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Remember the first ever Junior Eurovision Song Contest?

09 November 2012 at 21:00 CET

The first Junior Eurovision Song Contest ever was held on the 15th of November 2003 in the Danish capital city, Copenhagen, with 16 participating countries. The hosts were Camilla Ottensen and Remee, from whom we've heard lately as one of the composers of the 2012 entry of Denmark at the "senior" 
Eurovision Song Contest, Should Have Known Better, which reached the Final performed by Soluna Samay. Remee also composed the theme song for this year's Junior Eurovision.

Their presentation was very short and with the bang shout "Let's Get This Party Started!" the first contestants, Greece, took to the stage with the very first young kid on the stage of a Junior Eurovision Song Contest, Nicolas Ganopoulos and the uplifting Fili Gia Panda (Friends Forever).

Next was Dino from Croatia, who proved wrong an old legend at the Eurovision Song Contest when he won the competition performing from the supposedly unlucky second slot. His professional performance of Ti Si Moja Prva Ljubav (You're My First Love) made him a worthy winner showing that you can win from any position. Dino Jelusic was 11 years old.

The hard task of following who was to become the winner was the sweet Theodora Rafti from Cyprus who looked like a youngest version of Nana Mouskouri, herself a Eurovision performer for Luxembourg in 1963. The delicate Efhi (One Wish) touched hearts all over Europe.

Belarus already started strong in this competition with the energetic performance of Volha Satsuk & Katsiaryna Lipouskaya. Their song Tantsui (Dance) lived up to the expectations of its title. Dzintars Cica represented Latvia in the first Junior accompanied by a young kids dance troupe and the seasonal offering Tu Esi Vasara (You're In Summer).

Number 6 was for the girls of F.Y.R. Macedonia, Marija Arsovska and Viktorija Loba. Their song Ti Ne Me Poznavaš (You Don't Recognise Me) could be worth of any big pop artist at the time. Another professional performance came next in the voice of Poland's Kasia Zurawik. Coś Mnie Nosi (Something Makes Me Bustle About) showcased all her potential talents as a composer and performer.

The first Scandinavian entry at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest came from Norway and the duo 2U, comprising Charlot Daysh and Joakim Harestad Haukaas, which expressed their first young love affairs in the pop/rap number Sinnsykt Gal Forelsket (Crazy In Love)!

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The first entry from Spain was all about emotions. Sergio sang Desde El Cielo (From Heaven), an ode to his mum who had passed away. On stage with Sergio, Juana, who had also competed in the national Eurojunior selection, a programme which won Best Reality Contest an the National TV Awards in Spain. Sergio was rewarded with a second place in Copenhagen.

Romania was next with the drummer/singer Bubu and his three cool dressed backing girls. Tobele Sunt Viaţa Mea (Drums Are My Life) rocked the stage! Talking about rock, Belgium put on stage a real rock junior band, X!NK, and their song De Vriendschapsband (Friendship) had guitars, bass, drums and a lot of feelgood! In contrast the United Kingdom entry was a peace song performed by Tom Morley who belted out his traditional ballad My Song For The World and came in a close third place.

The home entry transported us not to Denmark but to the world of the arabian tales of the 1001 nights in the performance by Anne Gadegaard and her dancers, Arabiens Drøm was a real Arabian Dream! Next we moved on to their neighbours, Sweden, and the two girls from The Honeypies, who did a relaxed performance of Stoppa Mig (Stop Me) surrounded by a very talented group of malabar artists and it looked like we were in the circus for three minutes!

Malta debuted in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest with the talented Sarah Harrison and her update dance number Like A Star which included a very energetic performance. To close the performaces was the task of The Netherlands. They sent in Roel Felius with the beautiful mid-tempo pop song Mijn Ogen Zeggen Alles (My Eyes Say Everything) a perfect finale to the show.

Before the exciting voting, we had some interval act entertainment performances from two of the biggest UK acts at the moment. Busted performed Crashed The Wedding and The Sugababes performed Hole In The Head. Then, after a close race it was clear that Croatia was the first winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and a very happy Dino Jelusic performed again the winning song Ti Si Moja Prva Ljubav!