The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the third Junior Eurovision Song Contest for young singers aged 8 to 15. On 26 November 2005, the contest was broadcast live from the Ethias Arena in Hasselt, Belgium, in a joint effort by the national broadcasters Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT) and Radio télévision belge de la communauté française (RTBF), in co-operation with the European Broadcasting Union. Belgium won the right to hold the contest over five other countries including Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) of Croatia and AVRO of the Netherlands. Marcel Vanthilt and Maureen Louys hosted the event.
The show was not only broadcast live in the competing countries, it was also available on satellite worldwide and the Australian television channel SBS who acquired the rights to broadcast the show one month later.
As many as twenty countries could have participated in this contest: Cyprus should have taken part but on October 13, Cypriot broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) announced their withdrawal after questions arose over the song's origins, with complaints stating that the song they had chosen appeared to be plagiarism. This did not affect their ability to take part in the voting. In addition, Lithuania and Ukraine had planned on entering but later withdrew. Georgia had also wanted to appear but missed the participation deadline for the contest.
The public broadcasters of Switzerland and Poland didn't send candidates for financial reasons. France didn't join because of restructuring within the channel. Russia and Serbia and Montenegro made their debut in the competition this year.
The theme of the show was 'Let's Get Loud', standing for the new generation on the stage.
The show was watched by 8,500 people in the Arena, including the Belgian Prince Laurent and 20-25 million people around Europe.
Belarus was the winner of this edition, with 10-year old Ksenia Sitnik singing her song "My vmeste".
Read more about Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2005: Acts, Results, Voting Structure, Score Sheet, Commentators
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