Iceland will not be making their debut at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest this year, broadcaster RÚV has confirmed.
Rúnar Freyr Gíslason, the press officer for the Icelandic delegation and a project director with RÚV, announced the news in a short statement to escplus.es, saying:
“Unfortunately we won’t be participating this year, but of course we are always reconsidering.”
Iceland has the highest level of viewer interest in the Eurovision Song Contest, with 98.7% of the country’s television audience watching the Grand Final in Liverpool, United Kingdom this year. Despite this, the Nordic nation has never participated in Junior Eurovision.
RÚV had been making some exploratory moves around Junior Eurovision recently. In 2021, it broadcast the Grand Final live on tape delay in Iceland for the first time since 2003, and it sent a delegation to that year’s contest in Paris, France.
Today’s news means that Icelandic fans will still have to wait to see their country on the Junior Eurovision stage. However, Gíslason’s comments leave the door open for Iceland to enter the contest in the future.
Junior Eurovision 2023
France won the 20th Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Yerevan, Armenia with Lissandro and “Oh Maman!”. He scored a total of 203 points placing ahead of second-placed Armenia.
France will be hosting the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for a second time, having first hosted the contest in 2021 in the French capital of Paris.
The following countries have already confirmed their participation:
- France
- Georgia – Anastasia Vasadze
- Germany
- Ireland
- Italy
- Malta
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia – Tamara Grujeska
- Poland
- Spain
- Ukraine
Image Source: EBU / Sarah Louise Bennett | Source: escplus.es
