Recently in Junior Eurovision Song Contest Category

I wasn't actually in to watch the Junior Eurovision Song Contest last night - I was at a cult telly thing in Birmingham - so I am very pleased to report this morning that the winner was the Netherlands. Hurrah! That's the first Eurovisiony thing they've won in my lifetime, their last victory being 1975 in the main event with Teach-In and Ding Dinge Dong.

Ralf wins Junior Eurovision 2009 for the Netherlands with Click Clack.

Just like the Grown Up Contest, the JESC uses both a jury score and the televotes from the public to determine the winner and that seems to have broken the stranglehold Eastern Europe has had on this event in particular - Russia and Armenia tied for second place and Belgium came fourth.

This bodes well for Proper Eurovision, if a country that hasn't had a whiff of the trophy engraver's apron for more then three decades can come out on top again.

You can be forgiven for not knowing that there's another Eurovision going on this weekend - because not many countries seem to want to enter it. The seventh edition of the Junior version of our favourite Contest takes place in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday night but despite the high hopes the EBU had for the event when it began in 2003, just 13 nations will be lining up in Kyiv's Palace of Sports (the same place that Proper Eurovision was staged in 2005) to have a go at winning the trophy, with the majority of entrants coming from Eastern Europe.

...except in Georgia, as three kids in yellow and black striped outfits (with a collective age that is less than this current blogger's) have just taken the 2008 Junior Eurovision Song Contest title in Cyprus. The song is called Bzzz...

For some reason, the show was presented by a pair of Londoners, but despite all the dreadful, dreadful music - even by Eurovision standards - there was a very poignant moment when the girl reading out the Russian scores gave the 12 to Georgia with a genuinely cheery smile. Sometimes, dagnammit, those kids can teach us a thing or two. The Georgians didn't return the favour.

Georgia has pulled out of the 2009 Contest in Moscow due to the political events earlier this year.

Some cynics are already suggesting this pint-sized victory is a rather convenient, sugar-coated way of enticing them back...

Tomorrow is the sixth edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest - and just when you thought the adults had the sole stake on rehearsal week drama and strops, wait until you hear about the kids.

In what could be a worrying too-much-lemonade-and-ice-cream scenario, the entrant for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (and on of the favourites to win) was taken to hospital on Wednesday and could only manage two of his four alloted rehearsal slots.

You can have a shufty at his song in this blogbit, along with the remaining two songs in the 15-strong line-up, beginning with:

SONG THIRTEEN
Lithuania
Laiminga Diena performed by Egle Jurgaityte

Bless you for your loyalty in the run up to Fun-Sized Eurovision on Saturday. The first of today's four entries is from Serbia, this year's hosts of the other singing contest.

SONG 9
Serbia
Uvek Kad U Nebo Pogledam performed by Maja Mazic

There's more this way.

Boom Bang a Blog has been absolutely inundated with no requests to see more previews of the songs taking part in this year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Cyprus on Saturday.

So, we'll keep going with the song from the host country's friendliest neighbour.

SONG FIVE
Greece
Kapoia Nychta performed by Niki Yiannouchu

There's three more to experience if you click on the bit marked 'Continue Reading'. I know, I know... we're just too kind to you.

Saturday sees the sixth running of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, live from Lemesos, Cyprus.

There is minimal interest in this Minipops version of the main event in Western Europe, although the host nation, Belgium, The Netherlands and Malta are doing their bit in Cyprus to stem the tide of Eastern European bloc voting on behalf of the Eurovision old school. We don't fancy their chances.

Over the next four days, we'll preview the 15 acts clamouring (but not running with scissors) towards the prize. Of course, one day, there will be one act who winds up winning both Junior and Grown-Up Eurovisions. A bit like Roger Federer winning the Australian and French Open five years apart.

If you can bear it, have a click to preview the entries from Romania, Armenia, Belarus and Russia.

Right, that's dancing sorted. Surely there can't be another Eurovision coming our way this year?

What? With the money the various TV companies of Europe make from your phone votes? Of course there is!

This time, it's the kids who are having a go. Heaven help us all.

Proper Eurovision may be over for another 11-and-a-half months, but don't fret, if you like nothing more than watching a national spokesperson reading out votes from one to 12, there are two more helpings coming your way this year.

First up - and get this, we're the host country (wahey!) - is the Eurovision Dance Contest, which takes place in Glasgow on September 6. Details are few and far between about this at the moment (I couldn't find a logo for it on the interweb, anyway) but a shoe-in for hosting responsibilities has to be the extra-smashing Lorraine Kelly, since the show comes from her own backyard. Let's hope so, anyway.

Following that, is the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Cyprus at the end of the year. Now, it's ITV, not the BBC, who organise the UK entrant for this, but despite Britain finishing third, then second, in the first two years of the competition, we haven't entered since 2005. That's probably because the Junior Eurovision is quite rubbish - and even the most determined of Song Contest fans struggles to sit through a dozen-or-so performances of overly earnest youngsters either making a plea for world peace or carrying out some worryingly provocative dance moves.

However, it's still Eurovision - so qualifies for inclusion on Boom Bang a Blog. We'll keep you posted as and when each entry is picked. We're so good to you.