The EBU have just released a statement, stating that sixteen countries will be present in Tbilisi, Georgia this year for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017! This is the 15th edition of the festival and it will take place on the 26th of November, a Sunday, from 16:00 CET until 18:00 CET. Kids from 9-14 are allowed to represent their countries in the 4.000-seat Olympic Palace in Tbilisi (previously the Sports Palace was considered, but the Olympic Palace has better facilities for fans, media and delegations).

Now these are the competing countries this year (with their broadcaster between brackets):

• Albania (RTSH)
• Armenia (AMPTV)
• Australia (ABC)
• Belarus (BTRC)
• Cyprus (CyBC)
• FYR Macedonia (MKRTV)
• Georgia (GPB)
• Ireland (TG4)
• Italy (RAI)
• Malta (PBS)
• Poland (TVP)
• Portugal (RTP)
• Russia (RTR)
• Serbia (RTS)
• The Netherlands (AVROTROS)
• Ukraine (UA:PBC)

You might have noted that Portugal is back after an absence of 10 years! It looks like Portugal has really gotten into the Eurovision spirit!

There is a change to the voting procedure this year as some form of public voting is back.

The first stage of voting will be from Friday November 24 to Sunday November 26. Before entering the voting platform on thr Junior Eurovision website, those wishing to vote will have to watch a recap of all songs first. After that one can watch 1-minute rehearsal clips of each participant and decide their votes. This voting window will close on the 26th of November at 15:59 CET.

Then, after all countries have performed during the live show, the online voting will be open again for 15 minutes so the viewers can vote again. The pre-vote and the live-vote will together make up the audience vote and this will count for 50% of the final result. More information on the voting procedure will follow soon.

Executive Supervisor of the contest, Jon Ola Sand is happy:

We are thrilled to be celebrating 15 editions of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Throughout the Contest’s history we have seen some incredibly talented children perform, some of whom are now successful artists in their own right. The new voting system is an exciting new addition that will allow millions of viewers to take part in the show once again.

The official junior eurovision website has uploaded a nice, little video with this year’s participating countries and their best-scoring entry in the contest so far: