Archive for the ‘Junior Eurovision’ Category

Eurovision 2017 Semi-Final Allocation Draw: What is in store for Ireland

January 25, 2017

Adrian Kavanagh, 25th January 2017

As reported on the ESCBubble website, as well as the official Eurovision Song Contest website, the allocation draw for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest semi finals will take place on Tuesday (31st January) morning in the Column Hall of Kyiv’s City State Administration. After this draw, Ireland will know whether Brendan Murray will be taking part in Semi Final 1 (on 9th May 2017) or Semi Final 2 (on 11th May 2017) and will also know the 17/18 other countries that will be competing against Brendan Murray for one of the ten qualifying slots from this semi final. The three Big 5/Host countries that will have the right to vote in the different semi finals will also be known after this. This post will assess the possibilities facing Ireland ahead of this draw and pinpoint what would be an drawn/nightmare draw for the Irish act.  (more…)

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Geography of Junior Eurovision 2016 points: Where did Ireland’s Zena Donnelly get her votes from?

November 20, 2016

Adrian Kavanagh, 20th November 2016

After one of the most competitive Eurovision Finals ever, Ireland’s Zena Donnelly has finished in 10th place with 122 points!

zena_jescfinala

This marks a number of milestones in Irish Eurovision history:

  • Ireland’s first Top 10 finish at a Eurovision Final since Jedward in 2011
  • Ireland’s first 12 points/douze points (thank you Italy and Malta) at Eurovision since Jedward in 2011
  • The first 12 points/douze points (from Italy and Malta) awarded to a song in the Irish language in the history of Eurovision
  • The first ever Top 10 finish for a Eurovision song performed in the Irish language
  • Ireland’s best performance to date at the Junior Eurovision Song contest

Ultimately, Junior Eurovision 2016 ranked as one of the most successful Eurovision contests for an Irish act during the 2000s. Only three other acts have finished in the Top 10 in a Eurovision Final during the 2000s – Jedward (8th in 2011), Brian Kennedy (10th in 2006) and Eamon Toal (6th in 2000).  But no other Eurovision act has won more points in a contest than the number won by Zena Donnelly in Valletta (122 points) – the closest being Jedward’s 119-points haul at the 2011 Final, followed by Brian Kennedy’s 93 points at the 2006 Final, Jedward’s 92 points at the 2012 Semi Final and Brian Kennedy’s 79 points at the 2006 Semi Final. But where/what countries did Zena win these 122 points/votes from? (more…)

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Junior Eurovision 2016: The Geography of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

November 12, 2016

Adrian Kavanagh, 12th November 2016

Looking ahead to Ireland’s second appearance at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Valetta (Malta) on Sunday 20th November 2016, this post offers a brief review of the contest’s history, while specifically drawing out the geographical dimensions of this. This finds that the membership of the contest has been much more fluid than that of the (senior) Eurovision Song Contest, with the contest becoming increasingly dominated by Former Soviet states over the 2005-2013 period, having been mainly dominated by Western European states in the first two years of its existence (2003 and 2004). Wins for Malta (2013 and 2015) and Italy (2014), as well as debuts at the contest by a number of more western states (such as Slovenia, San Marino, Ireland, Australia* and Italy) over the last three years, have seen a growing Western reorientation in recent years. Despite this more recent trend, the Former Soviet states of Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Russia, as well as Ukraine, have largely dominated the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – especially over the past decade.

The post also looks at voting patterns at the contest and finds that the geographical (“friends and neighbours” and “diaspora”) voting trends associated with (senior) Eurovision are also evident at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Finally, the geography of support for Irish acts at the (senior) Eurovision Song Contest is discussed, as a means of teasing out potential support patterns for the Irish act, Zena Donnelly, at November’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest.  (more…)

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Split voting results for Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015: Disappointing Jury Vote score for Ireland

December 21, 2015

Adrian Kavanagh, 21st December 2015

The split voting results for the 2015 Junior Eurovision Song Contest were released today on the official contest website. In terms of Ireland’s vote patterns, some unexpected results emerge here. Aimee Banks’ Realt Na Mara was viewed as a quality, yet more challenging, entry, which was expected to rank higher amongst the jury voters than the amongst the public vote/televote, especially given that Ireland had relatively few “friends” among the other countries that were competing/also voting in this year’s contest. But it transpired that Aimee fared notably better amongst the televoters than amongst the professional jury voters – finishing in 10th place with 43 points in the televote, but finishing in 14th place with 19 points in the jury vote. (more…)

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Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015: Overview of the Results

November 22, 2015

Adrian Kavanagh, 22nd November 2015

Aimee Banks finished in 12th place (with 36 points) with “Réalta Na Mara” last night in the 2015 Junior Eurovision Song Contest Final in Sofia. Aimee won points off 8 of the other 16 voting countries in last night’s contest, with her biggest tally of points coming from Malta (6), Australia (5) and Slovenia (4), with points also being won from The Netherlands (2), Georgia (2), Russia (2), Bulgaria (2) and San Marino (1). This represented the first time that an Irish act has won points off Australia, but also off Georgia, at a Eurovision contest. Aimee’s 12th place finish also represented Ireland’s best result at a Eurovision Final since Jedward’s 8th place finish at the 2011 Eurovision Final in Dusseldorf. Ireland awarded its 12 points last night to the host country, Bulgaria; being the only country to award the host the douze points at last night’s contest.

The contest resulted in a closely-fought battle between Armenia and Malta, with Malta’s Destiny Chukunyere (with Not My Soul) narrowly winning the contest ahead of Armenia’s Mika (with Love) – Malta finishing with 185 points and Armenia finishing in 2nd place with 176 points, 9 points behind. Slovenia finished in 3rd place – that country’s best ever finish in a Eurovision contest by far – with Lina Kuduzović’s Prva Ljubezen finishing with 112 points. Belarus (4th) and Albania (5th) rounded out the Top 5 – Mishela Rao’s 5th place finish was Albania’s best ever result at the Junior Eurovision to date, but also equalled Albania’s best ever result at a Eurovision Song Contest Final (Rona Nishliu’s Suus in 2012) up to this point in time. This contest also saw Montenegro’s Jana Mirković earn her country’s best ever result at a Junior Eurovision Song Contest, while equalling the best placing for Montenegro at a Eurovision Song Contest Final (Knez’s 13th place finish with Adio in the 2015 Final).

This was the third year in a row that the country who won the Kid’s Jury vote (Malta in 2013, Italy in 2014 and Malta again in 2015) has gone on to win the contest. The only time that a country won the Kid’s Jury and did not go on to win the contest was in 2012, when Georgia won the Kid’s Jury and Ukraine finished 2nd in this, but the order was reversed when it came to the final result, with a win for Ukraine and a second place finish for Georgia.

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