Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

announced on 25 July 2018 that they would debut at the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the sixteenth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It took place in the Belaru ...

to be held in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, Belarus. The Kazakh broadcaster,

Khabar Agency The Khabar Agency (KA) ( kk, "Хабар" Агенттігі, translit="Xabar" Agenttıgı; russian: Агентство «Хабар») is a major media outlet in Kazakhstan. It was established in 1995, known originally as the National Television ...

(KA), was responsible for the country's participation in the contest. A televised national selection process was held to select the Kazakh entry. The 2018 contest marked the first time that Kazakhstan has participated in any

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

event.

Background

On 25 November 2017, Channel 31 of

revealed their intention to participate in the

. 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 ''The Voice Kids'' is a version of ''The Voice'' TV series franchise in which children participate. Versions The first such variation was ''The Voice Kids'' from the Netherlands, which was followed by other international variants: : Franchise wit ...

,'' 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 The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in 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.

has been an associate member of the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

(EBU) since January 2016.

Before Junior Eurovision

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 Kairat Nurtas (sometimes spelled Qairat; kk, Қайрат Нұртас; Қайрат Нұртасұлы Айдарбеков, translit=''Qairat Nūrtasūly Aidarbekov'', ; born 25 February 1989, Turkestan) is a Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, off ...

Roza Rymbaeva Roza Kuanyshkyzy Rymbayeva ( kk, Роза Қуанышқызы Рымбаева, ''Roza Quanyşqyzy Rymbaeva''; born 1957) is a Soviet and Kazakh singer, the people's artist of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (1986). Biography Rosa Rymbaye ...

, 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 Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...

, 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,

, Alan Azhibayev, Lyalla Sultankyzy, Renat Gaisin, Bagim Mukhitdenova, Meirambek Bespaev and Dimash Kudaibergenov.

Artist and song information

Daneliya Tuleshova

Daneliya Tuleshova ( kz, Данэлия Төлешова, translit=Danelia Töleşova, ; born 18 July 2006) is a Kazakh child singer, also known as Da NeL. She represented Kazakhstan at the

, Belarus, on 25 November 2018 with the song "Özıñe sen". Tuleshova was born in the city of Astana and won the fourth season of '' The Voice Kids Ukraine''.

Òzińe sen

"Òzińe sen" or "Özıñe sen" ( Kazakh Cyrillic: ; ) is a song by Kazakh singer Daneliya Tuleshova. It is composed by Ivan Lopukhov and written by Artem Kuzmenkov, Kamila Dairova and Daneliya Tuleshova. It represented Kazakhstan at the

, Belarus. The song came in 6th place with 171 points.

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.

Voting

Detailed voting results

References

{{Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 Junior Eurovision Song Contest

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...