Belarus are one step closer to deciding on the hosts of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018.
Today in Belarus, casting took place to decide who would be the hosts of this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Belteleradiocompany received hundreds of video applications, but just over 30 candidates were invited to the casting call. Some candidates were from outside of Belarus, however there were some familiar faces such as Helena Meraai and Ruslan Aslanov, both of which represented Belarus at the contest in 2017 and 2015 respectively.
At the call, candidates were asked to improvise in front of the camera, with the main criteria focusing on fluency in English and on-camera presence. An expert panel will decide who will host the contest based on what they saw today.
The 2018 edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Minsk, Belarus after the country won the bidding process before the 2017 contest even began. Olga Salamankha explained that Belarus was selected as the host for next years contest over other bids due to their long-term commitment to the competition.
Twenty countries will take part in this years contest. These are:
- Albania
- Armenia
- Australia
- Azerbaijan – Returning nation
- Belarus
- France – Returning nation
- FYR Macedonia
- Georgia
- Ireland
- Israel – Returning nation
- Italy
- Kazakhstan – Debut
- Malta
- Poland
- Portugal
- Russia
- Serbia
- The Netherlands
- Ukraine
- Wales – Debut
Source: tvr.by
