Sophia Ivanko will represent Ukraine at Junior Eurovision 2019

Sophia has won the national selection for the 2019 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. She was chosen by a 7-person expert jury out of 10 shortlisted candidates who submitted their songs online.

Alyosha: “We have decided that Sophia Ivanko would be the best representative of Ukraine at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest this year. Why? Because she very much stands out from other participants, she is very special, she has her specific, very expressively emotional character, she is mysterious and there is something about her, not characteristic of other people or other participants. The song needs a little more extra work, and then it will be very cool material, a cool song. I hope that Ukraine’s entry will be highly appreciated not only here, in this room, but also all over the world.”

The 13-year-old Sophia from Kyiv loves writing songs and experimenting with different music genres. She takes singing lessons and is playing the piano. For the national selection she prepared her own song Koly Zdaietsia (When It Seems). The final version of her song will be presented at a later stage.

Sophia was determined to become Ukraine’s representative at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. This year, she participated for the third time. In 2018, she already made it to the 10 finalists with her song Chomu? (Why?). In early 2019, she also participated in the Ukrainian Voice, where she was on Jamala’s team.

The jury consisted of:

• Oleksandra Koltsova, singer and member of the board of UA:PBC
• Alyosha, Ukraine’s Eurovision 2010 participant
• Mykhailo Klymenko, singer and composer of the Junior Eurovision 2018 entry
• Tanya Sha, producer and composer
• Oleksandr Stasov, UA:PBC’s music producer
• Oksana Skybinska, the head of delegation of Ukraine
• Stanislav Medvediev, the executive producer of entertainment at UA:PBC

More information about Ukraine’s selection for the 2019 Junior Eurovision Song Contest can be found on their official website.

(Edited on 23-08-2019 to reflect a change in the spelling of Sophia's first name)