The BBC has confirmed the United Kingdom will participate at Junior Eurovision 2022 in Yerevan, Armenia after a 17 year absence from the contest.
This year marks the UK’s fourth participation at Junior Eurovision and the BBC’s first entry. Prior to 2022, the British entry was organised by rival broadcaster ITV.
The show will be broadcast live on CBBC, BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
UK confirms Junior Eurovision 2022 participation
The UK is coming back to #JuniorEurovision! ?? ?
— Junior Eurovision (@EurovisionJr) August 25, 2022
? 2022 will see the country’s 4th participation, but first with @BBCEurovision + @CBBC! ?
Read more: https://t.co/E9Kx0VCTG7 pic.twitter.com/gXHzGjF3Ip
News of the BBC’s participation at the Junior edition of Europe’s favourite TV show follows confirmation the UK will host the Eurovision 2023 on behalf of Ukraine.
A process to select the act is now underway, led by CBBC in collaboration with BBC Studios Entertainment and Music.
Patricia Hidalgo, Director BBC Children’s and Education, said: “We are beyond excited to bring the Junior Eurovision Song Contest to the BBC for the first time, and to showcase the diverse young musical talent from across Europe for children and their families to discover and enjoy together.”
“This junior version of Eurovision will undoubtedly encapsulate the same spirit of unity that the adult contest brings, reflecting the heart of what CBBC is all about, an inclusive channel that celebrates the diversity and creativity in all children. I can’t wait to unveil our own musical talent who will proudly represent the UK.”
The UK last participated in Junior Eurovision in 2005 with Joni Fuller and her song “How Does It Feel?”, placing 14th.
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 takes place on Sunday 11 December in Yerevan, Armenia, following the Maléna’s victory at the 2021 contest with “Qami Qami”.
What do you think? Are you excited for the United Kingdom’s return to Junior Eurovision? Let us know in the comments below.
can we get a tick box filter option on wiwi so that we can choose not to see junior ev news in our timelines. TIA.
Website designers be like “let’s do this”
There must be a condition in the hosting contract or something that says you have to return to Junior Eurovision.
Sweden did it, Portgual did it, Israel did it, Italy did it.
Think Ukraine and Netherlands were already in it.
Next years Eurovision host, is always in the upcoming Junior Eurovision, most often returning for the first time in a while
Can’t remember Denmark returning to JESC in 2013 after winning the senior contest
Italy was already in since 2014 and Sweden was already in since 2010 if ur talking abt their 2013 hosting cuz in 2016 they weren’t at JESC
italy started competing in JESC in 2014, sweden went from the first JESC up until 2014, and israel returned in 2016, missed 2017, & competed again in 2018 before withdrawing. the only country that really applies to what you’ve said is portugal and to a lesser extent the UK
I imagine this is part of the BBC push to widen and improve the appeal of the contest in The UK introducing it to a younger audience. I suspect Tap may have had a hand in this looking to the future for potential adult contestants.
There’s no mention of TaP, just CBBC and BBC Studios Entertainment and Music. They first expressed an interest back in 2020, long before TaP came along. But yeah, the fact that they are airing it on CBBC as well indicates a push to engage younger viewers.
I think UK back in JESC 2022, only because they host ESC 2023.
It’s been in the works for a couple of years now, actually.
EBU has been trying to get UK in for years, but UK has never shown any interest besides that Welsh tv channel, until the year they due to host
For better or worse JESC has become more like ESC rather than what I believe it was supposed to be: kids having fun. It has lost the core values which is why I think countries are hesitant in taking part in it. That is what the Scadinavian countries has said in a statement when asked why no return. Its kids trying to be adults rather than being kids, performing songs written by adults. That is why France and Valentina was such a joy, it was a kid being a kid..
The songwriters should be children too, not adults.
Sometimes they are – Olena from Ukraine 2021 wrote her own song.
To be fair, it would be hard to have a song totally written, mixed, and edited by children alone (not unheard of, just very rare), but I do think that songs with as much creative input from child lyricists and composers should have an advantage to compete in such a contest. It’s okay if adults were also involved in stages of production, but I agree – This is a kids’ show, so let it be a kids’ show. Children shouldn’t feel like a vessel for promoting adults’ worldview. On a semi-related note, it would be better if ESC itself was… Read more »
In the original rules the artists had to write their own songs as well I believe
Totally agree with you Denis! Especially after last year win of Malena, which was 100% adult performance, too much sexualised for many viewers. It is sad that the kid contest is going in that direction. Happilly some countries, like France, keeps it very cheerful and kids-friendly!
I thought Iceland was interested too and convinced to come back after their visit in Paris last year and their incredible 96% of TV audience.
I am curious when we will know the logo, slogan, stage design, hosts, and the list of all participating countries…
Iveta Mukuchyan will be one of the hosts (at least she indicated she wanted to host haha). But yes, we need all the deets and we need to see the stage design.
Hopefully whatever flag will make the Azeri hosts shut up
Last year it was early September, so probably in the next few weeks.
I’m interested to see if Azerbaijan will participate in Yerevan.
It might be too much pressure to have a kid perform in a country they’re at war with. I’m not even sure if Armenians would welcome an Azerbaijani act into the country.
It’s hard to imagine Azerbaijan would be willing to broadcast an entire show taking place in Armenia when they wouldn’t shut up while Malena was performing last year.
1. As proved with the girls last year, kids can be more grown-up than adults sometimes.
2. The Armenian broadcaster said that Azerbaijan are welcome to come.
3. Azerbaijan have said they’re considering it.
Why does always a BIG 5 country come (back) to JESC after a surprising good result in ESC? Must be the proof the EBU fakes those jury votes in ESC somehow in any kind of way, no matter what the naive good-believer fans say. Also strange that I have read the UK hosts if Ukraine wins Eurovision many weeks before Grand Final and voilà, UK wins jury voting. Just shows how biased voting in Eurovision, don’t even mention the running order made by producers and approved by EBU. If producers would know what’s best for show, the running order would… Read more »
The UK was mentioned along with Sweden, Spain, Germany, Poland, Iceland etc. And when Germany joined in 2020, I don’t remembrr them doing very well in 2019 (there was no contest in 2020, don’t forget). So before you post such negative dribble and go slandering producers, check your facts.
There’s no conspiracy here. There’s pure and simply a hype around Eurovision in the UK at the moment and that’s a good thing, is it not? Fans have been saying for years that the BBC haven’t taken Eurovision seriously and now that they are, people are proud and excited! I mean to go from last place to a 2nd place finish, hosting next year and taking part in JESC : that’s some commitment from any broadcaster in my eyes. People, even non-fans, are genuinely excited about the UK hosting and there’s a real hype about the UK doing really well… Read more »
(Inclusiveness, sorry typo! ?)
If you genuinely believe that, it might be time to exit the Eurovision news sites and forums?
So utterly excited! This has been on the cards for some time, and Martin Osterdahl confirmed last year that the BBC were close to joining. I can still hardly believe that it is happening, though. BBC are clearly taking this seriously, broadcasting it on their main channel (not everyone does) and on CBBC. The success in May, and UK hosting 2023 probably helped to seal the deal.
It was time it was the only one big 5 country to not take part. It’s cool but again this year as Germany has withdrawn we still won’t get all the big 5 countries competing in the jesc….Somehow Uk is replacing Germany this year but with a better timing we could have all the big 5 countries together for the Jesc’s 20th anniversary.
It’s another step forward by the UK. Win or lose, there will be people and performers who’ll now get experience which may pay off one day at the senior contest.
I also love JESC cuz which countries do well and how the voting plays out can be completely different from adult ESC. With two heavy-hitters in Russia and Belarus out of the picture, it’ll be interesting to see how the votes go this year with a relatively even split of Western and Central/Eastern European countries.
Will Poland and France do well again? Will Ukraine win it to be the first to win the esc and jesc the same years? Will Poland be the televote winner again? Will France win the jury vote for the third time in a row? Will Spain come back in the top 10? Will Armenia win a second time in a row? Will Georgia come with something out of the box? Will Uk do well for their come back?
So much questions and challenges for this 20th anniversary edition.
I need to know if Azerbaijan finally dares to go to Yerevan…!
With both ESC and JESC, they have solid reasons to withdraw (accusations of cheating that guarantee their votes are going to be scrutinized extra-carefully next year on one side, the contest being held in a country they’ve historically beefed with on the other), but you also get the sense that they still know the Eurovision events are by far their biggest international platform (I straight-up hadn’t even heard of Azerbaijan before I started learning about Eurovision and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one) and the broadcaster’s ego and desire for self-promotion could win out. We shall see. It… Read more »
“..hadn’t even heard of Azerbaijan”. Tell me you’re American without telling me you’re American.
Guilty as charged lol but don’t tell me that’s a country everybody knows about. It’s not a Japan or a Brazil or a France.
You’re not wrong, Joe, and I think that’s mostly why they are so invested in cheating.
I live in Norway and have met people who didn’t know Azerbaijan existed. A clear sign they don’t watch ESC at least
azerbaijan is pretty irrelevant and unremarkable to the people even here in western europe. i never hear anything about it outside of the eurovision here in italy. so these international contests are indeed their main chance to promote their…existence
Not an American and hadn’t heard of Azerbaijan until 2008.
None of the 3 caucus countries actually.
Hadn’t heard of Moldova until their 2005 debut either.
For Azerbaijan Eurovision is a political platform. It has always been the case. In fact ITV was created by the Azeri government for the purpose of taking part in Eurovision. EBU and Eurovision fans just ate up all the glitter, props, and propaganda they brought with them.
“ ITV was created by the Azeri government for the purpose of taking part in Eurovision” wait is this true?
Kinda true. ?TV was created, as opposed to government-dependent AzTV, in a less politicized way (even though their board members are lately elected by the government). That’s why both stations applied for EBU membership and only ?TV got it in 2007, allowing their 2008 debut.
To add to your point, Armenia and Azerbaijan applied for membership after the 2004 contest – Armenia through AMPTV and Azerbaijan through AzTV. Armenia’s application was approved but not early enough for them to debut in the 2005 edition, hence Armenia debuted in 2006. Azerbaijan’s application was rejected because EBU found that AzTV was government controlled (government mouthpiece) and Azerbaijan did not have any “independent” channels that could apply. Therefore, they created ITV and the rest is history…
It’s not so much if they dare to go or not. I’m sure they won’t face any adverse treatment. The question is whether they should be allowed to participate after their hosts spoke the entire time during Malena’s performance. Go see the video for yourselves
So all the Big 5 countries are at least broadcasting JESC this year, and for sure two of them (Italy and the UK) are at least simulcasting it on their main channel. That’s CRAZY. Welcome back, UK! (Also, given that it’s been twenty contests since they won the first ever edition…supposing it’s time Croatia came back too?).
France TV broadcast it on their main channel too.
And I’m guessing Spain will too. That’s a lot of potential viewers!
For a while I’ve wanted the junior contest to be scrapped, it just seems like a lot of effort and money on something that nobody watches. This is nice, though. More interest is good, and actually on a country’s main broadcaster too.
Nobody?! How dare you
Nobody.
Excuse me? 33 millions is nobody ?
It’s the last cumulative audience and it’s a record so it’s a lot of effort for something it seems.
I don’t believe 33 million people watch, but okay, I’ll change it to “very few” if it makes you happy. I don’t even believe public service broadcasting should be dependant on numbers, but the junior contest has only ever survived on its association with the main contest.
No need to make me happy, they are the Ebu numbers so if you don’t believe the Ebu numbers then you don’t believe in the esc results too?
I don’t understand where the 33 million figure comes from. 7.5 is more like it.
’33 million’ is probably the number of people who watched at least 1 minute of the show, so that includes people who were zapping. the real number is south of 10 million.
My Second home is finally back in Junior Eurovision. Been so long. Happy since I love Junior Eurovision. Maybe a bit controversial opinion but I prefer jesc to esc just in songs, but you know the more countries the better. I’m just happy, next year if UK remains in jesc, then we will have all the big 5 countries in jesc. Germany withdrew because of a creative break. I hope this creative break is for esc and jesc. Also I am feeling like this EBU wants 20 countries in the contest, since this is the 20th jesc. Still 3 countries… Read more »
I bet for Iceland
Iceland had previously said they weren’t competing, but Bulgaria also said that last year and wound up competing. Given that they at least have plans to broadcast it and come back next year, there’s a little part of my brain that wonders if Germany is feeling a little FOMO and might change their minds.
Beyond that, I mentioned Croatia and beyond them there aren’t too many other countries that haven’t either confirmed they’re in or otherwise.
I also wonder that Croatian public television is silent on this matter, they always informed in advance, and even if they would return, I do not know how they would choose a representative
Iceland is likely also, they broadcasted the 2021 jesc and had about 90% something of people watching in Iceland.
WOW !!!! What a great news !!! I am very happy about it !! I hope for a great song and participant(s) Good Luck in advance !!
For several years, it has been noticeable that the country that wins Eurovision and then urged by the EBU is returning or making its debut at the JESC
Yeah, but UK didn’t win.
Wow UK really does mean business now. I love it!!
interesting what kind of song the UK will bring when it’s now up to BBC. maybe something more folk/ethnical a la Banshee (Ireland 2019)? or maybe a bit more “mainstream” similar to what the Dutch Junior Songfestival often brings? many possible paths.
The more childlike the better, that is who the contest is for.
But not infantile or something like the Tweenies
um no
look at ukraine last year, that was a very mature entry, which could’ve done well in adult vidbir national selection
same as N.Macedonia couple years back Doma, also a song which could’ve done well in adult esc
I know. If they’d fit into the adult contest, then that’s where they should be.
no. You tell me a 14 year old that listens to don’t touch my tree. Children listen to adult music, so that will obviously appeal to them more
How does this impact Wales’ participation in the contest?
Wales is not eligible to take part on their own in the same year as when the UK takes part. the same thing applies to Scotland and Northern Ireland.
There’s a very good chance that Wales won’t be coming back , they haven’t been back since 2019 , they didn’t get very good results either
Wales was participating in place of the UK as a subsidiary. They can’t compete on their own now the country as a whole has returned.
Just as Montenegro didn’t compete alongside Yugoslavia.