Competing countriesCountries that participated in the past but not in 2025
Vote
Voting system
The professional jury of each country awards a set of 12, 10, 8–1 points to 10 songs. Viewers around the world vote for 3 songs, and their votes are distributed proportionally. The votes of the jury and the audience make up 50% of all votes.
Broadcasters from eighteen countries participated in the contest, the largest number of participants since 2021. Azerbaijan, Croatia, and Montenegro returned after absences from recent contests, while Estonia and Germany opted not to participate after doing so the previous year.
The winner was France with the song "Ce monde" by Lou Deleuze, its fourth win in six years. Ukraine won the public vote and finished in second place, its best placing since 2013, with Georgia, Armenia, and Spain completing the top five. San Marino received its best result in any Eurovision event to date, and, for the fourth year in a row, Albania received its second-best result to date. Ireland finished last for the second time in three years.
An opening ceremony, consisting of a private reception for the participating artists and delegations, was held on 8 December 2025 at the Pullman Tbilisi Axis Towers.[3] The 2025 contest was the first one in the history of the event without accredited press.[4]
Bidding phase and host city selection
Unlike the Eurovision Song Contest, the winning broadcaster of the previous year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest does not automatically receive the right to host the next edition. However, since 2011 (with the exceptions of 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2024) it has become customary for winners to take on hosting duties, and since 2019, the winning broadcaster has had the right of first refusal on hosting the following competition. In 2024, French broadcaster France Télévisions was given this right but ultimately opted out of it.[5]
On 16 November 2024, upon her country's victory in the 2024 contest, Tinatin Berdzenishvili[ka], the CEO of the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), announced that talks would be conducted with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) regarding the hosting of the 2025 contest;[6] soon afterwards, the official Facebook page of the broadcaster's 1TV channel claimed that the 2025 contest would be hosted in Georgia,[7] however, later that same day, the EBU claimed a host for the 2025 edition had not yet been selected and that it would work with "all of [its] members" in order to identify one.[8]
On 4 April 2025, Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS claimed that the contest would take place in Georgia,[9] before rescinding its statement the same day.[10] On 9 April 2025, the Georgian State Procurement Agency published documents stating that the Government of Georgia, the EBU and GPB had jointly agreed to host the contest in Tbilisi on 13 December 2025;[11] this was confirmed by the EBU on 13 May.[12] In May 2025, head of the Georgian government administration Levan Zhorzholiani claimed the contest would be held in the "small hall of the New Sports Palace",[13] identified by the media as the Olympic Palace, which previously hosted the contest in 2017;[14] this would be reiterated by multiple participating broadcasters at various points between June and September[15][16][17] before being confirmed by the EBU on 1 October.[18]
On 24 November 2025, reports emerged that the contest had been relocated to the Gymnastic Hall of Olympic City, also in Tbilisi, due to the unavailability of the Olympic Palace for an assessment visit required by the EBU;[2] this was promptly confirmed through the contest's official website.[19]
Eligibility for participation in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issues invitations to participate in the contest to all active members.
On 1 October 2025, the EBU announced that broadcasters from 18 countries would participate in the 2025 contest. Azerbaijan, Croatia, and Montenegro returned after three, ten and nine-year absences respectively. Meanwhile, Estonia and Germany opted not to participate after doing so the previous year.[18]
Prior to the contest, a digital compilation album featuring all the songs from the 2025 contest was put together by the EBU and released by Universal Music on 29 November 2025.[20]
Participants of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025[18]
In June 2025, the EBU announced that Martin Österdahl would step down from his role as executive supervisor of the contest, with ESC director Martin Green temporarily assuming Österdahl's duties.[39] On 1 October, Gert Kark was appointed to the contest's reference group, taking Österdahl's vacated spot.[40][41] A few days later, it was revealed that he would serve in the newly created position of ESC executive producer. Kark had previously worked as project manager for the contest since 2016.[42]
In July 2025, the Government of Georgia allocated ₾8.1 million (€2.6 million) to hosting the contest from its reserve fund;[43] this figure had been raised to ₾9 million (€2.9 million) by November 2025.[44] The creation of the background music as well as the opening and interval acts was overseen by music producer Giga Kukhianidze.[45] Repeating his function from the previous edition will be Marvin Dietmann as artistic director.[46]
Slogan, visual and stage design
In August 2025, ESC director Martin Green revealed that "United by Music", the permanent slogan of the Eurovision Song Contest since November 2023, would also be adopted by the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in order to make the two events "come within the same brand family".[47]
On 9 September 2025, the EBU released a revamped version of the generic logo, which is modeled after the revamped logo of the adult contest that is set to be introduced in its 2026 edition, designed by the Sheffield-based branding studio Pals.[48][49] On 1 October 2025, GPB unveiled the theme art and stage design for the 2025 contest. The visual identity features a custom wordmark of the slogan, combining plain uppercase lettering with handwritten characters that "echo the playful creativity of the young artists representing their countries", with threads of vibrant colours in the background. The stage was inspired by the mountains, castles, fortified villages and towers of Georgia's landscape, with its central element being a depiction of the doli.[18]
Presenters
Davit Aladashvili[ka] and Liza Tsiklauri were announced as the presenters of the show on 7 November 2025. Aladashvili is a musical programme presenter at GPB and a regular host of the children's talent show Ranina, which has served as Georgia's artist selection for the contest since 2018, while Tsiklauri is a news anchor and journalist who previously hosted the EuroBasket 2022 opening ceremony in Tbilisi.[50][51]
Postcards
The "postcards" are short video introductions shown on television while the stage is being prepared for the next entry. Filmed between October and December 2025, the postcards featured the competing artists taking part in different activities across Tbilisi. Among the locations for the postcards are Gudiashvili Square, the National Youth and Children's Palace and the Georgian National Opera Theater.[52] The filming of the segments of the participants in the postcards started on 7 December.[53]
Contest overview
The event took place on 13 December 2025 at 20:00 GET (17:00 CET).[18] Eighteen countries participated, with the running order drawn and published on 4 November 2025.[54] All the countries competing were eligible to vote with the jury vote, as well as participating and non-participating countries under an aggregated international online vote.[55]
The opening of the show featured the traditional flag parade, with Andria Putkaradze performing his winning song in 2024, "To My Mom". The interval acts included 2008 winners Bzikebi performing "We Don't Sleep", 2011 winners Candy performing "Code", and all participants along with Putkaradze performing the common song "We're Rising High". All were written by Giga Kukhianidze, who previously composed a majority of Georgia's Junior Eurovision entries, including each of its winning songs.[56]
According to the EBU 2.5 million votes were cast.[66]
Broadcasts
All participating broadcasters may choose to have on-site or remote commentators providing insight and voting information to their local audience. The European Broadcasting Union provided an international live stream of the contest through its official YouTube channel with no commentary.
12Despite receiving the same number of overall points, Italy was determined to finish ahead of Portugal because it received more points from the online vote.
12Despite receiving the same number of jury points, Ireland was determined to finish ahead of Cyprus because it performed earlier in the show.
↑The broadcast of the programme on Rai Gulp was delayed to 20:00 (CET)[78]
↑"Georgia wins 22nd Junior Eurovision Song Contest and sets new competition record". EBU. 16 November 2024. Retrieved 17 November 2024. Unlike in the Eurovision Song Contest, JESC winners do not automatically have to host the following year's event. We will be working with all our Members, including the winning broadcaster GPB, over the next few weeks to identify and then announce the host broadcaster for next year.
↑Oktawia (11 December 2025). "Luna będzie rzeczniczką Holandii na Eurowizji Junior 2025"[Luna will be the spokesperson for the Netherlands at Junior Eurovision 2025]. ESCSpot (in Polish). Retrieved 12 December 2025. Telewizja ogłosiła również, że konkurs będzie emitowany w Holandii na kanale NPO 3, a komentować będzie go duet Bart Arens i Matheu Hinzen.[The broadcaster also announced that the contest will be broadcast in the Netherlands on NPO 3, with commentary provided by Bart Arens and Matheu Hinzen.]
↑"Come votare al Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025"[How to vote in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025]. San Marino RTV (in Italian). 10 December 2025. Retrieved 10 December 2025. La finale dell'edizione 2025, commentata da Anna Gaspari, e Mirco Zani sarà trasmessa sabato 13 dicembre, in diretta dall'Olympic Palace di Tbilisi, su San Marino RTV – canale 550.[The final of the 2025 edition, with commentary by Anna Gaspari and Mirco Zani, will be broadcast live from the Olympic Palace in Tbilisi on Saturday 13 December on San Marino RTV – channel 550.]
↑"Дитяче Євробачення — 2025: де дивитися та як голосувати за Україну"[Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 – where to watch and how to vote for Ukraine]. JuniorEurovision.ua (in Ukrainian). Suspilne. 9 December 2025. Retrieved 10 December 2025. Суспільне Мовлення транслюватиме фінал конкурсу на телеканалі та сайті Суспільне Культура. [...] Фінал конкурсу коментуватиме Тімур Мірошниченко — незмінний ведучий та коментатор Євробачення в Україні.[Public Broadcasting will broadcast the final of the contest on the Suspilne Culture TV channel and website. [...] The final of the contest will be commented on by Timur Miroshnychenko – the permanent host and commentator of Eurovision in Ukraine.]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Azerbaijan 
Croatia 
Montenegro 
Estonia 
Germany 
France 
