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Albania in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024
Albania is set to take part in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Madrid, Spain, with "Vallëzoj" performed by Nikol Çabeli. The Albanian broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) organised the national final Junior Fest Albania 2024 in order to select the country's entry for the 2024 contest. BackgroundPrior to the 2024 contest, Albania had participated in the contest nine times since its first entry in the 2012 contest. Albania has never won the contest, with their best result being in 2015, when Mishela Rapo represented the country with "Dambaje", placing 5th.[1] The nation opted not to take part in the contest in 2013 and 2014, and in 2020 (due to the COVID-19 pandemic).[2] In 2023, Viola Gjyzeli competed for Albania with the song "Bota ime", which ended up in 8th place with 115 points; this marked the first top ten entry for Albania since 2015.[3] Before Junior EurovisionJunior Fest Albania 2024
Junior Fest Albania 2024 was the seventh edition of Junior Fest Albania, the national final format developed by RTSH to select Albanian entries for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The submission process for interested artists aged between nine and fourteen and composers to submit their entries for the competition was open between 29 July 2024 and 31 August 2024.[4][5] Eighteen finalists were selected by a jury panel composed of music industry professionals and announced on 3 September 2024,[6] with one-minute snippets of the songs published on 12 September.[7] RTSH had announced their intention to apply changes to the format of the competition – which took place on 27 September 2024 at the RTSH Symphony Orchestra Hall in Tirana, hosted by Angelo Shkreli and Julian Hurdha, and broadcast on RTSH1, RTSH Muzikë and Radio Tirana 1[8] – stating it would take place under a "brand new formula, in the form of a spectacle".[5] Migena Kraja and Klodian Qafoku were appointed the artistic and musical director of the event, respectively.[9][10] The slogan for the competition was "Ti lulëzo" ("You bloom"), inspired by the theme art and slogan of the 2024 contest.[10] The winner of the competition was determined by the combination of the votes by a five-member jury panel, with the final also seeing several acts receive special awards for their participation.[8] These included the prize for best vocals to Eden Dani, the prize for best lyrics to Ami Kokurti and the Robert Radoja encouragement prize to Ema Deda.[11] Nikol Çabeli, born in Ioannina, Greece and residing in Gjirokastër, Albania,[12] was declared the winner with the song "Vallëzoj".[13] In addition to the competing entries, the guest performers included Mal Retkoceri (winner of Festivali i Këngës 62) with "Çmendur", Eranda Libohova with "Marinela" and Viola Gjyzeli with "Bota ime", after which a children's choir also performed "Footloose" and the finalists performed a rendition of the common song. Retkoceri was also one of the members of the jury panel.[14][15] Key: Winner Second place Third place
PreparationIn early October 2024, the producers behind "Vallëzoj" confirmed that it would undergo a revamp ahead of the contest; among them was Enis Mullaj, who had previously worked an analogous position on various past Eurovision entries for Albania, including 2019 and 2023, as well as the Junior Eurovision entry in 2023.[16] It was released on 8 October, alongside an accompanying music video.[17] At Junior EurovisionThe Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is set to take place at Caja Mágica in Madrid, Spain on 16 November 2024. Albania will perform 3rd, following Estonia and preceding Armenia.[18] VotingThe same voting system that was introduced in the 2017 edition will be used, where the results will be determined by 50% online voting and 50% jury voting. Every country has a national jury that consists of three music industry professionals and two children aged between 10 and 15 who are citizens of the country they represent. The rankings of those jurors are combined to make an overall top ten.[19] The online voting consists of two phases. The first phase of the online voting will begin on 15 November 2024 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances is shown on the contest's website Junioreurovision.tv before the viewers can vote. After this, voters will also have the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant's rehearsal. This first round of voting will end on 16 November at 17:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting will take place during the live show and begin right after the last performance and will be open for 15 minutes. International viewers will be able vote for three songs.[20] They will also be able to vote for their own country's song. These votes will then be turned into points which will be determined by the percentage of votes received. For example, if a song receives 10% of the votes, it will receive 10% of the available points. References
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