The ''Kiddy Contest'' was a televised singing competition for children from 8 to 14 years, broadcast and organized annually by the Austrian broadcaster

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...

from 1995 to 2011. It was also broadcast in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

, RTL and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

. From 2012 until its final edition in 2019, the show only aired on the Austrian commercial broadcaster

Puls 4 Puls 4 is a terrestrial television channel in Austria. As its name implies, it is the fourth Austrian-wide full-service television channel, behind ORF eins, ORF 2, and ATV. History Puls 4 began as a local Vienna television station called "Puls ...

. Running for 25 editions, the format was invented by the music producers Erwin Kiennast and Norman Weichselbaum. Every year ten children from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

sing a current pop hit, for which Norman Weichselbaum has written a new German text. The audience determines the winner via voting. From season 1 to 15, there were also duets.

Broadcast

The Kiddy Contest 1996 took place on a Saturday morning in November 1996. During the 1995 and 1996 editions, the semifinals took place over the course of several weeks during the

/ Confetti TiVi program ''Saturday Game'' moderated by Edith Rolles. In 1997 there were separate Kiddy Contest semi-finals, which was also shown for five weeks on Saturdays in Confetti Tivi. It was moderated by Elmer Rossnegger. From 1998, there was no semifinals more on television, the pre-selection was made by a panel of experts. In 2015, the semi-finals were broadcast on the two Saturdays before the final. On both days, ten children each came and sang against each other in a duet. Only five of them each reached the final. The Kiddy Contest was not only broadcast on

ORF 1 ORF 1 (''ORF eins'') is an Austrian public television channel owned by ORF. It was the first television channel in Austria, started in 1955. ORF 1 is one of four public TV channels in Austria. It is funded by a mixture of advertising revenue and ...

, but has also aired several times on German television, where it was freely available throughout Europe on the satellite Astra 1. In the years 2000 to 2002 the channel

acted as a co-organizer of the program, during which the participants came from

and the program was shown on

. In the years 2001 and 2002 it was transferred to

KiKA KiKA (contraction of ''Der KinderKAnal von ARD und ZDF'' ARD and ZDF">ARD_(broadcaster).html" ;"title="he Children's Channel of ARD (broadcaster)">ARD and ZDF]) is a German free-to-air television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is man ...

. After 2002, ZDF decided not to participate anymore and the Kiddy Contest 2003 became a purely Austrian production. Already in 2004,

again found a new partner. This time it was the German private channel

Super RTL Super RTL is a German free-to-air television network owned by the RTL Group. The channel originally launched in 1995 as a joint venture between RTL Group predecessor company CLT-UFA and Disney's Buena Vista International Television Investments ...

. The transmission scheme wasn't changed, but Super RTL was also forced to renounce the otherwise usual advertising interruptions during the show. The cooperation with

lasted until 2006. The Kiddy Contest 2007 was again a single production of

. The previous specials in the lunch program were replaced by the series "Kiddy Contest – Das Camp", which was broadcast for several days in the afternoon program of

. The series documented the participation of the participants of the Kiddy Contest 2007 in Schloss Hof in

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

. In 2008 the Kiddy Contest was shown again on

and

. The final took place on the 1 November 2008 at 20:15. The moderator of the show was again

Mirjam Weichselbraun Mirjam Weichselbraun (born 27 September 1981) is an Austrian television host and actress, best known in Austria for presenting ''Dancing Stars'', Life Ball and the Vienna Opera Ball. She is best known outside Austria for presenting the Eurovisi ...

. The Kiddy Contest 2009 was recorded in the Austria Center Vienna on 31 October 2009, and a week later on 7 November on

at 4.45 pm. The show aired for the German fan base on the children's transmitter

in the German-speaking area a day later. The show was moderated by Benny Hörtnagl, star guests were

Daniel Schuhmacher Daniel Schuhmacher (born 19 April 1987) is a German singer and songwriter. In 2009, he rose to fame after winning the sixth season of ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'', the German edition of ''Pop Idol''. His debut album ''The Album'' was rele ...

and

Mandy Capristo Mandy Grace Capristo (born 21 March 1990), also known mononymously as Mandy, is a German singer and songwriter. Born in Mannheim and raised in Bürstadt, Capristo was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions in 2001, when she won ''Ki ...

(winner of season 7 /

Monrose Monrose was a German pop girl group, first established in November 2006. Formed on the fifth installment of the German adaption of the international television talent show ''Popstars'', the trio consisted of singers Mandy Capristo, Senna Gamm ...

). In 2010 the Kiddy Contest was broadcast live on

with the new moderator

Kati Bellowitsch Katharina "Kati" Bellowitsch (born 13 June 1974) is an Austrian radio and TV presenter. Career Born in Graz, Styria, Bellowitsch trained as a primary school teacher before becoming, in 1996, a presenter at a commercial radio station in Styria ...

showed a 60-minute summary a week later. From 2012 to 2019, the private broadcaster

secured the rights for the broadcast. The moderator of the show was Silvia Schneider from 2015 to 2018. From 2015 onwards, the program has also been broadcast via live stream on the Internet and in the

app. Alamande Belfor has been responsible for the choreography since 2017. In 2019,

Arabella Kiesbauer Cosima Arabella-Asereba Kiesbauer (born 8 April 1969), known professionally as Arabella Kiesbauer, is an Austrian born German-Austrian TV presenter, writer and actress. She grew up in Vienna with her grandmother after her mother Hannelore (a Germ ...

was the host of the show again. In 2020 the Kiddy Contest was canceled due to the

Corona pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. In view of the still uncertain

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

situation in 2021, the producers announced on December 21, 2020 that the format would be discontinued and that the Kiddy Contest 2019, as the 25th anniversary show, was the last.

Series overview

Contestants

Season 1, 1995

Season 2, 1996

Season 3, 1997

Season 4, 1998

Season 5, 1999

Season 6, 2000

Season 7, 2001

Season 8, 2002

Season 9, 2003

Season 10, 2004

Season 11, 2005

Season 12, 2006

Season 13, 2007

Season 14, 2008

Season 15, 2009

Season 16, 2010

Season 17, 2011

Season 18, 2012

Season 19, 2013

Season 20, 2014

Season 21, 2015

Season 22, 2016

Season 23, 2017

Season 24, 2018

Season 25, 2019

Winner songs

Notes

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=tt0845759
Offizielle Webpräsenz des Kiddy ContestsArtikelsammlung über den Kiddy Contest auf Medieninsider.at
Singing competitions Singing talent shows 1995 Austrian television series debuts 2019 Austrian television series endings 1990s Austrian television series 2000s Austrian television series 2010s Austrian television series 2000s German television series Austrian children's television series German children's television series German-language television shows German music television series ORF (broadcaster) original programming ZDF original programming RTL (German TV channel) original programming Television series about children Television series about teenagers Recurring events established in 1995 Recurring events disestablished in 2019