Georgia wins the 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest!
20 November 2016 at 19:25 CET
Mariam Mamadashvili won Junior Eurovision for Georgia in 2016
Andres Putting (EBU)
It's been a fantastic show at the Mediterranean Conference Centre but only one of the 17 hugely talented acts that took part in the competition could be declared the winner: GEORGIA is the winner of the 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest! Congratulations!
In a spectacular show from Malta, Mariam Mamadashvili was declared the winner of the 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest after a tight race to the finish. Mariam's song is called Mzeo which means Sun.
It's the third time that Georgia has won the competition, setting a new record for Junior Eurovision. Georgia scored a total of 239 points from the international expert and the kids juries plus the result from the Expert Panel. Armenia's Anahit and Mary finished second with 232 points with Italy's Fiamma Boccia in third place with 209 points.
The final scoreboard
With the new voting system Georgia's Mariam broke the previous record held by Malta last year, when Destiny and Not My Soul scored 185 points.
Immediately after the show she said "I feel really great, thank you all". An emotional Mariam said that she was proud to achieve the victory for her country and that her grandmothers would be the first people she would call. She also spoke about missing her friends from school but had a message for her teachers. "I miss you all but please, no homework!", she joked.
Mariam has dreamed of performing at Junior Eurovision since she first watched the show in 2010. She currently studies in the United States at the Broadway Method Academy in Connecticut.
