Cyprus’ national broadcaster CyBC has confirmed that the country will not be participating at Junior Eurovision 2023, which will take place in Nice.
No reason given for non-participation
The country’s non-participation was confirmed to ESCPlus ES, with CyBC not revealing the reason as to why they will not be participating in this year’s competition. Cyprus’ non-participation will see them miss the competition for the 6th year in a row. Cyprus has not participated since 2017 when the contest took place in Tbilisi.
About Junior Eurovision 2023
Junior Eurovision 2023 landed in ‘Nice’ after France won the competition for a second time in Yerevan, where its 2022 representative Lissandro won the competition with “Oh Maman”. This year’s competition will take place on the 26th of November at 16:00CET in Nice, at the Palais Nikaïa in Nice, which can accomodate up to 9,000 spectators.
At the time of writing the following countries have been confirmed for this year’s contest:
- 🇫🇷 France (Host Country)
- 🇬🇪 Georgia – Anastasia Vasadze
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇲🇹 Malta
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇲🇰 North Macedonia – Tamara Grujeska
- 🇵🇱 Poland
- 🇵🇹 Portugal – Júlia Machado
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine
Cyprus’ Junior Eurovision journey
Cyprus first took part in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in its inaugural year of 2003. Theodora Rafti represented Cyprus at the first edition of the Contest, singing “Mia Efhi”, finishing in 14th place. The country’s best position came in both 2004 and 2006, when they finished in 8th place. Cyprus would go on to host the 2008 edition of the Contest in Limmasol.
The island nation’s most recent participation came in 2017 when Nicole Nicolaou sang “I Wanna Be A Star”. Performing first in the final, Cyprus eventually finished 16th in a field of 16. At the close of voting, Cyprus received 45 points, 40 of which came from the online vote. The remaining 5 points were awarded by professional juries across Europe.
What do you make of Cyprus’ decision? Would you like to see the island nation return to the Contest in the future? Which is your favourite Junior Eurovision entry from Cyprus? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as we prepare for Junior Eurovision 2023!
News Source: CyBC
Photo Credit: EBU/Thomas Hanses
