France wins Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020

Valentina from France wins Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "J'imagine". It's the first time France wins Junior Eurovision.

The winning song "J'imagine", is written by Igit and Barbara Pravi, who also wrote “Bim bam toi”, the French entry for JESC 2019.

12 countries participated in the contest, having the smallest number of participants since the 2013 contest. Viki Gabor, the winner for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019, opened the show with her entry "Superhero".

This was the first time that the contest was held remotely, with each artist performing from a television studio in their country of origin. To give smoothness and confidence to the competition, the twelve participating broadcasters committed themselves to giving equal conditions to each of the participants, using a similar scenario and the same technical resources. The opening ceremony, interval acts and voting will be broadcast live from Warsaw.

Malta, Poland, Serbia and Ukraine recorded their performances in Warsaw. The other participants recorded their performances from their home country.

Valentina

The 11-year-old Valentina Tronel won Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "J'imagine". Valentina is a part of the group Kids United Nouvelle Génération with which she has already released two albums.

When Valentina was six, she auditioned for the French version of The Voice Kids. She sings in both French and Italian languages.

Valentina was internally selected by the French broadcaster FranceTV to represent her country at Junior Eurovision 2020.

4.5 million votes online

Viewers from participating countries and around the world helped decide the winner by voting online.

A record 4.5 million votes were received in the online poll which was split into two rounds; one before the show based on preview clips and a second that opened after the last live performance, allowing viewers to cast their votes based on what they saw on stage.

The host broadcaster for Junior Eurovision 2021 will be announced in the coming months.

History of Junior Eurovision

Back in 2000 the Danish broadcaster Denmark's Radio (DR) held a song contest for children, and in 2002 the "MGP Nordic" was held together with Sweden and Norway. EBU picked up the idea for a song contest featuring children, and the first Junior Eurovision Song Contest was held in 2003 in Copenhagen, with 16 participating countries.

Back then the Junior Eurovision was based on entertainment for kids around Europe. On their level. It has later transformed itself to a copy of the "adult's Eurovision", lacking the soul and unique atmosphere it once had.

Junior Eurovision is only open for children aged 9 to 14.

Winners of Junior Eurovision

• 2003: Croatia (Dino Jelusić: "Ti si moja prva ljubav")
• 2004: Spain (María Isabel: "Antes muerta que sencilla")
• 2005: Belarus (Ksenia Sitnik: "My vmeste")
• 2006: Russia (Tolmachevy Sisters: "Vesenniy Jazz")
• 2007: Belarus (Alexey Zhigalkovich: "S druz'yami")
• 2008: Georgia (Bzikebi: "Bzz..")
• 2009: Netherlands (Ralf Mackenbach: "Click Clack")
• 2010: Armenia (Vladimir Arzumanyan: "Mama")
• 2011: Georgia (Candy: "Candy Music")
• 2012: Ukraine (Anastasiya Petryk: "Nebo")
• 2013: Malta (Gaia Cauchi: "The Start")
• 2014: Italy (Vincenzo Cantiello: "Tu primo grande amore")
• 2015: Malta (Destiny Chukunyere: "Not My Soul")
• 2016: Georgia (Mariam Mamadashvili: "Mzeo")
• 2017: Russia (Polina Bogusevich: "Wings")
• 2018: Poland (Roksana Węgiel: "Anyone I Want to Be")
• 2019: Poland (Viki Gabor: "Superhero")
• 2020: France (Valentina: "J'imagine")