Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2005

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the third edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest for young singers aged 8 to 15. On 26 November 2005, the contest was broadcast live from the Ethias Arena in Hasselt, Belgium, in a joint effort by the national broadcasters Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT) and Radio télévision belge de la communauté française (RTBF), in co-operation with the European Broadcasting Union. Marcel Vanthilt and Maureen Louys hosted the event.

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2005
Let's Get Loud
Dates
Final	26 November 2005
Host
Venue	Ethias Arena, Hasselt, Belgium
Presenter(s)	Marcel Vanthilt Maureen Louys
Directed by	Yves Podevyn Ludovic Beun
Executive supervisor	Svante Stockselius
Executive producer	Ludo Porrez
Host broadcaster	Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF) Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT)
Opening act	Flag parade introducing the 16 participating countries
Interval act	Juggler Vladik Myagkostupov from Cirque du Soleil, María Isabel performing "Antes muerta que sencilla" and "Pues va a ser que no"
Website	junioreurovision.tv/event/hasselt-2005
Participants
Number of entries	16
Debuting countries	Russia  Serbia and Montenegro
Returning countries	None
Non-returning countries	Cyprus  France  Poland   Switzerland
Participation map      Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2005
Vote
Voting system	Each country awards 1–8, 10, and 12 points to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points	None
Winning song	Belarus "My vmeste"

The show was not only broadcast live in the competing countries, it was also available on satellite worldwide and the Australian television channel SBS who acquired the rights to broadcast the show one month later. The theme of the show was Let's Get Loud, standing for the new generation on the stage. The show was watched by 8,500 people in the arena, including the Belgian Prince Laurent and 20–25 million people around Europe.

Belarus was the winner of this edition, with 10-year-old Ksenia Sitnik singing her song "My vmeste". Last year's winner Spain finished in second place, with 2004 hosts Norway coming third.

Location

Further information on the host city: Hasselt

Zagreb

Amsterdam

Hasselt

Locations of the known bidding countries. The eliminated countries are marked in red. The chosen host country is marked in blue.

Bidding phase and host selection

Following the hosting problems for the 2004 edition, the location of the subsequent contests were appointed by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), following a bidding process with broadcasters from the participating countries. Belgium was therefore the first country to successfully bid for the rights to host the contest in 2005.[1]

In November 2003, there were reports that the competition was to take place in the Netherlands.[2] In the same month, Jeroen Depraetere, coordinator of the show on behalf of the EBU, announced that five countries had expressed their willingness to organise the competition.[3] Belgium won the right to hold the contest in March 2004 over five other countries including Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) of Croatia and AVRO of the Netherlands.[4]

In November 2004, it was announced that the Flemish city of Hasselt would host the contest at Ethias Arena.[5] The date of the contest had been confirmed shortly after the 2004 contest in Lillehammer.[1]

Venue

Venue of the 2005 Contest, Ethias Arena in Hasselt.

The Ethias Arena is the largest multi-purpose arena in Hasselt, Belgium which is used for music concerts, sports (tennis, indoor cycling, jumping, etc.) and other large events. The arena opened in September 2004 and holds up to 21,600 people depending on the event.

Ethias Arena is a part of the Grenslandhallen and has a surface of 13,600 square meters (44,619 square feet). In 2015, it hosted the 2015 European Championship in darts, a Professional Darts Corporation event.

Format

Presenters

On 13 October 2005, it was revealed during a presentation that Maureen Louys of RTBF and Marcel Vanthilt of VRT would be the hosts of the contest.[6]

Running order

The selection of the running order was conducted in two phases. In the first, which took place at the City Hall of Hasselt, there were three draws: one to select the countries that would perform first and last in the contest; a second to decide on the position of the host country; and a third to divided the 14 remaining countries into two groups of five (for the positions 2–6 and 7–11) and one of four (for the positions 13—15).

The second phase of the selection of the running order was conducted by the JESC Steering Group. The group decided on the final positions of the countries within the three groups, taking into account, for example, that no three ballads or no three songs from one European region should be performed consecutively in the Contest. This system was already applied last year for the festival in Lillehammer.

Voting

Voting was the same as the traditional voting system, with each country voting for their 10 favorite songs, with scores of 1–8, 10 and 12. It was the first time points 1 through 5 had automatically appeared on the scoreboard, with spokesmen reporting only points 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12. The presenters started off by giving all contestants 12 points.

Opening and interval acts

The show opened with fireworks and bungee jumpers. Vladik Myagkostupov from Cirque du Soleil gave a four-minute performance during the interval. During the counting of votes, the 2004 winner, María Isabel from Spain, sang a medley of her winning entry "Antes muerta que sencilla" and new single "Pues Va A Ser Que No" from her second album Número 2. She also presented the prize to the winner of the competition.[7]

Participating countries

Initially, 17 countries planned to participate, but on 13 October, Cypriot broadcaster CyBC announced that it was withdrawing for internal reasons - allegations of plagiarism regarding the selected song had been made. However, this had no impact on Cyprus' participation in the televoting.[8]

Results

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Language	Place	Points
01	Greece	Alexandros & Kalli	"Tora einai i seira mas" (Tώρα είναι η σειρά μας)	Greek	6	88
02	Denmark	Nicolai	"Shake Shake Shake"	Danish	4	121
03	Croatia	Lorena Jelusić	"Rock Baby"	Croatian	12	36
04	Romania	Alina Eremia	"Țurai!"	Romanian	5	89
05	United Kingdom	Joni Fuller	"How Does It Feel?"	English	14	28
06	Sweden	M+	"Gränslös kärlek"	Swedish	15	22
07	Russia	Vladislav Krutskikh and Street Magic	"Doroga k solntsu" (Дорога к солнцу)	Russian	9	66
08	Macedonia	Denis Dimoski	"Rodendeski baknež" (Родендески бакнеж)	Macedonian	8	68
09	Netherlands	Tess	"Stupid"	Dutch	7	82
10	Serbia and Montenegro	Filip Vučić	"Ljubav pa fudbal" (Љубав па фудбал)	Montenegrin	13	29
11	Latvia	Kids4Rock	"Es esmu maza jauka meitene"	Latvian	11	50
12	Belgium	Lindsay	"Mes rêves"	French	10	63
13	Malta	Thea and Friends	"Make It Right!"	English	16	18
14	Norway	Malin	"Sommer og skolefri"[lower-alpha 1]	Norwegian	3	123
15	Spain	Antonio José	"Te traigo flores"	Spanish	2	146
16	Belarus	Ksenia Sitnik	"My vmeste" (Мы вместе)	Russian	1	149

Score sheet

		Results
		Total score	Cyprus	Greece	Denmark	Croatia	Romania	United Kingdom	Sweden	Russia	Macedonia	Netherlands	Serbia and Montenegro	Latvia	Belgium	Malta	Norway	Spain	Belarus
Contestants	Greece	88	12		7	12	6	6	5	7	3	6	4		6			2
	Denmark	121	6	7		8	3	1	10	6	12	7	5	6	8	7	12	7	4
	Croatia	36			2				3		8	2	6				3
	Romania	89	10	10		2		3	4	3	4	5	7	3	4		7	12	3
	United Kingdom	28			3					1		1		2	2	5			2
	Sweden	22			8												2
	Russia	66	3	5	1		4	2			1		1	10	3	1	5	6	12
	Macedonia	68				4	8	4	1	10		3	10	4	1	2		1	8
	Netherlands	82	2	4	10		2	7	7	4				1	12	8	4	4	5
	Serbia and Montenegro	29	1			6					10
	Latvia	50		3		5	1	5	2	5	2		2			3	1	3	6
	Belgium	63	4	2		1	7					12		7		4	8	5	1
	Malta	18		1	5
	Norway	123	5	6	12	3	5	8	12	2	5	10	3	8	7	10		8	7
	Spain	146	8	12	4	7	12	12	8	8	6	8	12	5	10	6	6		10
	Belarus	149	7	8	6	10	10	10	6	12	7	4	8	12	5	12	10	10
The table is ordered by appearance All countries automatically receive 12 points Cyprus was allowed to vote after withdrawing at a late stage

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points received:

N.	Contestant	Voting nation
4	Spain	Greece, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, United Kingdom
3	Belarus	Malta, Latvia, Russia
2	Denmark	Macedonia, Norway
	Greece	Croatia, Cyprus
	Norway	Denmark, Sweden
1	Belgium	Netherlands
	Netherlands	Belgium
	Romania	Spain
	Russia	Belarus

• All countries were given 12 points at the start of voting. This was so no country got nul points.

International broadcasts and voting

Voting and spokespersons

1.  Cyprus – Stella Maria Koukkidi
2.  Greece – Yorgos Kotsougiannis (Greek representative in the 2004 contest as part of Secret Band)
3.  Denmark – Caroline Forsberg Thybo (Danish representative in the 2004 contest as part of Cool Kids)
4.  Croatia – Nika Turković (Croatian representative in the 2004 contest)
5.  Romania – Beatrice Soare
6.  United Kingdom – Vicky Gordon
7.  Sweden – Halahen Zajden
8.  Russia – Roman Kerimov
9.  Macedonia – Vase Dokovski
10.  Netherlands – Giovanni Kemper
11.  Serbia and Montenegro – Jovana Vukčević
12.  Latvia – Kristiana Stirane
13.  Belgium – Max Colombie
14.  Malta – Stephanie Bason
15.  Norway – Karoline Wendelborg
16.  Spain – Gonzalo Gutierrez Blanco
17.  Belarus – Anton Lediaev

Commentators

Participating countries

•  Cyprus – TBC (CyBC)
•  Greece – TBC (ERT1 and ERT Sat)
•  Denmark – Nicolai Molbech (DR1)
•  Croatia – TBC (HRT 1)
•  Romania – Ioana Isopecu and Alexandru Nagy (TVR1 and TVRi)
•  United Kingdom – Michael Underwood (ITV2)[9]
•  Sweden – Josefine Sundström (SVT1)
•  Russia – Yuriy Nikolayev (Russia TV and RTR-Planeta)
•  Macedonia – Milanka Rašik (MTV 1)
•  Netherlands – Tooske Ragas (Nederland 1)
•  Serbia and Montenegro – Duška Vučinić-Lučić (Serbian, RTS1 and RTS Sat)
•  Latvia – Kārlis Streips and Valters Frīdenbergs (LTV1)
•  Belgium – Dutch: Ilse Van Hoecke and André Vermeulen (Eén), French: Jean-Louis Lahaye (La Une)
•  Malta – Valerie Vella (TVM)
•  Norway – Nadia Hasnaoui (NRK1)
•  Spain – Beatriz Pécker and Lucho (TVE1 and TVE Internacional)[10]
•  Belarus – Denis Kurian (Belarus 1 and Belarus 24)

Non-participating countries

•  Albania – TBC (RTSH)
•  Australia – No commentator (SBS)
•  Israel – No commentator (IBA, 7 December 2007)[11]
•  Portugal – Eládio Clímaco (RTP1, 10 December)[12]
•  Ukraine – Timur Miroshnychenko (NTU)[13]

Incidents

When the British spokesperson based in the ITV2 studios in London, Vicky Gordon was about to give the UK televoting results, the scoreboard malfunctioned, before the entire screen went black, only showing the EBU, VRT and RTBF logos, which meant that the computers had lost connection with the British broadcaster. Thankfully, the people who were in charge with the televoting fixed up the connection and the voting resumed.

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. It is currently unknown whether the EBU issue invitations of participation to all 56 active members like they do for the Eurovision Song Contest.

•  Cyprus – Cyprus was originally going to participate in the 2005 contest, represented by Rena Kiriakidi's "Tsirko". However, it was later claimed to be plagiarised, and Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), the national broadcaster, was forced to withdraw. However, they did not lose their broadcast and voting rights and still broadcast the show live.[14]
•  France – France, one of two debutants at the previous contest, and broadcaster France 3 turned down the offer to participate due to the following reasons:[15][16]
  • Programming difficulties and restructuring within the channel
  • Very low viewing figures the previous year
  • No motivation to compete, with French Head of Delegation Bruno Berberes stating that "Too much Eurovision kills Eurovision" (France would later return to the contest after a record absence of 14 years.)
•  Georgia – Georgia was one of the countries on the preliminary participation list for the 2005 contest. However, at the time, Georgian Public Broadcasting (GPB) was not a full member of the EBU and would become a member on the 6th of July, but as this was one week after the participation confirmation deadline, meaning Georgia had to withdraw[17] and to wait out their participation until 2007.
•  Ireland – Just like the 2004 contest, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) was said to be debuting at the 2005 contest. However, no official statement was released by the broadcaster and they ended up not participating.
•  Lithuania – Lithuania, like Georgia, was one of the countries on the preliminary list for 2005.[18] But, Lithuania withdrew for unspecified reasons.[19] They would debut in 2007.
•  Monaco – Monaco and Monegasque broadcaster TMC expressed an interest in participating.[20] However, plans never came to fruition due to scheduling problems and harsh citizenship laws and thus they never participated.
•  Poland – Despite signing a 3-year contract with the EBU, Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) announced they would withdraw due to lack of interest and poor results.[21] They would eventually return in 2016.
•  Portugal – Even though Portugal did not participate, public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) broadcast the contest delayed and confirmed they would debut in 2006.[12]
•   Switzerland – Switzerland, one of two debutants in 2004, and the Swiss-Italian broadcaster RTSI turned down the offer to participate for the following reasons:[22]
  • Financial difficulties
  • Lack of interest and financial support from the other multilingual broadcasters of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR)
•  Ukraine – Ukraine, like Lithuania, was on the preliminary list of participation for 2005.[18] But, they pulled out before the night and had to wait until the next year to debut.

Official album

Junior Eurovision Song Contest: Hasselt 2005
Compilation album by Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Released	November 2005
Genre	Pop
Length	38:52
Label	Universal
Junior Eurovision Song Contest chronology
JESC: Lillehammer 2004 (2004) Junior Eurovision Song Contest: Hasselt 2005 (2005) JESC: Bucharest 2006 (2006)

Junior Eurovision Song Contest: Hasselt 2005, is a compilation album put together by the European Broadcasting Union, and was released by Universal Music Group on November 2005. The album features all the songs from the 2005 contest.[23]

See also

• Eurovision Song Contest 2005
• Eurovision Young Dancers 2005

Notes and references

Notes

1. The Norwegian song was written in a dialect of Norwegian, and originally had the title stated above (Sommer å Skolefri), however, when the Norwegian broadcaster submitted the song to the European Broadcasting Union, they gave the song title in the standard Norwegian form, Sommer og Skolefri, which is how it was displayed on screen.

References

1. "Junior 2005 on 26 November in Belgium". ESC Today. 20 November 2004. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
2. "Junior: 'Contest 2005 in The Netherlands'". ESCToday.com. 17 November 2003. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
3. "Junior: 5 countries candidate to host in 2005". ESCToday.com. 20 November 2003. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
4. Philips, Roel (4 March 2004). "Belgium organises Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2005!". ESCToday. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
5. "Junior 2005 in Ethias Arena, Hasselt". ESCToday.com. 22 November 2004. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
6. "Marcel Vanthilt presenteert Junior Eurovisiesongfestival". TVvisie (in Dutch). 13 October 2005. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
7. "Remember the 2005 Junior Eurovision Song Contest?". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
8. "Stockselius satisfied with preparations". ESCToday.com. 14 October 2005. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
9. "Junior Eurovision Song Contest". UKGameshows. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
10. "Antonio José roza la victoria en Eurovisión Junior 2005, al quedar segundo tras Bielorrusia". Radiotelevisión Española (in Spanish). 26 November 2005. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
11. "Eurovision Israel getting into the JESC spirit". ESC Today. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
12. "RTP confirms participation 2006 Junior". ESCToday.com (in Ukrainian). 11 December 2005. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
13. "Тімур Мірошниченко – український Террі Уоган (Timur Miroshnychenko – Ukrainian Terry Wogan)". NTU. 29 April 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
14. Bakkar, Sieste (14 October 2005). "Junior details released: Cyprus withdraws". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 26 June 2008.
15. Philips, Roel (8 June 2005). "France not eager to participate in Hasselt". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
16. Philips, Roel (15 June 2005). "France officially withdraws from Junior contest". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
17. Klier, Marcus (11 September 2005). "Hasselt 2005: Georgia won't participate".
18. Philips, Roel (2 August 2005). "Serbia & Montenegro, Lithuania and Ukraine join in Hasselt". ESCToday.
19. Bakker, Sietse (9 September 2005). "Lithuania not participating in Hasselt". ESCToday.
20. Philips, Roel (22 November 2005). "Eurovision Junior: Monaco shows interest in participation".
21. Jurczak, Pawel (23 August 2005). "Poland withdraws from Junior Contest". ESCToday. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
22. Philips, Roel (1 June 2005). "No Switzerland at 2005 Junior Eurovision Song Contest". ESCToday. Retrieved 10 June 2009.
23. https://www.discogs.com/Various-Junior-Eurovision-Song-Contest-05/release/8763665

External links

• Official website