France in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020
France participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Warsaw, Poland. The French broadcaster France Télévisions was responsible for choosing their entry for the contest. Valentina was internally selected to represent France in Poland with her song "J'imagine" which was released on 16 October 2020. The song went on to win the competition.[1] This was France's first win at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and their first win at any Eurovision event since Eurovision Young Dancers 1989.
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 | ||||
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Country | ![]() | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | Internal selection | |||
Selection date(s) |
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Selected entrant | Valentina | |||
Selected song | "J'imagine" | |||
Selected songwriter(s) |
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Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 1st, 200 points | |||
France in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Background
France debuted in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with "Si on voulait bien" by Thomas Pontier.[2] Despite getting sixth place, France Télévisions decided to withdraw from the contest after 2004, saying there was no motivation to compete and that "too much Eurovision kills Eurovision".[3] France returned to the contest in 2018, and achieved second place with Angelina with the song "Jamais sans toi".[4] In the 2019 contest, Carla represented France in Gliwice, Poland with the song "Bim bam toi". She placed 5th out of 19 entries with 169 points, while Poland won the competition.[5]
Artist and song information
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Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 entry | |
Country | |
Artist(s) | |
Composer(s) | Igit, Barbara Pravi |
Lyricist(s) | Igit, Barbara Pravi |
Entry chronology | |
◄ "Bim bam toi" (2019) |
Valentina
Valentina Tronel, better known as Valentina, is a French singer who represented France in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020. She was also a member of the child musical group Kids United.[6]
J'imagine
"J'imagine" (English: I Imagine) is a song by French singer Valentina. It represented France in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The song was written by Igit and Barbara Pravi, who had also written Bim bam toi, the French entry for the 2019 contest.[7] It was written entirely in French.
Alexandra Redde-Amiel, head of the French delegation at the 2020 Junior Eurovision, described "J'imagine" as "a sparkling, very positive song that will allow us to imagine ourselves in a world of tomorrow full of joy and life".[8]
At Junior Eurovision
During the opening ceremony and the running order draw, which both took place on 23 November 2020, France was drawn to perform twelfth (last) on 29 November 2020, following Ukraine.[9] At the end of the voting, France finished first, scoring 88 points from the jury vote (among them three sets of twelve points from Belarus, Malta, and the Netherlands) and 112 points from the online vote.
Online voting
The same voting system that was introduced in the 2017 edition was used, where the results were determined by 50% online voting and 50% jury voting.[10] The online voting consisted of two phases. The first phase of the online voting began on 27 November 2020 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances was shown on junioreurovision.tv before the viewers could vote. This first round of voting ended on Sunday 29 November at 16:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting took place during the live show and began right after the last performance and was open for 15 minutes. International viewers were able vote for a maximum of three songs.[11] They were also able to vote for their own country's song. These votes were then turned into points which was determined by the percentage of votes received. For example, if a song received 20% of the votes, it received 20% of the available points.
Points awarded to France
Jury | ||||
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12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
Points awarded by France
Every participating country had national jury that consisted of three music industry professionals and two kids aged between 10 and 15 who were citizens of the country they represented. The rankings of those jurors were combined to make an overall top ten.[12]
12 points | ![]() |
10 points | ![]() |
8 points | ![]() |
7 points | ![]() |
6 points | ![]() |
5 points | ![]() |
4 points | ![]() |
3 points | ![]() |
2 points | ![]() |
1 point | ![]() |
Split voting results
Split voting results from France | |||||||||
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Draw | Country | Juror 1 | Juror 2 | Juror 3 | Juror 4 | Juror 5 | Average Rank | Points | |
01 | ![]() |
6 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 6 | |
02 | ![]() |
5 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 4 | |
03 | ![]() |
7 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 3 | |
04 | ![]() |
4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 | |
05 | ![]() |
11 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 2 | |
06 | ![]() |
9 | 8 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 1 | |
07 | ![]() |
10 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 5 | |
08 | ![]() |
3 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 8 | |
09 | ![]() |
2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 10 | |
10 | ![]() |
8 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 11 | ||
11 | ![]() |
1 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 7 | |
12 | ![]() |
References
- Bonnefoy, Nawal (9 October 2020). "Valentina des Kids United représentera la France à l'Eurovision Junior 2020" [Valentina from Kids United will represent France in Junior Eurovision 2020]. BFM TV (in French). Retrieved 10 October 2020.
- Philips, Roel (7 October 2004). "Junior: Thomas to sing Si on voulait bien". ESC Today. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
- Philips, Roel (8 June 2005). "France not eager to participate in Hasselt". ESC Today. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
- "Final of Minsk 2018". Junioreurovision.tv. EBU. Archived from the original on 4 December 2020.
- "Final of Gliwice-Silesia 2019". Junioreurovision.tv. EBU. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
- "EBU - France wins 18th Junior Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 29 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- Granger, Anthony (9 October 2020). "France: Songwriters Behind "Bim Bam Toi" Have Written The Nations Junior Eurovision 2020 Entry". Eurovoix. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- "Eurovision Junior 2020 : Ecoutez « J'imagine », la chanson de Valentina pour la France" [Junior Eurovision 2020: Listen to "J'imagine"; Valentina's song for France]. 20 minutes (in French). 16 October 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- "This is the running order for Junior Eurovision 2020". Junioreurovision.tv. EBU. 23 November 2020. Archived from the original on 23 November 2020.
- Granger, Anthony (16 October 2020). "Junior Eurovision'20: Voting To Be Tweaked With Discussions On Going Around Points Presentation". Eurovoix. Archived from the original on 16 October 2020.
- "How to vote for your favourite at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020". Junioreurovision.tv. EBU. 10 November 2020. Archived from the original on 10 November 2020.
- Granger, Anthony (25 November 2015). "Junior Eurovision 2018 – How Does The Voting Work?". Eurovoix.