Kazakhstan in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Kazakhstan took part in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021. The Kazakh entrant for the 2021 contest in Paris, France was selected through a national selection, organised by the Kazakh broadcaster Khabar Agency (KA). The semi-final took place online between 8 and 12 October 2021, while the final took place on 6 November 2021.

Alinur Khamzin and Beknur Zhanibekuly were selected to represent Kazakhstan with the song "Ertegı älemı (Fairy World)".

Background
Prior to the 2021 contest, Kazakhstan's highest placing in the contest was in 2019 and 2020, represented by Yerzhan Maxim with the song "Armanyńnan qalma" and Karakat Bashanova with the song "Forever", respectively, both achieving second place.

As Khabar Agency (KA) is not an active member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the broadcaster requires a special invitation from the EBU to participate in Eurovision events. Khabar was first invited to participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in. Channel 31 had previously expressed their ambitions to debut in the 2018 contest, and had sent a delegation to the contest.

National final
Kazakhstan's participation in the 2021 contest was confirmed in September 2021, having been invited to participate by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Khabar announced during a press conference on 29 September 2021 that artists will be able to submit their applications for the national final until 6 October 2021. From all applications submitted, a jury panel selected 30 acts for the online semi-final. The jury consisted of Khamit Shangaliev (composer of the 2019 and 2020 Kazakh entries), Madina Sadvakasova (singer), Beksultan Kenishkaliev (singer and participant in the 2020 Slavianski Bazaar), Kanat Aytbayev (singer and producer), Yerlan Bekchurin (producer and composer) and Karlygash Abdikarimova (cultural worker and participant in the Slavianski Bazaar).

Semi-final
The online semi-final took place between 8 and 12 October 2021 where users were able vote for their favorite artists on Khabar's official website. The top ten acts with the most votes proceeded to the televised national final.

Final
The final took place on 6 November 2021 in Nur-Sultan, where ten acts performed their candidate Junior Eurovision songs written for them by composers directly invited by Khabar in a televised production. The winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of both public telephone vote and the votes of jury members made up of music professionals. Beknur Zhanibek and Alinur Khamzin were tied for the first place and the tie was to be decided by the jury, however after consultation with the composers of both songs it was ultimately decided that Zhanibek and Khamzin would both represent Kazakhstan with the song "Ertegı älemı", retitled as "Ertegı älemı (Fairy World)".

At Junior Eurovision
After the opening ceremony, which took place on 13 December 2021, it was announced that Kazakhstan would perform tenth on 19 December 2021, following Armenia and preceding Albania.

At the end of the contest, Kazakhstan received 121 points, placing 8th out of 19 participating countries.