Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the sixteenth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It took place in the Belarusian capital city, Minsk on 25 November 2018 at the Minsk-Arena. It was the second time that the contest was held in Belarus, after it staged the 2010 edition at the same venue.
| Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 | |
|---|---|
| #LightUp | |
| Dates | |
| Final | 25 November 2018 |
| Host | |
| Venue | Minsk-Arena, Minsk, Belarus |
| Presenter(s) | Evgeny Perlin Zinaida Kupriyanovich Helena Meraai |
| Directed by | Gordon Bonello Daniel Jelinek |
| Executive supervisor | Jon Ola Sand |
| Executive producer | Olga Shlyager |
| Host broadcaster | Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC) |
| Website | www |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 20 |
| Debuting countries | Kazakhstan Wales |
| Returning countries | Azerbaijan France Israel |
| Non-returning countries | Cyprus |
Participation map
| |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country's professional jury award 12, 10, 8–1 points to their top 10 songs. International viewers vote for 3–5 songs, and votes are converted to points by proportional representation. |
| Winning song | Poland "Anyone I Want to Be" |
A record twenty countries took part in the contest, with Kazakhstan and Wales participating for the first time. France returned for the first time since 2004, alongside Azerbaijan for the first time since 2013 and Israel after missing the 2017 edition. Cyprus withdrew from the contest. Last year's winner Polina Bogusevich performed her entry again as the interval act, alongside the common song "#LightUp" sung by all the participants.
The winner was Roksana Węgiel, who represented Poland with the song "Anyone I Want to Be". Poland won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. Returning country France came second, their best result at the contest, while Australia placed third for the second year in a row. Kazakhstan was the fourth best performing debuting nation, after Croatia and Italy's victories in 2003 and 2014 respectively, and Armenia's second place in 2007, finishing sixth, whilst Wales came last.