Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the fifth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in the Ahoy indoor sporting arena in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on 8 December. The host country was chosen by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) on 13 July 2006 and the host city was announced on 11 September 2006. AVRO won the rights to host the show over Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT) of Croatia (who did not participate in this contest) and the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) of Cyprus.

The budget for the contest was stated to be more than €2,000,000. Profits made from the televoting were donated to UNICEF.

won the contest by a single point over. The winning performer was Alexey Zhigalkovich, singing "S druz'yami" (With friends). This was Belarus' second win; they won for the first time in 2005.

Bidding phase and host selection
Three countries bid for the rights to host the fifth Junior Eurovision Song Contest: Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT) for ; Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) for ; and Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep (AVRO) for the. AVRO were awarded the rights to host the contest in September 2006, with a budget of more than €2,000,000 being spent to stage the event.

Venue
The base of the present Ahoy was laid in 1950. After the devastation caused by the Second World War, the city of Rotterdam had worked on reconstruction and Rotterdam port was virtually complete. To mark the occasion, the Rotterdam Ahoy! exhibition was held in a purpose-built hall on the site where the medical faculty of the Erasmus University now stands. The exhibition hall was called the Ahoy-Hal. The apostrophe is a remnant of the original exclamation mark. The hall was used for a series of national and international events, such as the exhibition of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s work. During the North Sea flood of 1953 the hall also proved its worth as a reception centre for victims. Rotterdam Ahoy, in its current form, was built in 1970. The complex’s striking design won various national and international awards for its special steel structures. The first event to be held there was the Femina family exhibition. Since then, Ahoy has been expanded on a number of occasions, and was renovated and refurbished in 1998 to create today’s multifunctional venue.

Participating countries
Patricia Goldsmith, Communications Adviser of the Eurovision TV department, stated that nineteen countries would participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007, though Spanish broadcaster Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) later announced its withdrawal from the contest. Croatian broadcaster Hrvatska Radiotelevizija (HRT) also withdrew due to expense and difficulties in broadcasting the contest live.

Débutante countries included, Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia and Lithuania. Originally Bosnia and Herzegovina as well was going to be one of the four débutants but Georgia took this place when Radiotelevizija Bosne i Hercegovine (BHRT) decided to withdraw from participation. The minimum age of contestants was raised from 8 to 10 years this year.

Prior to the event, a compilation album featuring all the songs from the 2008 contest, along with karaoke versions, was put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by Universal Music Group on November 2007.

An official double CD of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was intended to go on sale on 23 December 2007, however it was later cancelled due to a lack of interest.

Returning artists
Even though rules of Junior Eurovision do not allow participation of returning artists, Sweden's Frida Sandén previously provided backing vocals for Molly Sandén in 2006.

Visual design
On 22 October 2007, the contest was officially presented to the media at a press conference where the first details regarding the show were confirmed. The theme for the contest was water and the motto was Make a big splash!. Five water curtains decorated the stage designed by Ronald van Bersselaar, which explained why this year’s logo featured the "singing girl" wearing boots.

Presenters
At the same press conference, Kim-Lian van der Meij was revealed to be the female host of the show, alongside Sipke Jan Bousema who was the previously announced as the male host.

Contest overview
The event took place on 8 December 2007 at 20:15 CET. Seventeen countries participated, with the running order published on October 2007. All the countries competing were eligible to vote with the televote. Belarus won with 137 points, with Armenia, Serbia, Georgia, and Macedonia, completing the top five. Lithuania, Cyprus, Belgium, Portugal, and Greece occupied the bottom five positions.

The show was opened by all participants alongside dancers from the Dance Academy Lucia Marthas performing the specially-commissioned UNICEF song "One World", written by Jeroen Rietbergen and Ronald Molendijk, on stage in the arena followed by the traditional flag parade introducing the 17 participating countries. The interval act included Dutch group Ch!pz and a performance by singer Katie Melua.

Spokespersons
Viewers from each participating country voted by telephone and SMS. Each country's awards points to their top-10 favourites based on these public voting results. The following spokespersons announced the point 1 to 8, 10, and the maximum 12 points.


 * – Nino Epremidze
 * – Bab Buelens
 * – Ani Sahakyan
 * – Natalie Michael
 * – Clara Pedro
 * – Marina Knyazeva
 * – Iulia Ciobanu
 * – Lyubomir Hadjiyski
 * – Anđelija Erić
 * – Kimberly Nieuwenhuizen
 * – Mila Zafirović
 * – Assol
 * – Molly Sandén
 * – Sophie DeBattista
 * – Chloe Sofia Boleti
 * – Indre Grikstelyte
 * – Alexander Rogachevskiy

12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points received. All countries were given 12 points at the start of voting to ensure that no country finished with nul points.

Broadcasts
Most countries sent commentators to Rotterdam or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, provide voting information. A live webcast was also streamed via the Junior Eurovision official website.