North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

has participated in the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest The Junior Eurovision Song Contest (often shortened to JESC, Junior Eurovision or Junior EuroSong) is an international song competition which has been organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) annually since 2003. It is held in a diff ...

18 times since their debut in the inaugural contest.

Macedonian Radio Television Macedonian Radio Television (MRT; mk, Македонска радио-телевизија (МРТ), Makedonska radio-televizija (MRT)), officially National Radio-Television ( mk, Национална Радиотелевизија, Nacionalna ...

(MRT) is responsible for the country's participation in the contest. North Macedonia has participated in every contest with the exceptions of , and contests.

History

North Macedonia debuted in the inaugural 2003 contest in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark, represented by the song "Ti ne me poznavaš" performed by Marija and Viktorija. The song placed 12th in a field of 16 countries. The country's best performance at the contest has been 5th place, achieved twice to date – in when North Macedonia was represented by the song "Ding Ding Dong" performed by Rosica Kulakova and Dimitar Stojmenovski, and in with "Prati mi SMS" performed by

Bobi Andonov Bobby Andonov (born 28 August 1996), known by his stage name BOBI, is an Australian singer, songwriter and producer. Early life Bobby Andonov was born on 28 August 1996 in Melbourne, Australia to Macedonian parents originating from Strumica, N ...

. MRT did not participate in 2012 due to issues with the voting process in the contest and the lack of budget available for participation. However, North Macedonia returned to the contest in 2013, held in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, Ukraine. North Macedonia did not return to the contest in 2014, but returned again in 2015. MRT did not participate in the due to the

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 ...

, but returned to the 2021 contest in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. For the 2022 contest, an audition round was held on 23 June 2022 at the MRT Studios in Skopje. The selection criteria were vocal, artistic and scenic quality. On 29 June 2022, it was revealed that Lara Trpčeska and Irina Dazidovska had been selected as Macedonian entrants by the committee. Although originally not part of the act, Jovan Jakimovski was later added after Lara and Irina were selected, and on 2 November it was revealed Lara feat. Jovan and Irina will represent the country with the song "Životot e pred mene", written by Lara Trpčeska,

Simon Trpčeski Simon Trpcheski (Simon Trpčeski), OMM ( mk, Симон Трпчески, ) (born September 18, 1979, in Skopje, Yugoslavia), is a Macedonian classical pianist. Trpčeski is the youngest of three children; his father was a judge and his mother a ...

, Jovan Jakimovski and

Darko Dimitrov Darko Dimitrov ( mk, Дарко Димитров ; born January 21, 1973) is a Macedonian songwriter, record producer, arranger and record executive. Highly acclaimed for revitalising the Yugoslav mainstream pop music scene, which also influence ...

. The song premiered on 3 November 2022 during the MRT programme ''Dnevnik 2''. For the 2023 contest, an audition round was held on 11 May 2023 at the MRT Studios in Skopje, and on 16 May 2023, it was revealed that 12 year-old Tamara Grujeska had been selected as Macedonian entrant by the committee. Her entry, "Kaži mi, kaži mi koj", was released on 16 October 2023.

Participation overview

Gallery

File:JESC 2013 (Macedonia) Barbara Popović at rehearsal 2.jpg,

Barbara Popović Barbara Popović ( mk, Барбара Поповиќ, ; born 16 September 2000), also known as simply Barbara, is a Macedonian singer. She is known for representing her country at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Biography Popović was ...

in Kyiv ()

Commentators and spokespersons

Notes

References