Junior Eurovision 2018 in Belarus
In line with the decision of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the 2018 Junior Eurovision Song Contest took place in Belarus. The country played host to the contest for the second time since 2010. The popular show was held on 25 November 2018. According to the results of the jury voting and the televote, Roksana Wegiel from Poland won the contest. Belarus’ Daniel Yatsremski placed 11th. The organizer was the public broadcaster Belarusian TV and Radio Company (BTRC), the country’s only member in the European Broadcasting Union.
The international junior song contest is always a bright show and rich cultural program prepared by organizers for guests from the member-countries and spectators.
Participants of Junior Eurovision in Minsk
A record-breaking number of countries took part in the 2018 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Belarus. Those twenty states were Albania, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, France, Macedonia, Georgia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, the Netherlands, Wales (United Kingdom), Ukraine.
According to the rules, 18 countries can take part in the contest (in 2010, when Belarus hosted the music event for the first time, 16 countries participated in it). This year, however, the organizers allowed Israel, the winner of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, to take part in the junior version of the contest. Ukraine returned to the contest when the deadline was already over. Kiev had withdrawn from the Junior Eurovision citing financial reasons.
Junior Eurovision 2018 venues
The Junior Eurovision 2018 opening ceremony was held in the BelExpo exhibition center where the delegations of the participating countries walked the red carpet and where Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest Jon Ola Sand and Chairman of Belteleradiocompany Ivan Eismont gave a start to the EuroWeek. By the way, the center is located in a picturesque place in Minsk near the State Flag Square and the Palace of Independence.
Already the next morning, 20 November, the young performers visited with the Palace of Independence on a sightseeing tour and met with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.
The Junior Eurovision final venue was the country’s biggest sport and entertainment center Minsk Arena designed for 15,000 seats. The stage in Minsk Arena was designed by Belarusian artist Galina Gomonova. By the way, it is not often that the Junior Eurovision set is designed by someone from the host country rather than the European Broadcasting Union.
The design concept was built around a “solar system” theme. The set design included a 14-meter circular main stage and a smaller circular stage of 7 meters connected to the main stage by a 7-meter long bridge. The green room, where the participants stayed at the time of voting, was literally "floating in the starry sky". The arena's dome was decorated with specially designed multi-tier LED chandeliers. The arena was a city in itself featuring a press-room, individual make-up rooms and a large public hall.
The 5-star President Hotel housed the Euroclub and accommodated the delegations of the participating countries.
Junior Eurovision 2018 logo and slogan
Following a competition for the best logo that brought together more than 300 people from different countries, a rising star was chosen as the Junior Eurovision 2018 logo. Maksim Bukas, the author of the logo, pictured it in the form of vertically upturned sound waves. The designer was inspired by Maksim Bogdanovich’s poem Zorka Venera (Venus the Star).
According to the designer, the participants of the Junior Eurovision 2018 came to Belarus to make the first steps in their singing careers. The Junior Eurovision slogan Light Up also aimed to encourage young talents to win the hearts of the audience.
Junior Eurovision 2018 winner
The competition’s trophy Crystal Microphone went to Poland’s Roksana Wegiel who triumphed with the song Anyone I Want to Be. Following the vote of the national jury and internet users the Polish representative scored 215 points.
Roksana Wegiel is 13 years old. She is the winner of The Voice Kids Poland season one. Apart from music, she goes in for artistic gymnastics, judo and dancing. The girl has almost 300,000 followers on social media. Her first single Zyj scored more than 9 million views on YouTube.
Angelina of France finished second at the Junior Eurovision 2018 (she scored 203 points). Third was Jael of Australia (201).
Belarus’ entry at the Junior Eurovision 2018
Winner of the national selection Daniel Yastremski represented Belarus at the contest with his song Time. He placed 11th with the total of 114 points.
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