Kids jury to vote first reveals EBU

On stage to take questions from were Sietse Bakker, from the EBU, who is the Supervisor of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Ronald Kok, from AVRO, who is the Executive Producer of the 2012 edition, along with AVRO Press Officer Francois Engelhart and a representative from the Kidsright charity who are partners in the show.

In addition to the 12 participating countries taking the live broadcast, the contest will also be broadcast in Australia. Next year in fact will mark the 30th year that Australia has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest itself.

Apart from the previously announced details of the additional kids jury and the premier broadcast of the new Eurovision ident in tomorrow's show, there was more information revealed about the opening sequence, which will mark the fact that the Junior Eurovision Song Contest has reached the significant landmark of its tenth anniversary.

There will be clips of the previous winners of the contest, and the countries that have hosted the event, and we also go backstage and take in the behind the scenes atmosphere, not only for the audience but for the young artists. You will be able to see how they prepared during the week, and the events and parties they attended before we countdown to the big moment.

The first jury to reveal their results in the live show will be the kids jury, which is made up of 12 young people from each of the participating countries. Their votes will be announced between the interval acts and before the televoting has concluded, and will add an extra exciting dimension to the voting, not only to see how they compare to the public and juries, but whether it will have an influence on the televoting itself.

Dutch success

Ralf Mackenbach who won the contest in 2009 with his song Click Clack will be performing his latest song. Mackenbach has gone onto become an established performer in the Netherlands.

AVRO are delighted to be hosting the event for a second time, having previously staged the 2007 edition in Rotterdam. This edition has proved to an in interesting challenge, as initially when AVRO made the bid they envisaged  staging it in a studio in possibly Hilversum or Amsterdam, but like any creative team they wanted to see if they could just make it a bit bigger but still within the financial constraints imposed upon them of a smaller budget.

The director is very proud to be using the HMH Arena as the contest venue, as other stadiums would be too big. They want to give the contest something of a contest atmosphere, by having a standing area at the front of the stage, something which will also be happening as well with the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013.

As previously revealed in Baku, the EBU is taking the view that the contest needs to be scaled down in future, and that spending millions on a one off show is no longer a feasable option. AVRO was complimented that they had succeeded in bringing the Junior contest within budget, but also in staging an impressive production.

Financial constraints are a problem with many broadcasters in the current economic climate, and discussions are taking place with several broadcasters regarding the staging of the next Junior Eurovision Song Contest, but an announcement is expected in early 2013. Although this year's edition has seen the fewest number of participating entrants to date, discussions are also taking place with various broadcasters regarding their participation.

Changes in Supervisor

Sietse Bakker also announced that this would be his final year in charge of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and that from next year Vladislav Yakovlev will be taking over the role. Yakovlev is experienced in that he has been involved previously with the Eurovision Young Musicians and Young Dancers contests. Bakker was delighte dthat nhis final edition in charge is taking place in his home city and he will now concentrate more on his role as Event Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest.

One small decision he had to make in this year's edition was in making a request to the Albanian delegation that they change the outfit for their singer, Igzidora Gjeta, as it was felt to be 'too mature'. Their head of delegation agreed and in co-operation with AVRO they will come up with an alternative outfit.

Everyone involved from the EBU, AVRO and Kidsright looked forward to an exciting show, with so many talented youngsters on stage, who will be an inspiration to the millions watching the Junior version of Europe's Favourite Tv Show on Saturday night.

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