Kazakhstan in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

Kazakhstan has participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest every year since the 2018 contest in Minsk, Belarus. Their 2018 entry was selected through a national final organized by the Kazakhstani public broadcaster Khabar Agency (KA).[2][3]

Kazakhstan
Member station	Khabar Agency
National selection events	National final 2018 2020[1] Internal selection 2019
Participation summary
Appearances	3
First appearance	2018
Best result	2nd: 2019, 2020
External links
Kazakhstan's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Kazakhstan in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020

The 2018 contest marked the first time that Kazakhstan has participated in any Eurovision event.

History

On 25 November 2017, Channel 31 of Kazakhstan revealed their intention to participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018.[4] Initial claims emerged on 22 December 2017 from both the Kazakh Minister of Culture and Sports, Arystanbek Mukhamediuly; and the Director General of Channel 31, Bagdat Kodzhahmetov; that Kazakhstan had applied to become a member of the EBU, with the hope of participating both in the Eurovision Song Contest and the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.[5] Kodzhahmetov invited Daneliya Tuleshova, winner of the fourth season of Ukraine's version of The Voice Kids, to take part in the casting process to represent Kazakhstan in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.[6] The next day, however, the EBU made a statement rejecting the possibility of Kazakhstan becoming an active member of the EBU, owing to the fact that Kazakhstan is neither within the European Broadcasting Area nor the Council of Europe.[7]

Prior to this, Kazakhstan had sent a delegation to the 2013 and 2017 contests and broadcast the latter live.[8] Channel 31 also stated its intention to broadcast the contest in 2018 and 2019.[4] Khabar Agency has been an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since January 2016.[9]

Future

Since Khabar is an associate member of the EBU, it will still need a special invitation from the contest organisers in future editions. The EBU released a list with all the countries participating in the junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in which Kazakhstan was included.They selected their participant and song for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 on Saturday 26 September. 12 acts competed in the Kazakh national final and the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public SMS vote.

Contestants

Table key

2	Second place

Year	Artist	Song	Language	Place	Points
2018	Daneliya Tuleshova	"Ózińe sen" (Өзіңе сен)	Kazakh, English	6	171
2019	Yerzhan Maksim	"Armanyńnan qalma" (Арманыңнан қалма)	Kazakh, English	2	227
2020	Karakat Bashanova[10]	"Forever"[10]	Kazakh, English	2	152

Photo gallery

• 
  Daneliya Tuleshova in Minsk (2018)

Commentators and spokespersons

Year	Commentator	Channel	Spokesperson	Ref.
2017	Unknown	Channel 31	Did not participate	[11]
2018		Khabar 24	Aruzhan Hafiz	[12][13]
2019	Mahabbat Esen and Kaldybek Zhaisanbai			[14]
2020			Saniya Zholzhaxynova	[15]

See also

• Kazakhstan in the ABU TV Song Festival – A televised song gala organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU).
• Kazakhstan in the Eurovision Song Contest – A song competition organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
• Kazakhstan in the Intervision Song Contest – An international song contest for both Post-Soviet states and members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
• Kazakhstan in the Turkvision Song Contest – A contest for countries and regions which are of Turkic-speaking or Turkic ethnicity.
• Kazakhstan in the Bala Türkvizyon Song Contest – junior version of the Turkvision Song Contest.

References

1. Granger, Anthony (10 August 2020). "Kazakhstan: Televised Final To Select Junior Eurovision 2020 Participant". Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
2. Granger, Anthony (27 July 2018). "Kazakhstan: Khabar Confirms National Selection to be Held for Junior Eurovision 2018". Eurovoix. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
3. "These are the 19 (!) countries taking part in Junior Eurovision 2018". EBU. 25 July 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
4. Granger, Anthony (25 November 2017). "Kazakhstan: Channel 31 Has Ambitions For Eurovision & Junior Eurovision". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
5. Syzdykbaev, Azamat (22 December 2017). "Казахстан возможно примет участие в Евровидении - Багдат Коджахметов" [Kazakhstan may take part in the Eurovision Song Contest - Bagdat Kodzhahmetov]. www.inform.kz (in Russian). Kazinform. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
6. "Danelia Tuleshova may take part in Junior Eurovision". lenta.inform.kz. Kazinform. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
7. McCaig, Ewan (23 December 2017). "Kazakhstan: EBU makes statement regarding country's Eurovision participation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
8. Farren, Neil (19 November 2017). "Kazakhstan: Delegation Sent to Junior Eurovision 2017". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
9. Jiandani, Sergio (18 December 2015). "Kazakhstan: Khabar Agency becomes EBU associate member". esctoday.com. ESC Today. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
10. "Kazakhstan selects: It's Karakat Bashanova!". junioreurovision.tv. EBU. 2020-09-26. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
11. Farren, Neil (19 November 2017). "Kazakhstan: Delegation Sent to Junior Eurovision 2017". Eurovoix.
12. Granger, Anthony (24 November 2018). "Kazakhstan: Junior Eurovision 2018 Broadcast Forced To Change Channel". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
13. Granger, Anthony (22 November 2018). "Kazakhstan: Aruzhan Hafiz Revealed as Spokesperson". Eurovoix. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
14. Filippidou, Ifigeneia (24 November 2019). "These are the Junior Eurovision 2019 spokespersons". esc-plus.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
15. Herbert, Emily (2020-11-25). "Kazakhstan: Saniya Zholzhaxynova Revealed as Junior Eurovision 2020 Spokesperson". Eurovoix.