This Sunday, 26 July, at 4.00 pm, there will be auditions for the 15 long-listed contestants for this year’s National Selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2026, as well as celebrity guest performances. The event is being held with the support of Vidbir’s official partners, the “Respublika Park” shopping center and “Neopolis” amusement park.
This year, the auditions will take place in front of a live audience to give participants a better sense of the atmosphere at international contests, where unexpected emotions and the excitement of a live concert. Based on the results of the auditions, 10 participants will be selected to take part in the ‘Star School’ in Bukovel.
The contestants’ performances will be commented on by celebrity mentors: Svitlana Tarabarova, music producer for the National Selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2026; alyona alyona, songwriter and Ukraine’s representative at Eurovision 2024; and MÉLOVIN, singer and Ukraine’s representative at Eurovision 2018.
As well as the contestants’ auditions, the event will feature performances by some famous artists. Svitlana Tarabarova and alyona alyona will perform the National Selection anthem, ‘Dream Boldly’, alongside the young artists.
Ukraine’s representatives from previous years’ Junior Eurovision Song Contests — Sofia Nersesyan, Artem Kotenko and Anastasia Dymyd — will also perform their songs.
The auditions will be hosted by Anna Tulieva, presenter of the vlogs and the Junior Eurovision Diaries, and Dmytro Zakharchenko, presenter at Radio Promin.
Respublika Park is a super-regional shopping and entertainment centre that opened in November 2021 in Kyiv, with a total area of 300,000 square metres. The centre is owned by the Austrian company Trafin Consulting und Entwicklungs GmbH, which was founded in Vienna in 2013 and operates in the property sector.
Neopolis is a technology-based entertainment park within the Respublika Park shopping and entertainment centre in Kyiv, combining modern attractions, interactive experiences, VR entertainment, video games, events and spaces for celebrations. The park covers 11,000 square metres.
As a reminder, last year Lou Deleuze from France won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Ce monde’, but France declined to host the contest, so this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Malta for the third time. Ukraine’s representative, Sofia Nersesyan, came second last year with the song ‘Motanka’.
Suspilne Kultura and Radio Promin are the official media partners of Eurovision.
Suspilne Ukraine, a member of the European Broadcasting Union, organises and conducts the selection process for Ukraine’s entry and representative, and ensures Ukraine’s participation in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2026.
Suspilne Ukraine is an independent media company with a strong presence across all platforms: the TV channels Pershyi, Suspilne Kultura, Suspilne Sport, and a national network of local channels; the radio stations Ukrainske Radio, Radio Promin, Radio Kultura, Radiotochka. Find only verified news on suspilne.media, as well as on our national and local digital platforms. We broadcast in minority languages, represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest, develop the children’s platform Brobaks, and train media professionals through the Public Media Academy. Our Suspilne Mediateka platform offers unique video and audio archives dating from the 1920s to today. Defending freedom in Ukraine.
