Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

competed in every

Junior Eurovision Song Contest The Junior Eurovision Song Contest, often known simply as Junior Eurovision, is an international children's Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 2003. Each part ...

before withdrawing in 2013. The country's best result was in , when

Laura Omloop Laura Omloop (born 18 May 1999) is a Belgian pop singer who represented her country in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Kyiv, Ukraine, finishing in fourth place. Omloop sang the song "Zo verliefd", which contains yodeling. This was Be ...

came 4th with "Zo verliefd". Belgium's worst result was in , with

Trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust (law), a legal relationship in which one person holds property for another's benefit * Trust (bu ...

coming 15th with "Anders".

History

Belgium are one of the sixteen countries to have made their debut at the inaugural contest, which took place on 15 November 2003 at the

Forum Forum or The Forum may refer to: Common uses *Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example * Internet forum, discussion board ...

in Copenhagen, Denmark.

National selection

Two broadcasters were once responsible for the Belgium entry at Junior Eurovision - as for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

, both

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

broadcaster

Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie ("Flemish Radio and Television broadcasting organisation"), shortened to VRT (), is one of the national public broadcasting, public service broadcasters for the Flemish Community of Belgium. Its c ...

(VRT) and Walloon broadcaster

Radio télévision belge de la communauté française The ("Belgian Radio-television of the French Community"), shortened to RTBF (branded as rtbf.be), is a public service broadcaster for the French-speaking Community of Belgium. Its counterpart in the Flemish Community is the Dutch-language VR ...

(RTBF) were responsible for organising the Belgian entry for Junior Eurovision. The two broadcasters shared responsibility, with VRT organising one year, and RTBF organising the following year. In 2003 VRT organised the Belgian entry, sending

X!NK X!NK ( ) is a Belgian pop punk band. The band consisted of two pairs of brothers: Jonas and Niels Meukens, and Thomas and Philip Valkiers. Jonas was the lead singer and occasionally the second guitarist, his brother Niels was the drummer. Philip ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

with "De vriendschapsband", while in , RTBF organised the Belgian entry, sending the Free Spirits to the contest in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

with "Accroche-toi". 2005 marked a change to the format, with both broadcasters organising one national final due to the contest being held in the Belgian city of

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. As of 1 August 2023, Hasselt had a total population of 80,846. The old ...

. Each broadcaster chose six songs to compete in one national final, with the final winner representing Belgium at the contest. The winner was Lindsay Daenen with "Mes rêves". 2006 returned to the previous format, with VRT organising the entry. Following this RTBF decided to withdraw from Junior Eurovision due to a lack of interest for the contest in

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

and in RTBF. This gave VRT total control of Belgium's Junior Eurovision entry. Although VRT is a Dutch broadcaster, they have been known to include some French songs in their national finals, for example, in . However, since 2006 all Belgian entries have been in Dutch. In 2010, Belgium sent a duo for the first time since their debut. Belgium was also the first country who confirmed to participate in Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011 and 2012.

Withdrawal

On 26 March 2013, VRT announced that Belgium will withdraw from the contest in 2013 in order to launch a new show for young performs in Belgium. However, they held a national final called ', which was won by then 14-year-old Pieter Vreys. On 20 December 2013, Belgium's Flemish TV channel

Ketnet Ketnet is a Flemish public children's television channel in Belgium owned and operated by the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie, VRT, Flemish public broadcaster. It broadcasts a mix of locally produced and imported productions on the VR ...

announced that they are no longer interested in Junior Eurovision and decided not to make a comeback. On 31 December 2023, VRT stated that it had not yet made a decision as to a return to the contest in 2024, but that it would consider the possibility in the following months. However, Belgium eventually opted against participation in the 2024 contest.

Participation overview

Commentators and spokespersons

The contests are broadcast online worldwide through the official Junior Eurovision Song Contest website junioreurovision.tv and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. In 2015, the online broadcasts featured commentary in English by junioreurovision.tv editor Luke Fisher and 2011 Bulgarian Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrant Ivan Ivanov. The Belgian broadcasters, VRT and RTBF, send their own commentator to each contest in order to provide commentary in Dutch and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

. Spokespersons were also chosen by the national broadcaster in order to announce the awarding points from Belgium. The table below list the details of each commentator and spokesperson since 2003.

Hostings

Gallery

File:L. Daenen, Junior Eurovision 2005.jpg, represented Belgium at the 2005 contest held in Hasselt File:Fabian (Fabian Feyaerts) (Belgium, JESC 2012).jpg, Fabian represented Belgium at the 2012 contest held in Amsterdam

Notes and references

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belgium In The Junior Eurovision Song Contest Countries in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest Music of Belgium