Unlike Eurovision, you can vote for your own country.
Eurovision fans will be having a great time this weekend as Junior Eurovision has landed on our screens, showing off the very best young talent that Europe has to offer.
While we certainly enjoyed a Eurovision summer, this winter sees a younger spin-off of the original competition where participants aged between nine and 14 compete against other countries with an original song.
Contestants are scored with a mix of jury and public voting with girl group STAND UNIQU3 representing the UK with their song, Back To Life.
Patricia Hidalgo Reina, Director of BBC Children’s and Education, said of the group: “We have a great song and high hopes for our brilliant trio, STAND UNIQU3, and we want families everywhere to cheer on Hayla, Maisie and Yazmin and watch them represent the UK in the competition across BBC Two, CBBC and iPlayer.”
With the competition set to air today (Sunday 26th November), the voting process has one noticeable difference from the original Eurovision competition. But just how can people vote for their favourites? Find out more below.
How to vote in Junior Eurovision 2023
Unlike the original Eurovision competition, voting in the Junior version means that viewers can vote for their own country, as well as two others.
In total, you can vote for three countries and voting is open now.
The first phase of the online voting opened at 20:00 CET (19:00 GMT) on Friday 24th November 2023 and will close on Sunday 26th November 2023 at 15:59 CET (14:59 GMT), just before the live show starts.
While the show itself is yet to air, if you do choose to vote before the show starts 3pm today, voters will need to watch a recap compilation from the rehearsal and will also have the possibility to watch preview videos of the participating songs.
Phase two of the online vote will open after the last song has been performed during the live show with voting also set to close approximately 15 minutes after. During this phase of the vote, according to the BBC, “voters will vote on the basis of the songs as performed during the live show”.
You can only vote once during each phase but in order for your vote to be taken into account, you have to vote for three songs. Each voter may vote only once in each online voting phase and the page to vote can be found here.
To vote in the UK, you’ll need to have a BBC Account and sign in or register. Online voting requires you to log into the page with your BBC account, which you can do here.
Your votes will then be turned into points and the amount of points will be determined by the percentage of votes received. The online votes will count for 50% of the final result while the other 50% will come from the professional juries.
The country with the most points will be declared the winner, which will be announced during the live show. For more information on the voting terms and conditions, read more here.
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will air on Sunday 26th November on BBC Two, CBBC and iPlayer.
If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide or visit our hub for more Entertainment news.
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