Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019

The contest took place at Gliwice Arena, a sport and entertainment hall with a capacity of 17,178 in the main arena. It is considered one of the largest entertainment and sports halls in Poland.

Gliwice

Kraków

Gdańsk

Łódź

Katowice

Szczecin

Toruń

Location of the candidate cities (red) and the chosen host city (blue)

Prior to Poland's confirmation, two other countries had announced their intentions to host the event. These bids were from Armenia[4] and Kazakhstan.

If the Kazakh proposal had been accepted, the Kazakh broadcaster Khabar Agency said it would have moved the contest to October 2019 due to possible adverse weather conditions in the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan, which was proposed as the host city, around the original dates of the contest. Ιt would also have been the first time that an associate member was chosen to host an EBU flagship event.[5] However, for this to happen, the general rules of the competition would have to be changed, because as in the adult competition, the competition cannot be held in a non-full member state of the EBU. For instance, this rule does not allow the competition to be held in Australia if the country wins, although they became an effective participant in 2016.[6]

On 10 December 2018, it was confirmed by the EBU that Poland would host the 2019 contest.[7] Two days earlier, it was revealed that the MP for the city of Gliwice, Jarosław Gonciarz, had written to the Head of Telewizja Polska (TVP), calling for the contest to be held in the city at the recently built Gliwice Arena.[8]

On 18 January 2019, in an interview for TVP Info, Director-General of the EBU Noel Curran stated that the contest would be held in Kraków.[9] The same day, TVP issued a statement that the city had not yet been chosen.[10]

On 6 March 2019, during the press conference held by TVP and the EBU, it was confirmed that the contest would be held in the city of Gliwice with Silesian Voivodeship cooperation.[11] This was the first time since the 2014 contest that the event is not hosted by a country's capital, as Warsaw does not have a suitable venue to host an event of this size.[12]

Key:  †   Host venue

Stage at the Arena Gliwice.

The theme for the contest, Share the Joy, was revealed on 13 May 2019 during a press conference prior to the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The press conference included Gert Kark (Project Manager), Konrad Smuga (Creative Director), Marta Piekarska (Project Coordinator) and Roksana Węgiel, the winner of the 2018 contest.[14]

The logo features a brightly coloured kite to symbolize freedom, light and shared joyous moments. The creative concept represents how working together makes us better, stronger and can bring joy and happiness as we celebrate the beautiful things in life."[14]

On 22 August 2019, it was announced that Ida Nowakowska, Aleksander Sikora and winner of the previous contest Roksana Węgiel would host the 2019 Junior Eurovision Song Contest.[15] Węgiel is the first former winner to host an edition of the contest as well as the fifth person under the age of 16 to do so. Nowakowska is a Polish-American digital influencer and a multimedia person while Sikora is a Breakfast television host.

On 24 September 2019, journalists and TV hosts Agata Konarska and Mateusz Szymkowiak were confirmed as the hosts for the Opening Ceremony, which took place on 18 November in Silesian Theatre in Katowice, the capital city of the host region of Silesia.[16] Konarska previously hosted the Eurovision Young Dancers 2005 in Warsaw.

Viki Gabor with the winner's trophy.

The results was determined by national juries and an online audience vote. The first phase of the online voting started on 22 November at 20:00 CET when a recap of all the rehearsal performances were shown on the official website before the viewers could vote. This round of voting stopped on 24 November at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting was took place during the live show, which started at 16:00 CET, straight after the last performance and was open for 15 minutes. International viewers can vote for a minimum of three countries and a maximum of five, including their own country. The number of points was determined by the percentage of votes received. The public vote counts for 50% of the final result, while the other 50% come from the professional juries.[17]

The trophy was designed by Kjell Engman of the Swedish glass company Kosta Boda, using the same design as was first introduced in the 2017 contest.[18] The main trophy is a glass microphone with colored lines inside the upper part, which symbolize the flow of sound.[19]

•  Bulgaria – On 11 September 2018, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) announced that at the time being they were not planning a return to the 2019 contest.[25] On 6 January 2019, BNT reiterated that they did not have plans to return to the contest in 2019 via their official Eurovision Twitter account.[26] It was later revealed on 8 June 2019 that BNT had amassed massive debts, and were declared bankrupt.[27] Bulgaria did not appear on the final list of participants published on 18 July 2019.
•  Czech Republic – On 10 June 2019, it was revealed that Česká televize (ČT) had not made a full decision about participation, but were not expecting to be a participant, stating that their focus was on the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.[28]
•  Montenegro – On 2 June 2019, Radio Televizija Crne Gore (RTCG) confirmed that they would not return to the contest in 2019 due to budget issues.[29]
•  Scotland – On 29 June 2019, BBC Alba confirmed that they would not debut in 2019 due to their participation in the Eurovision Choir that year, however they confirmed that talks had taken place that could enable participation in 2020.[30]
•  Slovakia – According to Eurovision blog Eurofestivales, press spokesperson Erika Rusnáková for Slovak broadcaster Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS) stated that they were evaluating and supervising the possibility of debuting in the contest.[31] However, on 10 June 2019, RTVS confirmed that they would not debut in the 2019 contest.[32]
•  Slovenia – On 3 June 2019, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija) confirmed that they would not participate in the 2019 contest due to the cost of participation.[33]

The following people announced the jury 12 points for their respective country:[34]

•  Lithuania – Artur Orzech (TVP Wilno)[51]
•  United Kingdom – Ewan Spence (Fun Kids)[52]