Ukraine’s national selection for Junior Eurovision 2026, which was set to take place on September 13th, has officially been moved to September 26th.
Junior Vidbir 2026 has been rescheduled
According to an Instagram post shared by Ukranian broadcaster Suspilne, Junior Vidbir will now take place on September 26th:
Due to the deteriorating security situation, the final of the national selection for Junior Eurovision 2026 has been rescheduled from September 13th to September 26th.
On the same post, Suspilne announced that the contest will be adapted to incorporate enhanecd security measures for all the particpants. The Junior Vidbir final will be broadcasted at 19:00 p.m. EET (18:00 p.m. CET).
Who will take part in Junior Vidbir 2026?
The finalists of the Junior Eurovision 2026 national selection for Ukraine have been announced. During the fourth episode of the “Junior Eurovision Diaries”, the names of the six finalists for the Ukrainian national selection were revealed. The 6 young performers were chosen as a result of tests conducted at the Junior Vidbir “Star School”.
The finalists are:
- Roman Doroshenko
- Dmytro Karabet
- Erika Kolesnichenko
- Anastasiya Poshedina
- Marko Serdynskyi
- Zlata Solonenko
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 hosted the event previously in 2014 and 2016.
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
- 🇬🇪 GPB (Georgia) – Davit Lomidze
- 🇮🇪 TG4 (Ireland)
- 🇮🇹 Rai (Italy)
- 🇲🇹 PBS (Malta – host)
- 🇲🇪 RTCG (Montenegro) – Mija Mujović – “Muzika Nas Spaja”
- 🇳🇱 AVROTROS (Netherlands)
- 🇲🇰 MKRTV (North Macedonia) – Ana Stojanoska – “Idnata jas”
- 🇵🇱 TVP (Poland) – Wiktor Sas
- 🇵🇹 RTP (Portugal) – Salvador Rio
- 🇸🇲 SMRTV (San Marino)
- 🇪🇸 RTVE (Spain) – Lucas Paulano – “Cuore Bello (Te Quiero, Te Quiero)
- 🇺🇦 Suspilne (Ukraine)
Ukraine’s Junior Eurovision journey
Ukraine made their debut at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 with Nazar Slyusarchuk and the song “Khlopchyk Rock ‘n’ Roll” (Хлопчик рок ‘н’ ролл), which finished 9th. Since their debut, the country has participated 17 times, and even won once in 2012 with Anastasiya Petryk and her song “Nebo” (Небо).
Following a third place in 2024, Ukraine achieved another top five finish in 2025, when Sofiia Nersesian and her song “Montaka” finished second. She received 79 points from the jury and 98 from the online vote, ultimately winning the online vote.
What do you think of this year’s Junior Vidbir? Are you excited to see Ukraine participate at Junior Eurovision this year? Who would you like to see compete in their National Final? 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: Suspilne Ukraine
Photo Credit: EBU / Corinne Cumming
Thomas James