 Britney and Justin presenting together? | |
Mini-Eurovision coming your way
Sarah Puntan-Galea
The Maltese musical stars of tomorrow will not have to wait until they are grown-ups to represent their country in the Eurovision Song Contest. The first Junior Eurovision Song Contest is coming your way.
Sixteen countries, including Malta, will send a representative to Copenhagen, Denmark on 15 December to find the best European junior musical talent.
Organised by the European Broadcasting Union, a Scandinavian equivalent which lead to a ballot to pick the participating countries was successfully piloted last year.
The 16 countries who passed the criteria and will battle it out in Denmark are Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Macedonia, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Cyprus and the United Kingdom. Other applicant countries mostly failed to meet the criteria on technical grounds.
Anyone interested in applying should be between eight and 14 years-of-age and must compose an original song and submit it with a completed application form. The composer must perform the song or make up part of the band.
The competition will have the same format as the adult Eurovision where performers from each country will perform for three minutes and each country will give marks for each performance. The competitor with the highest marks will win.
The winner will be announced by American singer Justin Timberlake and Brittany Spears is also considering joining her ex-boyfriend in the presentation.
The closing date for submissions is 15 July. Forms and entry criteria can be obtained from the Maltasong offices at 230 Republic street, Valletta.
The nation will then wait for an anonymous jury to chose 10 finalists in August. On 6 September all 10 will perform live on television and the population will get the opportunity to vote by telephone for who they think should represent Malta. The winner will then go on a promotional trip, similar to the one Lynn Chircop is presently on, to launch their musical career.
Maltasong deputy chairman John Bundy said that the competition will have the same look and feel as the adult contest: “I believe that there is some excellent young musical talent in Malta but before they did not have this window. This might open some doors and give us all some surprises.”
PBS chief executive, Andrew Psaila, Maltasong chairman Charlo Bonnici, Maltasong board secretary Martin Cauchi and Maltasong members Richard Attard and Ray Cassar also addressed the press at the PBS studios yesterday to launch the event. | 
