Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010

Location

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) invited broadcasters to bid for the rights to host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010. Belarus broadcaster National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BRTC) won the rights to organise the contest over bids from Russia and Malta. Under construction through 2009, the 15,000-spectator Minsk-Arena hosted the event. Belarus has twice previously won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which is, according to EBU Executive Supervisor Svante Stockselius, "one of Belarus' most popular television shows."

Visual design

The theme art for the contest was revealed on 8 April 2010, consisting of multi-coloured circles, symbolising "different people, cultures and countries," that form the shape of wings, that symbolise "freedom, ease of flying, creative inspiration and rising above." On 8 September, the mascots of the show were presented, being a bear and a wisent.

The stage, by Swedish stage designer Ulf Mårtensson, was unveiled on 15 July 2010, featuring five constructions in the shapes of wings. The hosts were also involved with each performance on their own dedicated section of the stage.

Theme art was also incorporated in the promotional billboards and posters featuring 11 "faces of Junior Eurovision" selected through casting procedure. Results of castings were revealed on 20 July 2010 and the 11 chosen ones were Belarus TV personalities Denis Kourian, Olga Barabanschikova, Irina Kazantseva, Andrey Bibikov, former JESC entrants Alexey Zhigalkovich, Ksenia Sitnik, Yuriy Demidovich, Alina Molosh, Daria Nadina as well as non-professionals Yulia Brazhinskaya and Ilya Ilmursky.

Participants

On 28 July 2010, the EBU announced the competing countries for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010. A total of 14 countries competed, with Moldova making its début and Latvia and Lithuania returning. Cyprus and Romania withdrew from the contest. Sweden returned to the contest through Sveriges Television (SVT) after TV4 withdrew. The EBU's coordinator of the contest, Svante Stockselius, labelled SVT's return to the contest as a big achievement in terms of negotiations with possible participants and expressed hope that other Scandinavian broadcasters may also return to the show.

The show also featured all winners of Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003-2009 Dino Jelusić, María Isabel, Ksenia Sitnik, The Tolmachevy Twins, Alexey Zhigalkovich, Bzikebi and Ralf Mackenbach, who performed remix-medley of their winning entries and presented the trophy to the winner of 2010 edition. Also, a special documentary "Kids of Eurovision" was filmed by BTRC about them.

Final

Each country gave their votes through a 50% jury and 50% televoting system, which decided their top ten songs using the points 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.

1.^ The song is in Russian, but contains two phrases in English. 2. The rules stated that the participants must sing in one of their national languages, however they were permitted to have a few lines in a different language, as seen in some entries.

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points received:

All countries were given 12 points at the start of voting. This was so no country got nul points.

As a joke, the Executive Supervisor of the contest, Svante Stockselius, was given 12 points before the voting.

International broadcasts

 Australia

Commentators

 Armenia – Gohar Gasparyan and Artak Vandanyan (ARMTV)

 Belarus – Pavel Lozovik (BTRC)

 Belgium – Kristien Maes & Tom De Cock (VRT)

 Georgia - Temo Kvirkvelia (GPB)

 Latvia – Valters Frīdenbergs (Latvijas Televīzija)

 Lithuania – Darius Užkuraitis (LRT)

 Macedonia – Toni Drenkovski and Monika Todorovska (MTV 1)

 Malta – Eileen Montesin (TVM)

 Moldova – Rusalina Rusu (TRM)

 Netherlands – Sipke Jan Bousema (AVRO)

 Russia – Olga Shelest (Russia 1)

 Serbia – Duška Vučinić-Lučić (RTS 2)

 Sweden – Edward af Sillén and Malin Olsson (SVT 2)

 Ukraine – Timur Miroshnychenko (Pershiy)

Spokespersons

 Lithuania – Bernadras Garbaciauskas

 Moldova – Paula Paraschiv

 Netherlands – Bram

 Serbia – Maja Mazic (Represented Serbia in 2008)

 Ukraine – Elizabeth Arfush

 Sweden – Robin Ridell

 Russia – Philip Mazurov

 Latvia – Ralfs Eilands (Latvian reprensentative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 as part of PeR)

 Belgium – Laura Omloop (Represented Belgium in 2009)

 Armenia – Nadia Sargsyan

 Malta – Francesca Zarb

 Belarus – Anastasiya Butyugina

 Georgia – Giorgi Toradze

 Macedonia – Sara Markoska (Represented Macedonia in 2009)

Official album

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010: Minsk, is a compilation album put together by the European Broadcasting Union, and was released by Universal Music Group on 19 November 2010. The album features all the songs from the 2010 contest, along with karaoke versions.