🇺🇦 UA:PBC reveals the finalists for its Junior Eurovision 2023 selection

Less than a week after revealing the longlist of participants in its selection, UA:PBC has announced the five finalists that will be competing to represent Ukraine at the 2023 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Nice.

Five artists still in the running to represent Ukraine in Nice

After the reveal of the longlist of participants, the ten participants took part in a live audition, with the participants being condensed to the following five:

• 3ʼBeauties – A band consisting of Vladyslava Volynets (13), Oleksandra Korovytska (13) and Anna Tkach (12), from Lutsk.
• POLINA BABIY. 14 years old, originally from Odesa, temporarily living in Bratislava, Slovakia.
• Anastasia Belibova. 12 years old, originally from Mykolaiv, currently living in Yuzhnoukrainsk, Mykolaiv region.
• Denys Hryshchuk. 12 years old, originally from Novovolynsk, Volyn region, temporarily living in Lublin, Poland.
• Anastasia Dymyd. 9 years old, from the village of Hoshiv, Ivano-Frankivsk region.

The auditions took place, where the selection’s music producer Svitlana Taraborova was joined by DEMCHUK, KHAYAT and Yevgeny Khmara, with Svitlana mentioning that selecting the top five was difficult:

“I would like all of them to stay! Our top five turned out to be really diverse and strong. There is a little girl with a folk voice, and a trio of girls whose voices pierce like birds to the depths of the soul, and a fiery boy with a unique timbre that you want to watch without taking your eyes off, and two incredible pop divas Anastasia and Polina. We formed a very strong five finalists so that the Ukrainian audience and our jury have a decent choice and can feel which child should go to Nice. In my opinion, any of these five will represent Ukraine at Junior Eurovision in a high-quality, cool and professional manner. I root for each of them!

Speaking about selecting the top five, Yevgeny Khmara who was on the expert council has mentioned that each of the ten young performers caused a lot of arguments among the members of the expert council:

“All the children are incredibly talented and professional. I am convinced that during the national voting Ukrainians will choose a candidate who will represent Ukraine well. I also want to congratulate the ten longlisted participants. Each of you is light and love, a treasure of our beautiful Ukraine. This contest is just another step in your life. There is a whole life ahead of you and it will definitely be beautiful!”

Now that the finalists have been selected, it will now be time to select Ukraine’s representative, with the selection taking place in October in the format of an online concert, with Ukraine’s representative for Nice to be selected 50/50 (Jury & Audience Vote), with the jurors to be determined by Ukrainians through online voting.

Ukraine’s Junior Eurovision Journey

In 2006, Ukraine made their debut to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, with Nazar Slyusarchuk and the song “Khlopchyk Rock ‘n’ Roll” (Хлопчик рок ‘н’ ролл), which placed 9th. Since their debut, the Eastern European nation has participated 16 times, and even won once in 2012 with Anastasiya Petryk and her song “Nebo” (Небо).

In 2022, Ukraine selected its representative through a national final, where Zlata Dziunka won the right to represent the nation with “Nezlamna”, which managed to place 9th receiving 111 points from the jury and online vote.

Are you happy to see Ukraine participating at Junior Eurovision this year? Who do you think should succeed Zlata in Nice? Are you excited for Junior Eurovision 2023? Are you hoping to attend the contest in Nice? Let us know in the comments or on social media. Be sure to follow That Eurovision Site on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

News Source: UA:PBC

Photo Credit: UA:PBC