The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the sixteenth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It took place in the Belarusian capital city, Minsk on 25 November 2018 at the Minsk-Arena.[1] It was the second time that the contest was held in Belarus, after it staged the 2010 edition at the same venue.
A record twenty countries took part in the contest, with Kazakhstan and Wales participating for the first time. France returned for the first time since 2004, alongside Azerbaijan for the first time since 2013 and Israel after missing the 2017 edition. Cyprus withdrew from the contest. Last year's winner Polina Bogusevich performed her entry again as the interval act, alongside the common song "#LightUp" sung by all the participants.
The winner was Roksana Węgiel, who represented Poland with the song "Anyone I Want to Be". Poland won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. Returning country France came second, their best result at the contest, while Australia placed third for the second year in a row. Kazakhstan was the fourth best performing debuting nation, after Croatia and Italy's victories in 2003 and 2014 respectively, and Armenia's second place in 2007, finishing sixth, whilst Wales came last.
The EBU confirmed on 15 October 2017 that the contest would be hosted by Belarus.[2] This was the second time Belarus hosts the Junior Eurovision Song contest, after hosting the 2010 contest.
On 21 November 2017, Belarus' Deputy Prime Minister Vasily Zharko confirmed that the contest was scheduled to be held at Minsk-Arena in November 2018.[3] The arena previously hosted the 2010 contest. However, on 26 November 2017, it was confirmed by the host broadcaster that the exact location of the contest is still unknown, stating that Minsk Arena was one of the possible options.[4] On 18 March 2018, the 15,000-capacity Minsk-Arena was confirmed as the venue by the contest organisers.[1]
On 25 July 2018, the EBU released the official list of participants with 18 competing countries. Later, this number was specially expanded to 19. SinceIsrael had won the adult contest that year, IPBC should register a participant and send an observer delegation to Minsk.[5] Kazakhstan were invited to make their debut appearance in the contest this year.