The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Belarusian national broadcaster (BTRC) have announced that Belarus will host the 16th Junior Eurovision Song Contest (JESC) in 2018 in Minsk.
2018 will be the second time that Junior Eurovision will take place in Minsk, following BTRC’s hosting of the show in the Belarusian capital in 2010.
To ensure the longevity of the Contest and allow more time to prepare the event, the Junior Eurovision Steering Group decided to remove a clause in the Rules that gave the winning broadcaster first refusal to host. EBU Members were given the opportunity to apply to host Junior Eurovision 2018 and the application from Belarus was judged to be the best.
Belarus has taken part in every Junior Eurovision Song Contest since the competition was created in 2003. The country has a very successful record at Junior Eurovision, winning in both 2005 with Ksenia Sitnik and 2007 with Alexey Zhigalkovich.
