Competing countries Countries that participated in the past but not in 2022
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.
France's Lissandro was the winner of the contest with the song "Oh Maman !". This was France's second victory in the contest, having last won in 2020. Host country Armenia, Georgia, Ireland and the United Kingdom completed the top five, with this being the highest placement for Ireland to date. Portugal also achieved their highest placement, finishing eighth. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan achieved their lowest placing to date.
The contest took place at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex in Yerevan, the capital and largest city of Armenia.[5][6] The venue previously hosted the 2011 contest.[7] It was also the third consecutive time the contest is held in a capital city.[8] The budget for the event was ֏5 billion (€11.9 million), of which ֏2.3 billion came from the Armenian government's emergency fund.[9]
Bidding phase and host city selection
Armenia's hosting had been confirmed by the EBU on 21 December 2021, following their win at the 2021 contest two days before.[10] Originally, unlike in the Eurovision Song Contest, the winning country did not receive the automatic rights to host the next contest. However, since 2019, each contest has been hosted by the previous year's winning country. The venue was revealed on 17 February 2022 during a cabinet meeting of the Armenian government, where Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made the announcement. Pashinyan also mentioned that the government had allocated funds to the venue to prepare for the event.[5] It was already reported earlier in that week that Yerevan would be the host city.[11]
Participating countries
On 26 September 2022, the EBU announced that 16 countries would participate in the contest.[4] After a 16-year hiatus, the United Kingdom returned to the contest, with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)[3] replacing ITV, who previously organised the country’s participation in the contest between 2003 and 2005. Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Germany and Russia did not return after having participated in 2021, with the latter's broadcasters having been indefinitely suspended from the EBU.
Prior to the contest, a digital compilation album featuring all the songs from the 2022 contest was put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by Universal Music on 30 November 2022.[12]
Participants of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022[4][13]
The reveal of the contest's theme art had been delayed due to the September clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In a press release, AMPTV stated that "preparations for the contest are ongoing, and according to the schedule, it was no longer possible to change the deadlines", while expressing hope that the contest would be held in peaceful conditions.[14] The theme art and slogan for the contest, "Spin the Magic", was later revealed on 26 September 2022. The artwork features an Armenian-styled spinning top as the main motif.[15]
Postcards
Contestants were featured in "postcard" video introductions, set in different locations across Armenia. Each began with a short clip of the upcoming performer using the Armenian-style spinning top on a particular piece of structure. Following that, a stream of light in the colours of the upcoming country's flag emanated from the structure and traveled to the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex, signalling the start of the upcoming performance.[16]
The event took place on 11 December 2022 at 19:00 AMT (16:00 CET).[8][20] Sixteen countries participated, with the running order published on 5 December 2022.[21] 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, eligible to vote.[22] France won with 203 points, also winning the jury vote.[23] Armenia came second with 180 points, with Georgia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, who won the online vote, completing the top five. Albania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, and Malta occupied the bottom five positions.
As the event began, the United Kingdom's Freya Skye was unable to sing live for the rehearsal that was filmed before the voting opened due to medical reasons, and playback was used.[27] The issue continued into the jury show, where footage from the first rehearsal was used as a replacement.[28] During the jury show, camera and in-ear device issues were reported for Serbia's Katarina Savić, who was allowed to perform again after the scheduled final performance of Ukraine's Zlata Dziunka.[29][30] On the day of the contest, Savić did not perform live due to medical issues, and footage from her jury show performance was used instead.[31]
The 12 points from the juries were announced live by a spokesperson from each country. Countries that did not provide their own spokesperson had their 12 points announced by a former winner or participant.[32][additional citation(s) needed]
For a country to be eligible for potential participation in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, it needs to be an active member of the EBU.[33]
Active EBU members
Azerbaijan – In January 2022, Eldar Rasulov, a member of Azerbaijani delegation, stated that the country must participate regardless where the contest is held in response to rumours that they would withdraw due to the upcoming contest being held in Armenia.[34] However, the country ultimately did not appear on the final list of participants.[4]
Germany – In August 2022, German broadcaster NDR confirmed that they would not be participating in 2022 due to a creative break and partial travel warnings for Armenia issued by the Federal Foreign Office. NDR and KiKa would, however, still broadcast the contest, with a view of returning in 2023.[35]
Slovenia – In May 2022, Slovenian broadcaster RTVSLO initially stated that it was considering a return to the contest.[36] However, the country did not end up participating.[37] Slovenia last participated in 2015.
Russia – Despite having initially confirmed their participation on 13 February 2022,[54] all EBU members from Russia announced their withdrawal from the union on 26 February, in response to their exclusion from the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[55][56] On 26 May, the EBU made effective the suspension of its Russian members, causing Russia to indefinitely lose broadcasting and participation rights for future Eurovision events, including Junior Eurovision.[57][58] The Russian selection process for the 2022 contest was therefore cancelled, with the Russian broadcasters instead devising an alternative competition similar in format to Junior Eurovision, titled Nashe pokoleniye (English: Our Generation), which was held on 18 November 2023, with 13 countries participating.[59][60][61][62][63]
According to the EBU, 33 million people watched the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022, with a viewing share of 12.8% across 13 measured markets.[88] Armenia had record high viewing figures for the contest, seeing 4 in 10 Armenians tune in to watch the contest. Other countries also saw their viewership increase; the Netherlands received 40% more viewers than in 2021, and Italy saw 100 times more viewers than in 2021. Poland delivered the biggest audience for the fourth year in a row.
For the following countries, viewership information is known:
^Despite Carlos Higes' involvement in writing "Señorita", he was not credited on the album or the live broadcast.
^Two songs tied for 10th highest score with 95 points, but the official scoreboard [1] ranks Poland as 10th and Italy as 11th. This is consistent with the tie-breaking rule that the song that received points from the most countries ranks higher in the case of a tie.
^Due to medical reasons related to their representative Katarina Savić, Serbia competed using footage from their jury show performance, recorded on 10 December.[31]
France
