Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the sixth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which is the world's largest song contest for children.[2] It was held at the "Spyros Kyprianou" Athletic Centre in Lemesos, Cyprus and hosted by Alex Michael and Sophia Paraskeva. The theme of the event was "Fun in the Sun".[3] It was won by the Georgian trio Bzikebi, with the song "Bzz..". Ukraine took 2nd place and Lithuania finished 3rd.[4] Bzikebi also became the first group act to win the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Fun in the Sun
Dates
Final22 November 2008
Host
VenueSpyros Kyprianou Athletic Centre, Limassol, Cyprus
Presenter(s)Alex Michael
Sophia Paraskeva
Directed byKlitos Klitou
Executive supervisorSvante Stockselius
Executive producerMunro Forbes
Host broadcasterCyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC)
Websitejunioreurovision.tv/event/lemesos-2008
Participants
Number of entries15
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countriesNone
Non-returning countries
Participation map
  • frameless}}
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         Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2008
Vote
Voting systemEach country awards 1–8, 10, and 12 points to their 10 favourite songs.[1]
Winning song Georgia
"Bzz.."

For the contest, various changes to the rules were made. One was that adults could assist children to write the songs submitted to their national broadcaster; previously only children could write the songs, with no assistance from adults. Another change was only six people could be on stage during a performance, instead of eight. The most significant change, however, was only half of the vote was decided by the tele-voters. Before the 2008 contest tele-voters completely decided the whole result. The other half of the result was decided by a jury of adults and children.[5][6]

Location
Further information on the host city: Limassol
Locations of the bidding countries. The eliminated countries are marked in red. The chosen host country is marked in blue.

Bidding phase and host selection

On 27 May 2007, the Eurovision Steering Group decided to award CyBC of Cyprus the rights to host the 2008 contest, over bids from TV4 of Sweden and NTU of Ukraine, the latter of which would later host the 2009 edition.

Venue
Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Center in Limassol was the host venue.

The Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Center[7] (Greek: Αθλητικό Κέντρο "Σπύρος Κυπριανού"), also known as Palais des Sports, is the largest multi-purpose indoor athletics arena in Cyprus. It is named after the late president of Cyprus Spyros Kyprianou. The shuttle of the centre can host more than 6,255 spectators and at least 42 wheelchair spots. Moreover, the centre is used especially for the sport events of local schools in Limassol greater area.[8]

Participating countries
Cover art of the official album

Fifteen countries took part in the 2008 Junior Eurovision Song Contest: Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Macedonia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine.[9] Portugal, which had taken part twice since 2006 announced that it was no longer interested in the contest and withdrew along with Sweden, a founding country in 2003, which left because of other broadcasting plans during the time of the event.[10][11] Portugal would return in 2017 after winning the adult contest for the first time that same year.[12]

On the other hand, Israel and Bosnia and Herzegovina announced their intention to participate, but decided both to withdraw before the contest. Welsh language broadcaster S4C considered the possibility of participation, but in the end it was decided they would not to participate in the competition, because their debut was rejected because Wales isn't a sovereign state. Only the BBC has the exclusive right to represent the United Kingdom.[13] Wales later debuted in the 2018 contest.

Azerbaijan announced its intention to take part also, but withdrew from the contest in early October. According to İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti, the network was unable to select and prepare children for such a high scale event without proper help from other governmental structures and bodies. The broadcaster also confirmed payment of a fine to the EBU due to its late withdrawal.[14] Poland had also considered participation but decided that it would not take part this year.[15] The 2008 contest was the first Junior Eurovision Song Contest to have no debuting countries.

Prior to the event, a compilation album featuring all the songs from the 2008 contest, along with karaoke versions, was put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by Universal Music Group on 10 October 2008.[16]

Participants of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008[9][17]
Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s)
 Armenia AMPTV Monica "Im ergi hnchyune" (Իմ երգի հնչյունը) Armenian
  • Monica Manucharova
  • Meri Mnjoyan
 Belarus BTRC Dasha, Alina and Karina "Serdtse Belarusi" (Сердце Беларуси) Russian[lower-alpha 1] Dasha Nadina
 Belgium VRT Oliver "Shut Up" Dutch Oliver Symons
 Bulgaria BNT Krastyana Krasteva "Edna mechta" (Една мечта) Bulgarian Krastyana Krasteva
 Cyprus CyBC Elena Mannouri and Charis Savva "Gioupi gia!" (Γιούπι για!) Greek
  • Andreas Georgallis
  • Elena Mannouri
  • Charis Savva
 Georgia GPB Bzikebi "Bzz.." Imaginary
  • Mariam Kikuashvili
  • Mariam Talulashvili
  • Giorgi Shiolashvili
 Greece ERT Niki Yiannouchu "Kapoia nychta" (Καποια νύχτα) Greek Niki Yiannouchu
 Lithuania LRT Eglė Jurgaitytė "Laiminga diena" Lithuanian Eglė Jurgaitytė
 Macedonia MRT Bobi Andonov "Prati mi SMS" (Прати ми СМС) Macedonian Bobi Andonov
 Malta PBS Daniel Testa "Junior Swing" English Daniel Testa
 Netherlands AVRO Marissa "1 dag" Dutch Marissa Grasdijk
 Romania TVR Mădălina and Andrada "Salvați planeta!" Romanian
  • Mădălina Lefter
  • Andrada Popa
 Russia VGTRK Mihail Puntov "Spit angel" (Спит ангел) Russian
  • Mikhail Puntov
  • Vsevolod Tarasov
 Serbia RTS Maja Mazić "Uvek kad u nebo pogledam" (Увек кaд у небо погледaм) Serbian Maja Mazić
 Ukraine NTU Viktoria Petryk "Matrosy" (Матроси) Ukrainian Viktoria Petryk

Format

Visual design

The stage, which was designed by George Papadopoulos,[18] was nominated for the prestigious international "Live Design Excellence Awards".[19] The design is an abstract composition and consists of a round stage representing the island of Cyprus, real water along the front of the stage, two jetties, the waves breaking and moving away from the island and five sailing boats with oars. During the competitive performances, a beach ball with the design of the performer's national flag would be floating in the on-stage pond while they were performing.

The stage was constructed between 30 October 2008 and 14 November 2008.

Presenters

On 10 September 2008, the hosts were announced as Alex Michael and Sophia Paraskeva; both presenters with Cypriot backgrounds.[20]

Running order

On 13 October 2008, the draw of the running order took place live on CyBC 1. This involved drawing the first and last countries and performers, and then drawing countries into various 'pots' to decide when they would perform.[21] The full running order was announced on 14 October 2008.[22]

Voting

As in all previous Eurovision Song Contests each country gave their top 10 countries songs points from 1 point for their 10th favourite song up until 8 points for their 3rd favourite song. Then 10 and 12 points were given for the second favorite and favorite respectively. But, the difference between this contest and other past contests is this is the first Eurovision Song Contest that implements a jury vote that counts for half of each countries vote.[23] Profits made from the televoting was donated to UNICEF.[24]

Contest overview

The event took place on 22 November 2008 at 21:15 EET (20:15 CET).[25][26] Fifteen countries participated, with the running order published on 14 October 2008.[22] For the first time, all the countries competing were eligible to vote through a 50% jury and 50% televoting system.[lower-alpha 2] Georgia won with 121 points, with Ukraine, Lithuania, Malta, and Macedonia completing the top five. Belgium, Serbia, the Netherlands, Greece, and Bulgaria occupied the bottom five positions.[27]

The opening of the show featured a dance act featuring Yiorgos Ioannides and Mariam Venizelou. During the interval, Eurovison 2008 winner Dima Bilan performed two songs during the interval, alongside Evridiki and her husband Dimitris Korgialas who performed the theme song of the contest, "Fun in the Sun".[28] Closing the interval, all participants performed the song "Hand in Hand", which was written especially for UNICEF and the Junior Eurovision Song Contest that year.[29]

R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1  Romania Mădălina and Andrada "Salvați planeta!" 58 9
2  Armenia Monica "Im ergi hnchyune" 59 8
3  Belarus Dasha, Alina and Karina "Serdtse Belarusi" 86 6
4  Russia Mihail Puntov "Spit angel" 73 7
5  Greece Niki Yiannouchu "Kapoia nychta" 19 14
6  Georgia Bzikebi "Bzz.." 154 1
7  Belgium Oliver "Shut Up" 45 11
8  Bulgaria Krastyana Krasteva "Edna mechta" 15 15
9  Serbia Maja Mazić "Uvek kad u nebo pogledam" 37 12
10  Malta Daniel Testa "Junior Swing" 100 4
11  Netherlands Marissa "1 dag" 27 13
12  Ukraine Viktoria Petryk "Matrosy" 135 2
13  Lithuania Eglė Jurgaitytė "Laiminga diena" 103 3
14  Macedonia Bobi Andonov "Prati mi SMS" 93 5
15  Cyprus Elena Mannouri and Charis Savva "Gioupi gia!" 46 10

Spokespersons
  1.  Romania – Iulia Ciobanu
  2.  Armenia – Mary Sahakyan
  3.  Belarus – Anjelica Misevich
  4.  Russia – Sarina
  5.  Greece – Stefani Trepekli
  6.  Georgia – Ana Davitaia
  7.  Belgium – Chloé Ditlefsen
  8.  Bulgaria – Marina Baltadzi
  9.  Serbia – Anđelija Erić
  10.  Malta – Francesca Zarb
  11.  Netherlands – Famke Rauch
  12.  Ukraine – Marietta
  13.  Lithuania – Lina Joy
  14.  Macedonia – Marija Zafirovska
  15.  Cyprus – Christina Christofi

Detailed voting results
Bzikebi, Georgia's participants

Georgia and Macedonia awarded their points last due to technical problems.

Detailed voting results[30]
Voting procedure used:
  50% jury and televote
  100% jury vote
Total score
Romania
Armenia
Belarus
Russia
Greece
Belgium
Bulgaria
Serbia
Malta
Netherlands
Ukraine
Lithuania
Cyprus
Georgia
Macedonia
Contestants
 Romania 5842222153241828
Armenia 59356667338
Belarus 86551041067745335
Russia 7310123226178451
Greece 197
Georgia 154612812101212108121212124
Belgium 45221132102442
Bulgaria 153
Serbia 3711311612
Malta 100774577816107676
Netherlands 2735151
Ukraine 135128108831061271010127
Lithuania 10386718312108621010
Macedonia 93106745458558653
Cyprus 46431244421

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points received. All countries were given 12 points at the start of voting to ensure that no country finished with nul points.

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
8  Georgia Armenia,  Belgium,  Bulgaria,  Cyprus,  Lithuania,  Netherlands,  Russia,  Ukraine
3  Ukraine Georgia,  Malta,  Romania
1  Lithuania Serbia
 Russia Belarus
 Cyprus Greece
 Serbia Macedonia

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.

  •  Azerbaijan – Azerbaijan was originally going to participate but withdrew on 15 October 2008, due to the lack of participants signed up for the national final.
  •  Bosnia and Herzegovina – Bosnia and Herzegovina were also set to participate but later withdrew. Bosnia and Herzegovina also unsuccessfully attempted to participate in 2007. They did, however, broadcast the contest live.

Broadcasts

A live broadcast of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest was available worldwide via satellite through European streams such as TVRi, ERT World, ARMTV, RTS Sat and MKTV Sat. The official Eurovision Song Contest website also provided a live stream without commentary via the peer-to-peer medium Octoshape.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref.
 Armenia Armenia 1 Gohar Gasparyan
 Belarus Belarus 1 Denis Kurian
 Belgium VRT Kristien Maes and Ben Roelants
 Bulgaria BNT 1 Elena Rosberg and Georgi Kushvaliev
 Cyprus CyBC Kyriakos Pastides
 Georgia GPB Temo Kvirkvelia
 Greece ERT Renia Tsitsibikou and George Amyras
 Lithuania LRT Darius Užkuraitis
 Macedonia MTV 1 Ivona Bogoevska
 Malta TVM Valerie Vella
 Netherlands AVRO Sipke Jan Bousema
 Romania TVR Ioana Isopescu and Alexandru Nagy
 Russia RTR Olga Shelest
 Serbia RTS2 Duška Vučinić-Lučić
 Ukraine NTU Timur Miroshnychenko
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref.
 Australia SBS (13 May 2009) Unknown [31]
 Azerbaijan İctimai TV Unknown
 Bosnia and Herzegovina BHT 1 Dejan Kukrić [32][33]

See also

Notes
  1. At the start of the song, the backing vocals are in Belarusian.
  2. The only country that did not use this system was Ukraine who calculated their vote using a jury. Ukrainian broadcaster NTU opted not to broadcast the contest live, but to air it deferred on Sunday 23 November as Saturday 22 November was Holodomor Remembrance Day in the country.

References
  1. "Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008". Junioreurovision.tv. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  2. Quoted from the hosts
  3. "Get to know the venue, Spiros Kiprianou, Palais Des Sports". Oikotimes.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  4. "CONGRATULATIONS GEORGIA!". junioreurovision.tv. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  5. "Changes to Junior Eurovision confirmed". oikotimes.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  6. "Junior: Minor format changes introduced". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  7. Niculita, Alexandru. "Palais des Sports". www.limassolmunicipal.com.cy. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  8. "Γήπεδα ομάδων σελ. 9" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-25. Retrieved 2013-11-12.
  9. "Participants of Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008". JuniorEurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 2008-10-03. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  10. "RTP withdraw from Junior Eurovision 2008". Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  11. "Details on Swedish withdrawal". ESCKaz.com. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  12. Jordan, Paul (9 August 2017). "16 Countries to dazzle on stage in Tbilisi in 2017!". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  13. "Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 info page". ESCKaz.com. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  14. "Детское Евровидение 2008 Кипр Новости Junior Eurovision 2008 Cyprus News". Esckaz.com. 2008-11-14. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  15. "Details on Poland non participation". oikotimes.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  16. "Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008". itunes.apple.com. 23 November 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  17. "Participants of Lemesos 2008 - Eurovision Song Contest". junioreurovision.tv. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  18. BDigital Web Solutions. "Scenery and sets design and construction". Skinotechniki.com. Retrieved 2012-08-12.
  19. "Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008". Livedesignonline.com. 2010-03-23. Archived from the original on 2012-07-22. Retrieved 2012-08-12.
  20. "Meet the hosts: Sophia and Alex!". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 10 September 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  21. "First part of draw concluded!". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 13 October 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  22. "We have it: The starting order!". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 14 October 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  23. "Junior: Minor format changes introduced | Junior Eurovision Song Contest | Junior Eurovision Song Contest - Kyiv 2013". Junioreurovision.tv. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  24. "UNICEF and Junior 2008: Water For All!". junioreurovision.tv. November 19, 2008. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  25. "TONIGHT IS THE BIG NIGHT!". junioreurovision.tv. 2008-11-22. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  26. "Tonight: Junior 2008 live from Cyprus!". eurovision.tv. November 22, 2008. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  27. "Final of Lemesos 2008". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 29 May 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  28. "Our stars sing to help others!". junioreurovision.tv. 22 November 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  29. "Photo gallery: UNICEF song rehearsal". junioreurovision.tv. 21 November 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  30. "Results of the Final of Lemesos 2008". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 29 May 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  31. "SBS Schedule 13 May 2009". SBS.com.au. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  32. "BHRT to air the 2009 Junior Eurovision". Oikotimes. 2009-11-12. Archived from the original on 2010-01-03. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  33. "Subota, 22. novembar 2008" [Saturday, 22 November 2008]. BHT1. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
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