Australia: SBS will not take part in Junior Eurovision 2021

Australia: SBS will not take part in Junior Eurovision 2021
Friday, 27 August 2021

  • The Australian national broadcaster, SBS,  has confimred that it will not participate at the upcoming Junior Eurovision Song Contest set to take place on December 19, 2021 in Paris. 

    Following ABC's statement which ruled out a Junior Eurovision 2021 participation , SBS , revealed that they do not intend to participate in the competition in Paris, which means that Australia will not be present in the contest for a second consecutive year. 

    SBS confirmed to Aussievision that they will take part in this year's Junior Eurovision. Specifically the Australian broadcaster stated to Aussievision: 

    "Due to the current travel restrictions, Australia will not be competing in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021."

    Last year, the Aussies decided not to participate in Junior Eurovision 2020, a decision taken due to the covid-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions implemented in the country,as the Australian Goverment had enforced a ban on all international flights from and to the country. With the pandemic still around despite the vaccination process the same reason keeps the land down under away from the contest for a second year in a row. 

     

    Australia in Junior Eurovision 

    The participation of Australia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest first began in Sofia, Bulgaria, at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015. Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) was responsible for the selection process of their participants at the 2015 and 2016 contests, with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) taking over the country's participation from the 2017 contest.

    The first representative to participate for the nation at the 2015 contest was Bella Paige with the song "My Girls", which finished in 8th place out of 17 participating entries, achieving a score of 64 points. Australia continued their participation at the 2016 contest, having internally selected Alexa Curtis with her song "We Are", which finished in 5th place, scoring 202 points. Isabella Clarke in 2017 and Jael Wena in 2018 both placed 3rd, Australia's best results to date.

    In 2019 Jordan Antony represented the nation with his entry 'We will rise" that finished in 8th place receiving a total of 121 points. Last year the country decided to withdraw as the covid-19 pandemic and the travel restriction made it impossible for them to take part in Warsaw. 

    News Source: Aussievision

    Image: JuniorEurovision.tv/  THOMAS HANSES