Spanish broadcaster RTVE has announced that Lucas Paulano will represent the country at the 2026 Junior Eurovision Contest, due to be held in Malta, in October.
RTVE select Lucas Paulano
RTVE, the Spanish broadcaster for Junior Eurovision, has announced that 10 year old Lucas Paulano will represent the country at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Malta this year. The announcement was made during the El perro andaluz program, presented by Manu Sánchez, on Thursday evening. Lucas performed a cover of Il Volo’s 2015 Eurovision hit “Grande amore” during the show.
Lucas Paulano comes from Jaén, in Andalusia. In 2025, he won the tenth season of The Voice Kids in Spain. The young singer was internally selected as the representative for Spain at the Junior Contest. Lucas told host Manu Sánchez:
I’m going to enjoy, make friends, enjoy it and mess it up. I’ve been quiet, I couldn’t stand it anymore, but here we are.
The song that Lucas will perform in Malta has not yet been finished according to the young singer. RTVE will announce further details about the song in the coming weeks.
Junior Eurovision 2026 begins to take shape
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2026 is due to take place at 21.00 CEST, on Saturday 24 October, live from the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre (MFCC) in Ta’ Qali, Malta. Last year’s Contest was held in Tbilisi, Georgia, where France’s Lou Deleuze won with the song “Ce Monde”. Malta’s broadcaster PBS are hosting the Contest for the third time, having staged the event previously in 2014 and 2016.
The announcement from the Spanish broadcaster marks the 8th nation to select their representative for the Contest in Malta. The full list of the 16 competing broadcasters is as follows:
- 🇦🇱 RTSH (Albania) – Eslin Kurti – “Kërce me mua”
- 🇦🇲 AMPTV (Armenia)
- 🇨🇾 CyBC (Cyprus) – Haris Georgiou
- 🇫🇷 France Télévisions (France) – Alec Burette
- 🇬🇪 GPB (Georgia) – Davit Lomidze
- 🇮🇪 TG4 (Ireland)
- 🇮🇹 Rai (Italy)
- 🇲🇹 PBS (Malta – hosts)
- 🇲🇪 RTCG (Montenegro)
- 🇳🇱 AVROTROS (Netherlands)
- 🇲🇰 MKRTV (North Macedonia) – Ana Stojanoska – “Idnata jas”
- 🇵🇱 TVP (Poland) – Wiktor Sas
- 🇵🇹 RTP (Portugal) – Salvador Rio
- 🇸🇲 SMRTV (San Marino)
- 🇪🇸 RTVE (Spain) – Lucas Paulano
- 🇺🇦 Suspilne (Ukraine)
Spain’s Junior Eurovision journey
Spain has so far taken part in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest a total of 9 times, with their first participation coming in the first edition of the Contest in 2003. In the initial Contest, Spain was represented by Sergio singing “Desde el cielo”, and at the close of voting Spain finished in second place, earning 125 points. Spain would go on to win the next edition of the show with María Isabel’s “Antes Muerte Que Sencilla”, finishing with 171 points.
Spain was represented by Gonzalo Pinillos at the 2025 Contest, who sang “Érase una vez (Once upon a Time)”. He received 98 points from the jury and 54 from the online vote, combining for a total score of 152 points and fifth place.
What do you think about Spain’s choice for this year’s Junior Eurovision? As always, let us know what you think on social media and follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, and ZOOP as we head towards Junior Eurovision 2026!
News source: RTVE
Image credits: Lucas Paulano / RTVE
Emma Walton