The European Broadcasting Union and France Télévisions have made a joint announcement regarding this year’s participant count for Junior Eurovision 2023.
According to the joint announcement, the following sixteen countries will be vying for the crystal trophy in Nice:
- 🇦🇱 Albania (RTSH)
- 🇦🇲 Armenia (AMPTV)
- 🇪🇪 Estonia (ERR)
- 🇫🇷 France (France Télévisions – Host Broadcaster)
- 🇬🇪 Georgia (GPB)
- 🇩🇪 Germany (NDR)
- 🇮🇪 Ireland (TG4)
- 🇮🇹 Italy (Rai)
- 🇲🇹 Malta (PBS)
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands (AVROTROS)
- 🇲🇰 North Macedonia (MKRTV)
- 🇵🇱 Poland (TVP)
- 🇵🇹 Portugal (RTP)
- 🇪🇸 Spain (RTVE)
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom (BBC)
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine (UA:PBC)
You may notice a new country in the list and you are not alone if you’ve noticed that. There is really a new country joining the contest this year.
Along with the fifteen countries that have already confirmed earlier, Estonia joins them as the sixteenth country. This marks the first time Estonia will be participating in the Junior edition of Eurovision.
Apart from announcing Estonia’s debut, the joint announcement did not provide any other details on who Estonia will be sending and what their entry would be. All we know is that ERR is handling Estonia’s JESC participation.
The “Big 5” is also complete for the first time thanks to Germany returning after a one year absence. However, Germany’s JESC participation is now handled by NDR instead of KiKa.
This year’s Junior Eurovision will be held at Palais Nikaïa in Nice on Sunday 26 November at 16:00 CET.
