Sensational sixteen to line up in Malta

Participants from 16 different countries, dubbed the ‘sensational sixteen’, will line up this November in Malta for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – making it the biggest contest since 17 took part in Rotterdam in 2007.

“As Chair of the Junior Eurovision Steering Group, I’m very happy and grateful to Executive Supervisor Vladislav Yakovlev for all his hard work in securing the biggest number of participants for seven years,” said Ekaterina Orlova of Russian broadcaster RTR. “We are very excited about the competition in November”.

“We have received excellent support from host broadcaster PBS in the build up to this year’s competition,” added Executive Supervisor Vladislav Yakovlev. “I would also like to pass on my thanks to its Chairman, Dr. Tonio Portughese, together with its CEO and Junior Eurovision 2014 Executive Producer, Anton Attard, for their phenomenal work so far. That sixteen countries have signed up to take part is a testament to their passion for Junior Eurovision, and the vision they have for this year’s show”.

The official list of participating broadcasters for 2014 is as follows:

• Armenia (ARMTV)
• Belarus (BTRC)
• Bulgaria (BNT)
• Croatia (HRT)
• Cyprus (CyBC)
• Georgia (GPB)
• Italy (RAI)
• Malta (PBS) – host broadcaster
• Montenegro (RTCG)
• The Netherlands (AVROTROS)
• Russia (RTR)
• San Marino (SMRTV)
• Serbia (RTS)
• Slovenia (RTVSLO)
• Sweden (SVT)
• Ukraine (NTU)

Today’s Heads of Delegation meeting marks the deadline upon which countries must submit their Junior Eurovision 2014 entries, lyrics, and audio files. Some countries have requested that these do not appear on JuniorEurovision.tv straight away, as they will be presented nationally first very soon.