Georgia wins the 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest!
20 November 2016 at 20:00 CET
Georgia wins the 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Malta.
Andres Putting
Georgia has won the 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Ten year old Mariam Mamadashvili was declared the winner with her song Mzeo which means Sun. The 14th edition of the competition was broadcast live from Valletta's Mediterranean Conference Centre earlier today.
It's the third time that Georgia has won the competition, setting a new record for Junior Eurovision. Georgia scored a total of 239 points from the international expert and the kids juries plus the result from the Expert Panel. Armenia's Anahit and Mary finished second with 232 points with Italy's Fiamma Boccia in third place with 209 points. Check out the final scoreboard below:
This year, each entry was judged by one professional music industry jury and one youth jury made up of children from every participating country. These combined 50/50 to form that country’s vote.
In a format change brand new for 2016, an expert panel voted live during the show. Panel members awarded 1-8 points, then 10 and 12 to their favourite acts. These votes were then added to the scoreboard, creating the participant's final score with Georgia declared the winner.
With the new voting system Georgia's Mariam broke the previous record held by Malta last year, when Destiny and Not My Soul scored 185 points.
Poli Genova, who presented Junior Eurovision last year and participated in the Eurovision Song Contest earlier this year performed her entry If Love Was A Crime during the show. Jedward, who represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in both 2011 and 2012 were on the expert panel and performed their new single Hologram during the show.
Jon Ola Sand, the EBU's Head of Live Events, said "This competition is an excellent way for public service broadcasters to support young artists, and help bring their talent to an international audience. It was amazing to see all this talent on stage. Mariam's performance was incredible - we look forward to seeing more of her in years to come."
"We at the EBU are grateful for the work of PBS and all the delegations involved. This is true collaboration in Europe and I'm very proud of that," he added.
