Bulgaria in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Artist selection

Bulgarian broadcaster BNT opened submissions for singers aged between 9-14 to send their audio or video recordings to the BNT team. After the deadline on 10 May 2016, a professional jury of music experts selected the best ones to proceed to the first semifinal of the televised national selection.

The process to select the representative began on 2 June 2016 and it ended on 8 June 2016. The selection procedure included two semifinals and a final. A total of fifteen stars were internally selected to compete at the first semifinal where a professional jury selected five finalists out of fifteen. During the first semifinal, eleven singers out of fifteen qualified for the next one, where five singers advanced for the final. The results in the two semifinals were to be based on 100% jury votes, while in the final the winner was selected by a 50/50 combination of both telephone vote and the votes of jury members.

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 2 June 2016. All the fifteen acts had to sing a song in Bulgarian. The five-person professional jury chose eleven singers to qualify for the second semifinal.

Semifinal 2

The first semifinal took place on 8 June 2016. All of the eleven acts had to sing a song in English. The five-person professional jury selected five singers to qualify for the final on 11 June 2016.

Final

The final took place on 11 June 2016. All the five acts performed songs in two rounds. They had to sing a song of their own choice in the first round and a song in Bulgarian in the second round. Lidia Ganeva was declared the winner. She was selected by a 50/50 combination of both telephone vote and the votes of jury members.

Jury members

The following members comprised the Bulgarian jury:

Song selection

BNT announced on 14 September 2016, that the song which will be performed by Ganeva in Malta will be entitled "Magical Day (Valsheben Den)". On 15 September 2016, the 10-year old singer from Plovdiv took part at special celebrations of the new school year in her hometown performing a short snippet of her song. The full version of "Magical Day (Valsheben den)" was premiered on 2 October 2016 during the show "The day starts on Sunday with Georgi Lyubenov" on BNT.

Artist and song information

Lidia Ganeva (Bulgarian: Лидия Ганева) (born 2 February 2006) is an Bulgarian child singer. She represented Bulgaria at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Valletta, Malta on 20 November 2016 with the song "Magical Day (Valsheben den)".

Lidia was born in Plovdiv, the second-largest city in Bulgaria. She attended the Armenian school in her hometown and has been involved in music from a very early age; her parents are musicians with Bulgaria's famous folk ensemble, Trakiya. Lidia often accompanied her parents during their stage performances and they said that Lidia could sing before she could speak, often repeating phrases from children's songs that her mother sang to her.

Lidia participated in her first musical competition when she was four years old, the youngest participant to win a prize. At six she joined the "Art Voice Centre" music school. With Rumi Ivanova as her singing teacher, Lidia won a total of 22 first, 4 second and 2 third prizes in national and international festivals.

In June 2016, Lidia won Bulgaria’s national selection for Junior Eurovision 2016 in Malta, receiving the highest score in the competition from viewers and the jury. "Magical Day (Valsheben den)" was written by Vladimir "Grafa" Ampov, one of the most popular Bulgarian pop singers. The song is about the power of childhood dreams that can make the world a better and brighter place to live.

Lidia is a fan of both Junior Eurovision and the Eurovision Song Contest. Her favourite artists include Adele, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé and Christina Aguilera. She lists Bulgarian artists Lili Ivanova, Pasha Hristova and Margarita Hranova as having the greatest artistic influence on her. Lidia has a pet rabbit called, Zai Zai, who is also her mascot. Her favourite subjects at school are literature, English and music.

Valsheben Den

"Valsheben Den" (Bulgarian Cyrillic: Вълшебен ден; English translation: "Magical Day") is a song by Bulgarian child singer Lidia Ganeva. It represented Bulgaria during the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016. It is composed and written by Vladimir Ampov (Grafa) and Iliya Grigorov. It ended in 9th place with 161 points.

At Junior Eurovision

During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which took place on 14 November 2016, Bulgaria was drawn to perform sixth on 20 November 2016, following Malta and preceding Macedonia.

The final will be broadcast in Bulgaria on BNT 1, BNT HD and BNT World.

Final

For the live performance, Lidia had chosen a white dress with colorful doves on it to wear on stage. A similar design was also shown in the stage design.

Voting

During the press conference for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016, held in Stockholm, the Reference Group announced several changes to the voting format for the 2016 contest. Previously, points had been awarded based on a combination of 50% National juries and 50% televoting, with one more set of points also given out by a 'Kids' Jury'. However, this year, points will be awarded based on a 50/50 combination of each country’s Adult and Kids' Jury, to be announced by a spokesperson. For the first time since the inauguration of the contest the voting procedure will not include a public televote. Following these results, three expert jurors will also announce their points from 1-8, 10, and 12. These professional jurors are: Christer Björkman, Mads Grimstad, and Jedward.

Split voting results

The following five members comprise the Bulgarian adult jury: