Cyprus to host the Junior Eurovision 2008

CYPRUS may not be able to get into the Eurovision Song Contest of late, but CyBC has won the bid to host the Junior Eurovision next year, it emerged yesterday.

The Steering Group of the Junior Eurovision announced yesterday that it had accepted the Cypriot offer to host the 2008 song contest, choosing Cyprus from four countries that had put in an offer.

The location for Junior Eurovision 2008 will be Limassol, but the venue itself has not been announced. Cyprus has been participating in the contest since 2003, but in 2005 the Cypriot song was withdrawn amid accusations of plagiarism.

The final choice for 2008 was between Ukraine and Cyprus. “We received some high-quality proposals for next year's 6th Junior Eurovision Song Contest and after long consideration, the Steering Group decided to award the honour of hosting next year's competition to CyBC,” said Steve Deconink-de Boeck, the president of the steering committee.

Junior Eurovision takes place in December, and unlike the Eurovision, it doesn't have to take place in the country that wins the contest. This is to minimise pressure on the young contestants aged between eight and 15.

This year, the 5th Junior Eurovision will take place in Rotterdam.

Last year, only 15 countries competed in the competition and since 2005 four countries have withdrawn. The largest number that ever participated was 23. The European Broadcasting Union has promised that the contest will continue until 2007, but has not made any promises for 2008, despite having chosen a host country.

Many countries criticise the show given the pressure it puts on the young children and teens involved.

This year, 18 countries will take part, including debuts from Armenia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Lithuania.

Just as with the Eurovision itself, in every Junior contest so far Cyprus has given its 12 points to Greece.

Μείνετε συντονισμένοι στο EUROVISION-CYPRUS...

Μείνετε συντονισμένοι στο EUROVISION-CYPRUS, που έρχεται σε εσάς ανανεωμένο και με πολλά νέα και πληροφορίες για τον Διαγωνισμό. Το site είναι υπό κατασκευή. Εμείς σαν EUROVISION-CYPRUS σας υποσχόμαστε ότι θα καλύψουμε τον διαγωνισμό JUNIOR EUROVISION 2007 και 2008.

JUNIOR EUROVISION 2008:

Συγχαριτήρια στο ΡΙΚ που κατάφερε να αναλάβει ένα τέτοιο μεγάλο διαγωνισμό για πρώτη φορά στην Κύπρο.

JUNIOR EUROVISION 2008:

Απόψε αμέσως το τέλος του δελτίου ειδήσεων του ΡΙΚ θα μεταδοθεί το φιλμάκι με το οποίο πήραμε την διοργάνωση του διαγωνισμού στην χώρα μας.

Partner site songfestival.web-log.nl confirmed that Sipke Jan Bousema will host the 5th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The 2007 edition of the contest will take place on December 8, 2007 at Ahoy, in Rotterdam. Netherlands will host for the first time since 1980 a Eurovision contest.

17.05.2007 . All Eurovision Song Contest entries on one double album

The double album of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 is available since 23rd April. The two discs contain the 42 songs which took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki on 10th and 12th May. The album can also be purchased online. Visit the official Eurovision Song Contest shop, www.eurovisionshop.tv.

Malta: more complaints over the Eurovision voting

The head of the Maltese delegation to the Eurovision Song Contest, Robert Abela, has called for some televotes to be scrapped, according to reports on the BBC’s news website. Abela, who’s long been associated with Malta in Eurovision, has said he thinks many results were “not based solely on the public vote”, and said a number of other countries were angered by the perceived block voting. In interesting developments, Mr Abela has said he received reports indicating how many points Malta would get from certain countries even before the finals. “If the EBU cannot 100% monitor how the system is being done in some of the ex-Soviet countries I think they should do away with phone voting” he’s claimed.

The EBU have so far not commented on Mr Abela’s claims.

So it seems the debate about political/neighbourly/diaspora/block voting just won’t go away, whatever people’s views on the matter. Some people may want to sweep it under the carpet or see it as a bit of fuss over nothing, but it seems likely to rumble on for a while to come unless changes one way or another are made. Let’s hope for a positive outcome all round!