Australia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

Australia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Australia
Participating broadcaster
Participation summary
Appearances5
First appearance2015
Last appearance2019
Highest placement3rd: 2017, 2018
Participation history
External links
Australia's page at JuniorEurovision.tv Edit this at Wikidata
For the most recent participation see
Australia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Australia participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest five times between 2015 and 2019. Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), was responsible for the selection process of their participants at the 2015 and 2016 contests, with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) taking over the country's participation from 2017. SBS previously broadcast every edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest on a delay.

The first representative to participate for the nation at the 2015 contest was Bella Paige with the song "My Girls", which finished in eighth place out of seventeen participating entries, achieving a score of sixty-four points. Australia continued their participation at the 2016 contest, having internally selected Alexa Curtis with her song "We Are", which finished in fifth place, scoring 202 points. Isabella Clarke in 2017 and Jael Wena in 2018 both placed 3rd, Australia's best results to date. After finishing eighth with Jordan Anthony in 2019, Australia announced their withdrawal from the 2020 contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The country has not returned to the contest since.

History

Bella Paige at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Sofia
Alexa Curtis at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Valletta

On 7 October 2015, the Australian national broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) announced that they would be making their Junior Eurovision debut at the 2015 contest, in Sofia, Bulgaria,[1][2] following on from their success at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.[3] SBS internally selected Bella Paige as their debut representative, with the song "My Girls".[4] At the running order draw which took place on 15 November 2015, Australia were drawn to perform sixth on 21 November 2015, following Netherlands and preceding Ireland,[5] where she finished in eighth place scoring 64 points.[6] This is Australia's worst result in their contest history.[6] It was achieved again at the 2019 contest in Gliwice, Poland.

Australian broadcaster SBS, announced on 12 September 2016 that they would be continuing their participation at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and would once again internally select their entrant for the 2016 Contest, which took place on 20 November 2016, in Valletta, Malta.[7] Alexa Curtis was announced on 29 September 2016 as being their participant, and would represent Australia with the song "We Are".[8] During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which took place on 14 November 2016, Australia was drawn to perform fourteenth on 20 November 2016, following Israel and preceding the Netherlands,[9] where she finished in fifth place achieving 202 points, their best result at the time until Isabella Clarke's participation of the 2017 edition and Jael (2018 Junior Eurovision Song Contest) both being placed 3rd place overall.[10]

In July 2020, Australian broadcaster SBS announced that they would not participate in the 2020 contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11] The country has not returned to the contest since.

Participation overview

Table key
3 Third place
Year Artist Song Language Place Points
2015 Bella Paige "My Girls" English 8 64
2016 Alexa Curtis "We Are" English 5 202
2017 Isabella Clarke "Speak Up" English 3 172
2018 Jael "Champion" English 3 201
2019 Jordan Anthony "We Will Rise" English 8 121

Commentators and spokespersons

The contest 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.[12] The Australian broadcaster send their own commentary team to each contest in order to provide commentary in the English language. Spokespersons were also chosen by the national broadcaster in order to announce the awarding points from Australia. The table below list the details of each commentator and spokesperson since 2003.

Year Channel Commentator Spokesperson Ref.
2003–2012 SBS TV No commentator Did not participate
2013 SBS Two Andre Nookadu and Georgia McCarthy
[13][14]
2014
[15]
2015 SBS One Ash London and Toby Truslove Ellie Blackwell
[16]
2016 No commentator Sebastian Hill
2017 ABC Me Pip Rasmussen, Tim Mathews and Grace Koh Liam Clarke
[17]
2018 Grace Koh, Pip Rasmussen and Lawrence Gunatilaka Ksenia Galetskaya
[18]
2019 Pip Rasmussen, Drew Parker and Ava Madon Szymon
2020–2024 No broadcast Did not participate

See also

References

  1. ^ Granger, Anthony (8 October 2015). "JESC'15: Australia Debuts, 17 Countries To Compete". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  2. ^ Fisher, Luke James (7 October 2015). "Australia joins to make it 'Super 17' at Junior Eurovision in Sofia!". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2015 Grand Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  4. ^ Fisher, Luke James (9 October 2015). "Bella Paige represents Australia with "My Girls"". eurovision.tv. Eurovision. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  5. ^ James-Fisher, Luke (15 November 2015). "Running order for Junior Eurovision 2015". junioreurovision,tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 - complete scoreboard". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 21 November 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  7. ^ Dwyer, Genevieve (12 September 2016). "Australia to compete in Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016". sbs.com.au. Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  8. ^ Jordan, Paul (6 October 2016). "Premiere of "We Are" - Australia's song for Junior Eurovision!". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  9. ^ Jordan, Paul (15 November 2016). "Final running order revealed!". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  10. ^ "Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 Complete scoreboard". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 20 November 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  11. ^ "Australia withdraws from Junior Eurovision 2020 due to travel restrictions". wiwibloggs. 2020-07-15. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  12. ^ Fisher, Luke James (21 November 2015). "Tonight: Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015!". Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Bulgaria 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  13. ^ Fisher, Luke James (15 November 2013). "Australia to watch Junior Eurovision on 1 December!". junioreurovision.tv. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  14. ^ Fisher, Luke James (21 November 2013). "Three more countries to carry 2013 event". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  15. ^ Lockett, Katherine (16 October 2014). "Increased International Interest in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  16. ^ Granger, Anthony (11 November 2015). "JESC '15: Further Australian Details". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Archived from the original on 14 November 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  17. ^ Gallagher, Robyn (31 July 2017). "Australia:Junior Eurovision moves from SBS to children's channel ABC ME". Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  18. ^ Reiha, Amy (8 October 2018). "Jael Wena to light up the stage for Australia at the Junior Eurovision Song Content 2018". ABC Australia. Archived from the original on 28 February 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2018.