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Belgium in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Belgium in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Participating broadcaster	Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT); Radio-télévision belge de la communauté française (RTBF);
Participation summary
Appearances	10
First appearance	2003
Last appearance	2012
Highest placement	4th: 2009
Host	2005
	Participation history 2003; 2004; 2005; 2006; 2007; 2008; 2009; 2010; 2011; 2012; 2013 – 2024; ;
External links
	Belgium's page at JuniorEurovision.tv
	For the most recent participation see; Belgium in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2012

Belgium competed in every Junior Eurovision Song Contest before withdrawing in 2013. The country's best result was in 2009, when Laura Omloop came 4th with "Zo verliefd". Belgium's worst result was in 2007, with Trust coming 15th with "Anders".

History

Belgium are one of the sixteen countries to have made their debut at the inaugural 2003 contest, which took place on 15 November 2003 at the Forum in Copenhagen, Denmark.^[1]

National selection

Two broadcasters were once responsible for the Belgium entry at Junior Eurovision - as for the Eurovision Song Contest, both Flemish broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT) and Walloon broadcaster Radio télévision belge de la communauté française (RTBF) were responsible for organising the Belgian entry for Junior Eurovision. The two broadcasters shared responsibility, with VRT organising one year, and RTBF organising the following year. In 2003 VRT organised the Belgian entry, sending X!NK to Copenhagen with "De vriendschapsband", while in 2004, RTBF organised the Belgian entry, sending the Free Spirits to the contest in Lillehammer with "Accroche-toi".

2005 marked a change to the format, with both broadcasters organising one national final due to the 2005 contest being held in the Belgian city of Hasselt. Each broadcaster chose six songs to compete in one national final, with the final winner representing Belgium at the contest.^[2] The winner was Lindsay Daenen with "Mes rêves". 2006 returned to the previous format, with VRT organising the entry. Following this RTBF decided to withdraw from Junior Eurovision due to a lack of interest for the contest in Wallonia and in RTBF.^[3] This gave VRT total control of Belgium's Junior Eurovision entry.

Although VRT is a Dutch broadcaster, they have been known to include some French songs in their national finals, for example, in 2008. However, since 2006 all Belgian entries have been in Dutch. In 2010, Belgium sent a duo for the first time since their debut. Belgium was also the first country who confirmed to participate in Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011 and 2012.^[4]

Withdrawal

On 26 March 2013, VRT announced that Belgium will withdraw from the contest in 2013 in order to launch a new show for young performs in Belgium.^[5] However, they held a national final called Wie wordt Junior? [nl], which was won by then 14-year-old Pieter Vreys. On 20 December 2013, Belgium's Flemish TV channel Ketnet announced that they are no longer interested in Junior Eurovision and decided not to make a comeback. On 31 December 2023, VRT stated that it had not yet made a decision as to a return to the contest in 2024, but that it would consider the possibility in the following months.^[6] However, Belgium eventually opted against participation in the 2024 contest.^[7]

Participation overview

Year	Artist	Song	Language	Place	Points
2003	X!NK	"De vriendschapsband"	Dutch	6	83
2004	Free Spirits	"Accroche-toi"	French	10	37
2005	Lindsay	"Mes rêves"	French	10	63
2006	Thor!	"Een tocht door het donker"	Dutch	7	71
2007	Trust	"Anders"	Dutch	15	19
2008	Oliver	"Shut Up"	Dutch^[a]	11	45
2009	Laura	"Zo verliefd (Yodelo)"	Dutch	4	113
2010	Jill and Lauren	"Get Up!"	Dutch, English	7	61
2011	Femke	"Een kusje meer"	Dutch^[b]	7	64
2012	Fabian [nl]	"Abracadabra"	Dutch	5	72

Commentators and spokespersons

The contests are broadcast online worldwide through the official Junior Eurovision Song Contest website junioreurovision.tv and YouTube. In 2015, the online broadcasts featured commentary in English by junioreurovision.tv editor Luke Fisher and 2011 Bulgarian Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrant Ivan Ivanov.^[8] The Belgian broadcasters, VRT and RTBF, send their own commentator to each contest in order to provide commentary in Dutch and French. Spokespersons were also chosen by the national broadcaster in order to announce the awarding points from Belgium. The table below list the details of each commentator and spokesperson since 2003.

Year	Flemish commentator	Walloon commentator	Spokesperson
2003	Ilse Van Hoecke [nl] and Bart Peeters	Corinne Boulangier [fr]	Judith Bussé
2004	Ilse Van Hoecke and Marcel Vanthilt	Jean-Louis Lahaye [fr]	Alexander Schönfelder
2005	Ilse Van Hoecke and André Vermeulen	Jean-Louis Lahaye [fr]	Max Colombie
2006	Ilse Van Hoecke and Jelle Cleymans [nl]	No broadcast	Sander Cliquet
2007	Kristien Maes [nl] and Ben Roelants [nl]		Bab Buelens
2008			Chloé Ditlefsen
2009			Oliver Symons
2010	Kristien Maes and Tom De Cock		Laura Omloop
2011	Kristien Maes and Tom De Cock		Jill & Lauren
2012	Astrid Demeure [nl] and Tom De Cock		Femke Verschueren
2013–2024	No broadcast		Did not participate

Hostings

Year	Location	Venue	Presenters
2005	Hasselt	Ethias Arena	Maureen Louys and Marcel Vanthilt

Gallery

Lindsay [fr] represented Belgium at the 2005 contest held in Hasselt
Fabian represented Belgium at the 2012 contest held in Amsterdam

Notes and references

Notes

^ Even though the song is in Dutch, the title is in English.
^ Contains one phrase in French

References

^ García, Belén (7 September 2015). "#BestOfJESC – Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003". esc-plus.com. ESC+Plus. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
^ Philips, Roel (2004-11-22). "Junior 2005: 6 Flemish and 6 French songs in Belgian finals". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
^ West-Soley, Richard (2006-10-03). "VRT take over Belgian JESC". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
^ "Schrijf je in voor Junior Eurosong 2011 | Ketnet". Archived from the original on 2010-11-22. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
^ Clark, Liam (27 March 2013). "Belgium: Belgium withdraw from Junior Eurovision". escXtra. Archived from the original on 29 March 2013.
^ "Bélgica: VRT podría participar en Eurovisión Junior 2024" [Belgium: VRT could participate in Junior Eurovision 2024]. Eurofestivales (in European Spanish). 2023-12-31. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
^ Mancheño, José Miguel (2024-05-18). "La VRT belga descarta participar en Eurovisión Junior 2024" [Belgian VRT rules out participation in Junior Eurovision 2024]. ESCplus España (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-05-18.
^ Fisher, Luke James (21 November 2015). "Tonight: Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015!". Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Bulgaria 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2015.