This Saturday, France won the XXIII edition of the Junior Eurovision held in Tbilisi (Georgia) obtaining 248 points, while the representative of Spain, Gonzalo Pinillos, obtained fifth place with ‘Once upon a time’At … obtain 152 points, 98 from the professional jury and 54 from the spectators. Unlike the controversial Eurovision Song Contest 2026, Israel did not participate in the youth version of the competition, which this year was dominated by the participating ballads and pianists.
Thanks to the votes of the professional jury, France already tops the ranking (152 points), followed by the host countries, Georgia (121 points), Armenia (117 points), Spain (98 points) and North Macedonia (92 points). Finally, after adding the public vote, the trophy went to France – which already has four victories in this festival with those of 2020, 2022 and 2023 – and to its representative Lou Deleuze, 11 years oldwith his intimate “This World”. The public was able to vote for three of their favorite songs for free, including those from their own country.
In fourteenth position and in front of thousands of spectators equipped with luminous bracelets and different flags, Gonzalo Pinillos took the stage inspired by the Georgian heritage to perform “Il aussi une fois” (“Once Upon a Time”). Accompanied by his duo of dancers, Daniela Valladolid and Álex Zamorathe young Spanish artist defended his proposal full of magic and fantasy of adventure books, where he recalled that “everything is possible when you read.” Snowy, Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland They accompanied Gonzalo, who played the piano, sang and danced.
Lou Deleuze, 11 years old, won the prize representing France
After the performance, Gonzalo Pinillos explained in statements to TVE, reported by Europa Press, that he “very happy with the position. We gave it our all on stage and it turned out amazing. We had a great time, that’s what’s important in the end. And then, the position didn’t depend on us either and I was very happy with the jury’s overall assessment.”
With the motto “United by music”THE XXIII edition of the competition kicked off with a show featuring a group of dancers alongside the 2024 winner, Georgian Andria Putkaradze, followed by the classic parade of countries and flags.
As for the intermission events before the winner was revealed, they featured the Georgian winners of the 2008 competition, the band Bzikebi; from 2011, the group Candy; and the last winner of the competition held in Madrid in 2024, Andria Putkaradze. After them, the collective performance of all the artists who participated in the competition took place.
This year, 18 countries participated. Germany and Estonia withdrew from the competition
This edition had a total of 18 participating countriesone more than last year, the highest number since 2021. Azerbaijan, Croatia and Montenegro returned in 2025, while Germany and Estonia withdrew of the competition.
The competition began with Malta’s entry, “I believe”, defended by Eliza Borj, and was closed by Albania, with Kroni Pula and its amusing “Fruta perime”, while Spain occupied the fourteenth position, just behind the neighboring country Portugal and ahead of the host, Georgia.
Georgia is the most successful country in the history of the competition, with four victories.
The final of the children’s competition was conducted by the pianist David Aladashvili and the journalist Liza Tsiklaurme, who hosted Georgia for the second time that the GPB station organizes Junior Eurovision, after 2017. Moreover, Georgia is the most successful country in the history of the competitionwith a record four wins since his debut in 2007.
In the case of Spain, so far only María Isabel, with her song “Better to die than simple”, managed to win the trophy 20 years ago in Lillehammer, Norway. Spain achieved three second places in 2003, 2005 and last year, in 2023, with Sandra Valero and her “Loviu”, as well as two third places in 2019 and 2020. In the last edition, Chloe Dela Rosa He obtained sixth place with “Como la Lola”.
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