Georgia competed in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in France, which was held in Nice on 26 November 2023. The children's talent show Ranina was used for the sixth year in a row to select Georgia's representative, Anastasia Vasadze.[1] Later, it was revealed that she would be joined by Nikoloz Kharati and Oto Bazerashvlili.[2][3] The trio represented Georgia with the song "Over the Sky".[4]
Prior to the 2023 contest, Georgia had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest fifteen times since its debut in 2007,[5] and since then they have never missed a single contest. Georgia is also the most successful country in the competition, with three victories in 2008, 2011 and 2016.[6]
In the 2022 contest, Mariam Bigvava represented Georgia with the song "I Believe" following her victory in the fifth season of Ranina, achieving 3rd place out of 16 with 161 points.[7]
Before Junior Eurovision
Ranina
For the sixth year in a row, Georgia used an original children's talent show format, Ranina (Georgian: რანინა), as the selection method for their artist. Georgian broadcaster GPB confirmed that Ranina would be used for the sixth time in December 2022.[8] The list of participants competing in the show was revealed on 1 February 2023, confirming that the show would once again have 10 competitors.[9] On 29 March, GPB announced that Ranina's first episode will be aired on 1 April.[10]
Classical pianist David Aladashvili remained as the main host of the show. Last years finalist Vache Ghviniashvili joined him as co-host.
The shows of round 1 took place on 1 and 15 April 2023.[b] The candidates performed in a duet with participants from previous seasons including the winners from 2020-2022 Sandra Gadelia, Niko Kajaia and Mariam Bigvava. The jury members for this round were Giorgi Asanishvili, Dato Evgenidze, and Liza Bagrationi.
The shows of round 2 took place on 22 and 29 April. The candidates performed Georgian folk songs with the Shavnabada band. The jury members for this round were David Sakavaridze, Dato Evgenidze, and Maia Mikaberidze.
The shows of round 3 took place on 6 and 13 May 2023. The candidates performed together with Zviad Bolkvadze. The jury members for this round were Nukri Kapanadze, Dato Evgenidze, and Sopo Khalvashi.
The shows of round 4 took place on 20 and 27 May 2023. The candidates performed songs in 10 different foreign languages, such as: Hebrew, French, Czech, Italian, African languages, Ukrainian, Spanish, English and Portuguese. The jury members for this round were Nodiko Tatishvili, Dato Evgenidze, and Tika Rukhadze.
The five participants who collected the most points throughout the four tours will advance to the semi-final, with the artists advancing to the next round being announced following the tallying of the scores at the end of the last show of the fourth round. The semi-finalists are Anastasia Berishvili, Anastasia Vasadze, Gabriel Lomsadze, Tamar Tomashvili and Soso Chachua.[23]
Semi-final qualification
Artist
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Total
Result
Anaroza Gaprindashvili
118
120
120
119
477
Eliminated
Anastasia Berishvili
120
120
120
120
480
Semi-finalist
Anastasia Vasadze
120
120
120
120
480
Semi-finalist
Anastasia Masurashvili
120
120
120
117
477
Eliminated
Gabriel Lomsadze
119
120
120
120
479
Semi-finalist
Datuna Kereselidze
117
120
120
119
476
Eliminated
Demetre Okriashvili
118
117
120
118
473
Eliminated
Tamar Tomashvili
120
120
120
120
480
Semi-finalist
Mariam Gomiashvili
115
119
120
118
472
Eliminated
Soso Chachua
120
120
120
120
480
Semi-finalist
Semi-final
The semi-final took place on 3 June 2023. The five contestants performed together with former Ranina participants, such as: Nikoloz Vasadze (2018), Anastasia Garsevanishvili (2019), Barbare Makhatadze (2021), Kato Chkareuli (2022) and last year winner Mariam Bigvava. The jury members for the semi-final were Buka Kartozia, Nato Metonidze and Sopo Toroshelidze.
All semi-finalists moved on to the final, due to a tie in the judges's vote. This meant that Ranina would have 5 finalists for the first time.[24]
"Chems simgheras vin gaigebs" (ჩემს სიმღერას ვინ გაიგებს)
2
Soso Chachua
"Janaia" (ჯანაია)
3
Tamar Tomashvili
"Isev is baghi" (ისევ ის ბაღი)
4
Gabriel Lomsadze
"Mukhambadzi" (მუხამბაზი)
5
Anastasia Vasadze
"Ram shemkmna adaminad" (რამ შემქმნა ადამიანად)
Preparation
Despite Anastasia Vasadze being the sole winner of Ranina 2023, therefore winning the right to represent Georgia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, it was revealed on 12 September 2023 that she would be supported on stage by Nikoloz Kharati and Oto Bazerashvili, both of whom participated in the 2022 edition of the selection and reached the final. This also marked the first time that Georgia would not be represented by a soloist since 2015.[2][3]
The trio went on to rebrand as Anastasia and Ranina, referencing the name of the selection show which brought them together, on 13 October,[27] with their song "Over the Sky", written by Betkho and Mebo Nutsubidze, being released on 15 October during the broadcast of Am shabat-k’viras (Georgian: ამ შაბათ-კ'ვირას, transl. This Weekend) on the First Channel.[27][28]
At Junior Eurovision
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023 took place at Palais Nikaïa in Nice, France on 26 November 2023.
Voting
The same voting system that was introduced in the 2017 edition was used, where the results were determined by 50% online voting and 50% jury voting. Every country had a national jury that consisted of three music industry professionals and two children aged between 10 and 15 who were citizens of the country they represented. The rankings of those jurors were combined to make an overall top ten.[29]
The online voting consisted of two phases. The first phase of the online voting began on 24 November 2023 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances was shown on the contest's website Junioreurovision.tv before the viewers could vote. After this, voters also had the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant's rehearsal. This first round of voting ended on 26 November at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting took place during the live show and began right after the last performance and was open for 15 minutes. International viewers were able vote for three songs.[30] They were also able to vote for their own country's song. These votes were then turned into points which were determined by the percentage of votes received. For example, if a song received 10% of the votes, it received 10% of the available points.
At the end of the show, Georgia received 21 points from juries and 53 points from online voting, placing 14th. This equalled Georgia's lowest placement in the contest in 2019.[31]
