Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the sixth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which is the world's largest song contest for children. It was held at the "Spyros Kyprianou" Athletic Centre in Lemesos, Cyprus and hosted by Alex Michael and Sophia Paraskeva. The theme of the event was "Fun in the Sun". It was won by the Georgian trio Bzikebi, with the song "Bzz..". Ukraine took 2nd place and Lithuania finished 3rd. Bzikebi also became the first group act to win the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
| Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 | |
|---|---|
| Fun in the Sun | |
| Dates | |
| Final | 22 November 2008 |
| Host | |
| Venue | Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Centre, Limassol, Cyprus |
| Presenter(s) | Alex Michael Sophia Paraskeva |
| Directed by | Klitos Klitou |
| Executive supervisor | Svante Stockselius |
| Executive producer | Munro Forbes |
| Host broadcaster | Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) |
| Website | junioreurovision |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 15 |
| Debuting countries | None |
| Returning countries | None |
| Non-returning countries |
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Participation map
| |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awards 1–8, 10, and 12 points to their 10 favourite songs. |
| Winning song | Georgia "Bzz.." |
For the contest, various changes to the rules were made. One was that adults could assist children to write the songs submitted to their national broadcaster; previously only children could write the songs, with no assistance from adults. Another change was only six people could be on stage during a performance, instead of eight. The most significant change, however, was only half of the vote was decided by the tele-voters. Before the 2008 contest tele-voters completely decided the whole result. The other half of the result was decided by a jury of adults and children.