Serbia participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 which took place on 20 November 2016, in
Valletta
Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...
,
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
.
Radio Television of Serbia
Radio Television of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Радио-телевизија Србије, sr-Lat, Radio-televizija Srbije, italics=yes; abbr. RTS/PTC) is Serbia's public broadcaster. It broadcasts and produces news, drama, and sports programming thro ...
(RTS) was responsible for organising their entry for the contest. Dunja Jeličić was internally selected to represent Serbia with the song "U la la la".
Background
Prior to the 2016 Contest, Serbia had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest seven times since its debut in ,
and once as in , prior to the
Montenegrin independence referendum in 2006 which culminated into the dissolution of Serbia and Montenegro,
[ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1372 ]
Before Junior Eurovision
The Serbian broadcaster announced on 14 September 2016, that they would be participating at the contest to be held in Valletta, Malta. Ot 6 October 2016, it was announced that Dunja Jeličić would be representing the country in Valletta with the song "U la la la". Jeličić had previously appeared in
the 2015 contest as the Serbian spokesperson.
Artist and song information
Dunja Jeličić
Dunja Jeličić was born in
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
on 11 November 2003.
Dunja showed interest in music as a child, singing and dancing to every tone and rhythm of music that she heard. At the age of six she became a member of the children’s choir, Čarolija, and performed many concerts as a soloist. She was also a contestant in the competition Prvi srpski talenat (First Talents of Serbia).
In 2014, Dunja made it to the semi-finals of the big talent show for children, Pinkove zvezdice. She won the love of the audience with her flourishing vocals and sincerity. She is now in seventh grade of elementary school and also goes to music school where she is learning to play the piano.
More recently Dunja has taken part in the Čarolija music festival and at the annual Zlatna Sirena competition she won several first places in different categories and genres. Dunja enjoys different styles of music including pop, rock, and r’n’b. Her favourite performers include Beyoncé and Ariana Grande.
Dunja is very creative and outside of music Dunja she likes art and swimming. Music and acting are talents that she possesses and which she aspires to continue developing in the future. She is currently engaged in preparing the musical based on the life of Nikola Tesla; Tesla: The Secret of Electropy (Tesla: Tajna Elektropije) where she will be playing one of the leading roles.
U La La La
At Junior Eurovision
During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which took place on 14 November 2016, Serbia was drawn to perform twelfth on 20 November 2016, following
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
and preceding
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
Final
Voting
During the press conference for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016, held in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
, the Reference Group announced several changes to the voting format for the 2016 contest. Previously, points had been awarded based on a combination of 50% National juries and 50% televoting, with one more set of points also given out by a 'Kids' Jury'. However, this year, points will be awarded based on a 50/50 combination of each country’s Adult and , to be announced by a spokesperson. For the first time since the inauguration of the contest the voting procedure will not include a public televote. Following these results, three expert jurors will also announce their points from 1-8, 10, and 12. These professional jurors are:
Christer Björkman
Christer Samuel Björkman (; born 25 August 1957) is a Swedish singer and television producer. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 with the song "I morgon är en annan dag". From 2002 to 2021, he served as a producer of Me ...
, Mads Grimstad, and
Jedward
John and Edward Grimes (born 16 October 1991), collectively known as Jedward (a portmanteau of their first names), are an Irish singing and television presenting duo. They are identical twins who first appeared as John & Edward in the sixth s ...
.
References
{{Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016
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 ...
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...