrosi and his team”.

Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said: “It is an honour for the City of Nice to host a renowned European competition such as Junior Eurovision, which brings together some 20 participating countries and more than 33 million television viewers. Nice is a unique landscape, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which will be an exceptional setting to showcase the Junior Eurovision candidates. But it’s much more than that”.

France earned the honour of hosting Junior Eurovision 2023 following Lissandro’s victory in 2022 with his song “Oh maman”, which topped the jury vote and placed third with the public.  

Are you excited for Nice 2023? How many countries do you think will be taking part? Who do you want to win? Let us know in the comment section below!

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Purple Mask
Purple Mask
1 year ago

“It would be nice to go to the palace in Nice with my niece called Bernice.” Ah, those English pronunciation guides.

Vivian
Vivian
1 year ago

I’m glad that France finally realized the country is more than just ‘Paris here, Eiffel Tower there’ and see that other great locations are suitable too! I’m looking forward to seeing how it will all go, and I’m also happy that it doesn’t take place in December again because I couldn’t watch it live last year because it was around Christmas. It’s definitely not as fun if you are spoiled on who the winner is, even when in reality that doesn’t matter much

Ria NL
Ria NL
1 year ago

I am looking forward for this junioreurovision songcontest in Nice. In 2021 I was in Paris to see the contest live and it was so great.

Ria NL
Ria NL
1 year ago
Reply to  Ria NL

I hope for more participating country ‘s than last year

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
1 year ago
Reply to  Ria NL

Germany is returning to junior eurovision 2023.

Eurotoxic
Eurotoxic
1 year ago

It’s cool that they changed Paris

Niza looks sunny, curious about Christmas there. Any market?

Jonas
Jonas
1 year ago

Smaller venues are better for this contest. There’s just no need to forcibly replicate all the hype of the adult contest, just let it be its own thing.

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
1 year ago
Reply to  Jonas

It’s not a small venue but it’s still not an adult Eurovision scale arena, it’s appropriate imo.
Because of the covid France couldn’t host as they wanted Jesc 2021, now they want to do it at a larger scale in optimal conditions, it’s legit.

Jonas
Jonas
1 year ago

Who are the nine thousand people going? To me, it seems to be about looking big on television and nothing else.

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
1 year ago
Reply to  Jonas

Is it a bad thing, I don’t get where is the issue? The children have the right to get consideration and to get a big show looking big on TV, why not? The children nowadays dream big. This contest is more and more popular each year so it’s a bit logical that the show evolves, it’s not the same as in the 2010’s. I don’t think it makes a big difference for the children to perform in front of 3000 or in front of 9000 people, it’s the same feeling at the end, they perform in front of a lot… Read more »

Eurovisionfannn
Eurovisionfannn
1 year ago
Reply to  Jonas

9.000 seats sounds like maximum capacity. With the green rooms and the stage taking a lot of room, I don’t think we’ll get very close from these 9.000 people in the audience 🙂

beccaboo1212
1 year ago

Good. Now, I have 100% hope the EBU will bring back the classic televoting the rule requiring children to write potential JESC songs. Doubtful replies are strictly prohibited.

Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
Esc addict / Shut up and watch my ...
1 year ago

So glad! This venue always fascinated me…the main arena can be opened by the back which overlooks a huge stadium that can accommodate more than 50,000 people who can watch the concert too made on the arena’s stage, it will not be the case for the jesc I guess but I find it very cool.
Nice is a very nice 🙂 choice, the arena, the sea, the weather, the landscape, the atmosphere, the food, the Palm trees, I love this region so much, it always feels summer.

Louka
Louka
1 year ago

Fun fact : it’s the third year in a row that France hosts a Eurovision related event :

  • Paris 2021 : Junior Eurovision
  • Montpellier 2022 : Eurovision Young Musicians
  • Nice 2023 : Junior Eurovision
clothespin
clothespin
1 year ago

the new time will probably mean goodbye for the Christmas theme but hopefully, the location+the time will allow the kids to be as healthy as possible