Wales in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019


Wales participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019 held in Gliwice, Poland on 24 November 2019. The Welsh broadcaster S4C was responsible for organising their second entry for the contest. Erin was selected through Chwilio am Seren to represent Wales, winning the televised national final on 24 September at the Venue Cymru in Llandudno. The winning song, "Calon yn Curo", was chosen internally by S4C and composed by Eurovision Song Contest 2010 performers, Sylvia Strand and producer Jonathan Gregory, with the lyrics written by rapper and composer Ed Holden.

Background

Wales announced on 9 May 2018 that they would debut at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 held in Minsk, Belarus. Welsh broadcaster S4C was responsible for the country's participation in the contest.
A televised national selection process, Chwilio am Seren, was held to select the Welsh entrant. Manw won the national final, held at the Venue Cymru in Llandudno, on 9 October to represent Wales with the internally selected song "Perta", written by Ywain Gwynedd. Wales came last in their debut year at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Manw and her song "Perta" received no jury points and only 29 points from the online voting.
Wales previously took part in the contest as part of the United Kingdom between and, with ITV being responsible for their participation. S4C had also shown interest in participating in the contest, but in the end decided against participating.

Before Junior Eurovision

''Chwilio am Seren''

Chwilio am Seren was the national selection process used to select the 2019 entrant. Auditions took take place during April and May 2019 with mentors Connie Fisher, Lloyd Macey and Tara Bethan as the judging panel. The four-part series, produced by Rondo Media for S4C, was aired on Tuesday nights. The series began on 3 September 2019, seeing three weeks of auditions, before the live grand final on 24 September 2019, held in Llandudno.
The first two shows covered the nationwide auditions. Following a masterclass round at S4C's headquarters in Carmarthen, the final twenty singers were wittled down to the top 12 who then performed in public at Quadrant Shopping Centre in Swansea. The jury decided at the end of these performances who would perform during a final round live on television.
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National final

The national final took place in Llandudno's Venue Cymru on 24 September 2019, hosted by Trystan Ellis-Morris and broadcast live on S4C. The first round saw the six live finalists performing cover songs. Regional juries consisting of two adults and two children awarded stars to their favourite three performers which were announced by a spokesperson. Each performer automatically received one star from each jury. The three mentors, Fisher, Macey and Bethan all gave their opinions on the performances but could not vote. In the second round, the three superfinalists each performed a different arrangement of the official Welsh entry "Calon yn Curo". Public televoting selected the winner from the second round, this being Erin.
The national final opened with the six finalists performing a Welsh version of the anthem of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014, "Together". During the televote window, a recap of the past edition of Chwilio am Seren was broadcast.

Artist and song information

Erin Mai

Erin Mai Grove is a Welsh singer from Llanrwst in Conwy, North Wales. She represented Wales at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Calon yn Curo".

Calon yn Curo

"Calon yn Curo" is a song composed by Sylvia Strand and Jonathan Gregory, and represented Wales at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019, having been internally selected by S4C. Erin Mai won the right to perform the song by winning Chwilio am Seren on 24 September 2019.

At Junior Eurovision

During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which both took place on 18 November 2019, Wales was drawn to perform ninth on 24 November 2019, following Malta and preceding Kazakhstan.
The final was broadcast live in Wales on S4C, with commentary provided by Trystan Ellis-Morris in Welsh. English commentary by Stifyn Parri was available via the red button.

Voting

The results of the 2019 Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be determined by national juries and an online audience vote. Every country will have a national jury that will consist of three music industry professionals and two kids aged between 10 and 15 who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury will be asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The first phase of the online voting will start on 22 November 2019 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances will be shown on junioreurovision.tv before the viewers can vote. After this, voters will also have the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant’s rehearsal. This first round of voting will stop on Sunday, 24 November, at 15:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting will take place during the live show and will start right after the last performance and will be open for 15 minutes. International viewers can vote for a minimum of three countries and a maximum of five. They can also vote for their own country’s song. These votes will then be turned into points which will be determined by the percentage of votes received. For example, if a song receives 20% of the votes, thus it will receive 20% of the available points. The public vote will count for 50% of the final result, while the other 50% will come from the professional juries.

Points awarded to Wales

12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

Split voting results