The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 will be the 14th annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and will take place at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta, Malta. This will be the second time that Malta have hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, their first being in 2014. 

Seventeen countries will participate in the contest listed in alphabetical order: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Cyprus, Georgia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Russia, and Ukraine. This will be the second time that both Ireland and Australia compete in the Junior contest, as well as Malta's second time hosting in three years!

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, from 2016, points will be awarded based on a 50/50 combination of each country’s Adult and Kid's Jury, to be announced by a spokesperson. This will bring an end to the use of televoting for the first time. 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.

My personal take on the contest is interesting, I'm keen to see how this voting system will work out. I personally believe the Kids' and Adult Jury's from country should be announced separately to add more suspense - in a way such as the senior contest this year. The current fan favourites of this year include: Albania, Russia, Macedonia, and Australia. However - my take on this is the odd's aren't good for Russia, Albania or Australia from the top 4 favourites. This is a result of the running order which can be seen below.


So what do you think? Have you heard of Junior Eurovision before? Will you be excited to see the final result? Live updates will be reported on the feed from myself on Sunday the 20th of November 11pm SGT. Go listen to the sound tracks, have a look at the first performances and see who your favourite is!