This year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest (JESC) on 15 November in Malta is set to be the biggest in recent years, with 16 countries fielding entries, including: 

Armenia - Belarus - Bulgaria - Croatia - Cyprus - Georgia - Italy - Malta - Montenegro - The Netherlands - San Marino - Serbia - Slovenia - Sweden - Russia - Ukraine

Contestants aged between 10 and 15 years will perform original songs live on a stage at the converted Marsa shipyards. The first, second and third place winners will be decided by a jury and public televoting.

Contest supervisor Vladislav Yakovlev says an estimated audience of more than three million people across Europe will watch the coproduction between EBU and Maltese public broadcaster PBS, with fans from elsewhere around the world joining the event online.

Mr Yakovlev said the number of entries for the 12^th edition of the JESC is the biggest since Rotterdam in 2007. 

“The support we’ve received from PBS in the build up to this year’s competition has been outstanding,” Mr Yakovlev said. “That so many countries have elected to take part is a testament to the vision they have for this year’s show.”

The slogan for this year’s contest is #together. The logo is inspired by the Maltese eight-pointed cross. Each segment corresponds to a colour associated with the Mediterranean island. Sand, sea, stone, grass, sky, dusk and sunset feature in this year's postcards, which include examples of extreme sports that are popular in Malta.