International song competition for youth
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the sixteenth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It took place in the Belarusian capital city, Minsk on 25 November 2018 at the Minsk-Arena. It was the second time that the contest was held in Belarus, after it staged the 2010 edition at the same venue.
A record twenty countries took part in the contest, with Kazakhstan and Wales participating for the first time. France returned for the first time since 2004, alongside Azerbaijan for the first time since 2013 and Israel after missing the 2017 edition. Cyprus withdrew from the contest. Last year's winner Polina Bogusevich performed her entry again as the interval act, alongside the common song "#LightUp" sung by all the participants.
The winner was Roksana Węgiel, who represented Poland with the song "Anyone I Want to Be". Poland won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. Returning country France came second, their best result at the contest, while Australia placed third for the second year in a row. Kazakhstan was the fourth best performing debuting nation, after Croatia and Italy's victories in 2003 and 2014 respectively, and Armenia's second place in 2007, finishing sixth, whilst Wales came last.
Location.
The EBU confirmed on 15 October 2017 that the contest would be hosted by Belarus. This was the second time Belarus hosts the Junior Eurovision Song contest, after hosting the 2010 contest.
Venue.
On 21 November 2017, Belarus' Deputy Prime Minister Vasily Zharko confirmed that the contest was scheduled to be held at Minsk-Arena in November 2018. The arena previously hosted the 2010 contest. However, on 26 November 2017, it was confirmed by the host broadcaster that the exact location of the contest is still unknown, stating that Minsk Arena was one of the possible options. On 18 March 2018, the 15,000-capacity Minsk-Arena was confirmed as the venue by the contest organisers.
Participating countries.
On 25 July 2018, the EBU released the official list of participants with 18 competing countries. Later, this number was specially expanded to 19. Israel was given special dispensation by the host broadcaster BTRC and the EBU in order to participate as the country had won the adult contest earlier that year. Kazakhstan were invited to make their debut appearance in the contest this year.
Despite initially withdrawing from the contest on 2 July 2018 due to financial and structural difficulties, Ukraine was added at the last hour to the list of participating countries on 2 August 2018, setting a record of 20 participating countries.
Format.
Visual design.
The slogan was the hashtag "#LightUp". The logo of the contest was based around a morning star made of vertically inverted soundwaves. The source of inspiration was the artistic potential and creative aspiration of the young participants who fill the scene like a star.
Hosts.
On 26 October 2018, it was announced that Eugene Perlin and Zinaida Kupriyanovich would be the main hosts of the contest, together with Helena Meraai in the green room. Meraai is the fourth person under the age of sixteen to ever host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, after Ioana Ivan in 2006, Dmytro Borodin in 2009 and Lizi Japaridze in 2017, and is also the second former participant to host an edition of the contest. Meraai previously represented Belarus in the 2017 contest, where she placed fifth with the song "I Am the One". Perlin is one of the main country's television presenters and was the Eurovision commentator between 2013 and 2019, whilst Kupriyanovich is a singer and artist who has participated in Belarus' national selections for the 2015 and 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contests and latter represented the country at the 2019 adult contest. It was also announced that Denis Dudinsky and Anna Kviloria would host the opening ceremony.
Voting.
The results were determined by national juries and an online audience vote. Every country used a national jury that consisted of three music industry professionals and two kids aged between 10 and 15 who were citizens of the country they represent. The first phase of the online voting started on 23 November 2018 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances were shown on the official website before the viewers could vote. Following this recap, voters had the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant's rehearsal. This first round of voting ended on 25 November at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting took place during the live show and started after the last performance and was open for 15 minutes. International viewers could vote for a minimum of three countries and a maximum of five, including their own country.
The number of points were determined by the percentage of votes received. The public vote counted for 50% of the final result, while the other 50% came from the professional juries.
Trophy.
The trophy was designed by Kjell Engman of the Swedish glass company Kosta Boda, using the same design as was first introduced in the 2017 contest. The main trophy is a glass microphone with colored lines inside the upper part, which symbolize the flow of sound.
Postcards.
Each postcard took place in a different location in Belarus. They all consisted of the upcoming participant putting on a virtual reality headset and, through it, experiencing a location in Belarus while doing various activities. At the conclusion of the postcard, the upcoming participant would take their headset off, and the performance would commence.
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Contest overview.
The event took place on 25 November 2018 at 17:00 (16:00 CET). Twenty countries participated, with the running order published on 19 November 2018. All the countries competing were eligible to vote with the jury vote, as well as participating and non-participating countries under an aggregated international online vote, eligible to vote. Poland won with 215 points, also winning the online vote. France came second with 203 points, with Australia (who won the jury vote), Ukraine, and Malta completing the top five. Azerbaijan, Albania, Portugal, Serbia, Wales occupied the bottom five positions.
The opening of the show featured the traditional flag parade. During the interval, Russian singer Polina Bogusevich performed a new version of her winning song "Wings". All participants then joined on stage for a rendition of the common song, "#LightUp".
Spokespersons.
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Detailed voting results.
12 points.
Below is a summary of all 12 points received from each country's professional juries.
Online voting.
A total of 1,283,921 valid votes were received during the voting windows.
Other countries.
For a country to be eligible for potential participation in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, it needs to be an active member of the EBU. It is currently unknown whether the EBU issue invitations of participation to all 56 active members like they do for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Official album.
Junior Eurovision Song Contest Minsk 2018 is a compilation album put together by the European Broadcasting Union, and was released by Universal Music Group on 16 November 2018. The album features all the songs from the 2018 contest.
References.
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External links.
 Media related to at Wikimedia Commons