2007

• Hosted in: Rotterdam, Netherlands

• Won by: Belarus - S druz'yami by Alexey Zhigalkovich

For the first time ever, the “big three” that have once dominated, well, the top three of the first two editions of the JESC are absent. Alongside the UK’s continued disinterest in the competition, Croatia withdrew due to expenses on broadcasting the contest, let alone sending a representative, and Spain withdrew because while TVE wants to broadcast kids programmes accordingly to them. Unfortunately such exaggerated show like the JESC does not fit with their standards. Despite the fact that they did not host it. The Netherlands did.

Yup, even though the trophy stayed in the east, the contest didn’t, coming back to Benelux after only 2 years. Unlike the chaotic circus of Bucharest, Rotterdam brought some much-needed order (and industrial lighting design) to the contest. Still, we were yet to see any connection between winning and hosting, so once again, a completely unrelated country took the reins. It was also decided that, it a shocking move, that the contest would also act as a charity fundraiser, after announcing the EBU’s partnership with UNICEF to co-organize the event, with televoting fees go to the organization itself. If that’s not genius marketing I don’t know what is.

It wouldn’t be Junior Eurovision, or indeed Eurovision as a whole, without some quirks. Take Ukraine for example. The head of delegation gave Ilona Halytska a list of adult Eurovision winners and she said “that.” Marie N 2002 with a sprinkle of Bucks Fizz. Which is theoretically why she changed her outfit mid-performance. Unfortunately, ripping skirts and jackets are too out of fashion now, as Ukraine finished 9th. What’s even worse is Greece, our wooden spoon winner, which only garnered 2 points from the spokespeople. Their song is, ironically, “Made in Greece”, again doing what the UK has done in the 80s by entering with a long dress only to rip out the big skirts off. 

Armenia debuted with a bang, sending Arevik and Erazanq (Dream), which managed to land second. Big voice, big dreams, big hair. A promising start for the new kids on the block. Meanwhile, Serbia returned with a solo girl singer again, Nevena Božović, performing Piši mi (Write to Me), finishing in third—and she would later be seen in adult Eurovision twice. An icon in the making. Wait a minute, she’s suspiciously mature! Georgia, another debutant, is equally good, finishing 4th, 4 points behind the winner. Though that’s only helped by the fact that they performed first.

There wasn’t really any entries that stood out to me otherwise. All I can really talk about before we go straight to the winner is this opening act. Once again, as part of a collaboration with Unicef, all participants came to the stage at one time, joined by dancers from the Dance Academy Lucia Marthas, to perform the specially-commissioned UNICEF song "One World". Since then, all participants opened the show with what is now known as a “common song”. Meanwhile Dutch group Ch!pz and singer Katie Melua performed the interval act.

Right, what if I told you that Belarus won again? You wouldn’t believe it, but that actually happened. Belarus came back swinging with S druz'yami by Alexey Zhigalkovich, which roughly translates to With Friends. It was peppy, charming, and—if we’re honest—had big "Let’s go to the zoo!" energy. But it was the last to perform, and the kids LOVED it. Belarus became the first country to win the contest more than once. It’s going to take A LOT of effort to catch up… and 60 cents to donate to Unicef.

Presentation and format

The whole presentation of the 2007 contest is extremely bland compared to the previous years, which makes you wish Ioana Ivan from last year’s contest could save the day here. The show is hosted by Sipke Jan Bousema and Kim-Lian van der Meij at the Rotterdam Ahoy. It would later be announced as the host of the aborted 2020 contest before eventually hosting 2021. This is the final year where the results are solely decided by televoting. 2007 saw the age range shrunk – from ages 8 to 15 now to just 10 to 15, and now allows more experienced artists to enter. This is cited as the reason why Norway withdrew.

2007 saw the final incarnation of the singing girl symbol that has been used since the inaugural edition. But not without some flair. She’s wearing a pair of Wellington Boots, as the contest’s theme being “Make a big splash”, after the habit of jumping on rain puddles. To celebrate only the fifth edition of the JESC, at the middle of the performances, there’s a short montage of the past four Junior Eurovision editions. Great to see the UK once, even if it’s a burning memory. The trophy also returned to a cutout of the singing girl for the last time.

The postcards feature the country’s representative wearing orange wellies and jumping on fake rain puddles, followed by that same person on chroma key, sometimes holding an umbrella sporting their country’s flag, before introducing their name and song as normal.