Latvia
Member station	LTV
National selection events	Bērnu Eirovīzija (2003–2005) Balss Pavēlnieks (2010–2011)
Participation summary
Appearances	5
First appearance	2003
Last appearance	2011
Best result	9th: 2003
Worst result	Last: 2004, 2011
External links
Latvia’s page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Latvia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011

The participation of Latvia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contestfirst began at the inaugural Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2003which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Latvijas Televīzija (LTV), a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), were responsible for the selection process of their participation. Latvia used a national selection format, broadcasting shows entitled “Bērnu Eirovīzija” and later “Balss Pavēlnieks”, for their participation at the contests. The first representative to participate for the nation at the 2003 contest was Dzintars Čīča with the song “Tu esi vasarā”, which finished in ninth place out of sixteen participating entries, achieving a score of thirty-seven points. Latvia were originally absent from the competition from 2006 to 2009. Latvia briefly returned in 2010 and 2011 however again withdrew from competing after the contest held in Yerevan, and have yet to make their return to the contest.

History[edit]

Latvia are one of the sixteen countries to have made their debut at the inaugural Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003, which took place on 15 November 2003 at the Forum in Copenhagen, Denmark.^[1]Latvia’s best placing was in 2003, when Dzintars Čīča placed 9th with “Tu esi vasarā”. The country’s worst placing came in 2004 when Mārtiņš Tālbergs and C-Stones Juniors placed 17th and last with “Balts vai melns”. Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) withdrew Latvia from the contest after 2005, and would not return until the 2010 contest, their first participation in 5 years.^[2]

The broadcaster has selected Šarlote Lēnmane to represent Latvia at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Minsk with the song “Viva La Dance”. Šarlote won 10th place with 51 point.

After initially withdrawing from the 2011 contest LTV reversed their decision in September 2011 and sent an entry to the 2011 contest in Yerevan, Armenia. On 27 June 2012, LTV announced Latvia’s withdrawal from the competition and the country has never returned since.^[3] LTV later confirmed their non-participation in 2013,^[4] 2014^[5]and 2015.^[6]

On 19 November 2015, it was announced that the Baltic countries, including Latvia, were interested in taking part in the 2016 contest.^[7]However, on 23 May 2016, the LTV confirmed it would not return to the contest in 2016.^[8]

Participation[edit]

Table key

 1st place   2nd place   3rd place   Last place

Broadcasts and voting[edit]

Commentators and spokespersons[edit]

The contests are broadcast online worldwide through the official Junior Eurovision Song Contest website junioreurovision.tv and YouTube. In 2015, the online broadcasts featured commentary in English by junioreurovision.tv editor Luke Fisher and 2011 Bulgarian Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrant Ivan Ivanov.^[9] The Latvian broadcaster, LTV, sent their own commentators to the contest in order to provide commentary in the Latvian language. Spokespersons were also chosen by the national broadcaster in order to announce the awarding points from Latvia. The table below list the details of each commentator and spokesperson since 2003.

Voting history[edit]

The tables below shows Latvia’s top-five voting history rankings up until their most recent participation in 2011:

Most points given Rank Points Country 1 42  Belarus 2 28  Russia 3 23  Spain 4 21  Netherlands 5 19  United Kingdom

Most points received Rank Points Country 1 15  Lithuania 2 14  Belarus  Macedonia 3 12  Netherlands 4 11  Malta 5 10  Croatia  Moldova