Kazakhstan in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Kazakhstan participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Minsk, Belarus, with the song "Òzińe sen" performed by Daneliya Tuleshova. This marked the first time Kazakhstan participated in any Eurovision event. The Kazakh broadcaster, Khabar Agency (KA), was responsible for the country's participation in the contest, and organised a televised national final to select the Kazakh entry. Tuleshova won that final, and went on to place 6th at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest with 171 points.

Background
On 25 November 2017, Channel 31 of Kazakhstan revealed their intention to participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018. 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. 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. The next day, however, the EBU made a statement the following day 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.

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

National final
Kazakhstan's national final took on 22 September 2018. Ten songs participated in the competition and the winner was selected through a jury and public televote.

Competing entries
Artists were able to submit their entries between 1 August 2018 and 31 August 2018. From all songs submitted, an eleven-member jury panel selected 10 songs for the competition. The jury panel consisted of Tamara Assar, Mariya Sadvakasova, Erke Esmahan, Kairat Nurtas, Roza Rymbaeva, Alan Azhibayev, Lyalla Sultankyzy, Renat Gaisin, Bagim Mukhitdenova, Meirambek Bespaev and Dimash Kudaibergenov.

Final
The final took place on 22 September 2018 at the Almaty Arena in Almaty, hosted by Maya Bekbaeva, Nursultan Qurman, Marat Oralgazin and Erkebulan Myrzabek. Ten competing acts participated in a televised production where the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote. The jury panel consisted of Tamara Assar, Mariya Sadvakasova, Erke Esmahan, Kairat Nurtas, Roza Rymbaeva, Alan Azhibayev, Lyalla Sultankyzy, Renat Gaisin, Bagim Mukhitdenova, Meirambek Bespaev and Dimash Kudaibergenov.

The winner was Daneliya Tuleshova with the song "Òzińe sen" (Kazakh Cyrillic: Өзіңе сен; Believe in yourself), which was written by herself, Artem Kuzmenkov, and Kamila Dairova, and composed by Ivan Lopukhov.

At Junior Eurovision
During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which both took place on 19 November 2018, Kazakhstan was drawn to perform third on 25 November 2018, following Portugal and preceding Albania. She placed 6th, with 171 points.