NTU reveals all with under 50 days to go

Acting NTU Director General Oleksander Panteleimonov, Deputy NTU Director General Victoria Romanova, Executive Producer of JESC2013 Roman Keryk and host of the event, Zlata Ognevich were there to discuss the upcoming show with press and fans in Kyiv.

Host nation Ukraine have not only declared 2013 the Year of Children’s Creativity in their country but are now applying it to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013.

“‘Be Creative!’ is the official slogan and is a perfect pairing with our Puzzle Man logo,” says Oleksandr Panteleimonov, Director General of NTU. “Our team took this theme to an inspired level with their unique jigsaw stage.  Our team is working on bringing it all to life so it will create a fairytale atmosphere that also uses the very latest in technology,” he says.

The running order draw
In addition to the creativity on stage and that the children performing will provide, NTU have decided to do the draw deciding the running order of songs during the opening party on the 25th November in Kyiv.  “We’re going to get the children to pick the order that they perform in,” explains Executive Producer Roman Keryk. “It will be a live part of the event with everyone looking on, wondering how the numbers will fall but also seeing how fair and transparent the process is.”

Song duration
Other innovations for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 include extending the length of the song to three minutes, changing the length of the postcards to fifty seconds to allow more time for the contestants to introduce themselves and the heads of the Children’s Jury will announce their points live on stage. “Their input into the competition is vital,”  Panteleimonov  explains. “Therefore we’ve invited them to deliver their results live on stage so that they can be part of celebrating the event too.”

Trohpies for top three
The trophy designs were also unveiled, featuring Puzzle man in three dazzling colours to represent three awards instead of just one as done previously.

Special guest
NTU previously hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2009. That event was won by Ralf Mackenbach with his song Click Clack representing the Netherlands. The previous Junior Eurovision Song Contest was also won by Ukraine when their contestant Anastasiya Petryk won the hearts of Europe with her song Nebo in Amsterdam in 2012. Anastasiya will be appearing as a special guest of Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013.

Steering group
The European Broadcasting Union and Junior Eurovision Song Contest Steering Group travelled to Kyiv last week to meet with NTU and discuss the arrangements for the show.  “We had been impressed with their show in 2009 but their arrangements for 2013 have taken things to an entirely new level,” says Vladislav Yakovlev, Executive Supervisor of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.  “Their commitment to making it the largest live event in the Palace of Arts Ukraina and willingness to fully embrace the ‘Be Creative!’ theme and make it an unforgettable week for the children involved is incredibly impressive.”