Bulgaria was represented at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015, as the host country, after Italy who had won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014, declined the invitation from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to host the contest. The event took place at the Arena Armeec on 21 November 2015. National broadcasters Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and bTV jointly organised the national selection process, in order to decide who would represent them on home soil.
Submissions for the national selection shows opened in July 2015, for singers aged between 10 and 15. A professional jury of members from the music industry, selected the best entries to proceed forward to a non-televised auditions event that took place in August 2015. Twenty-four artists were chosen to participate in one of four semi-finals, which were broadcast live between 31 August to 3 September 2015. Jury members selected two artists from each of the four semi-finals, whilst the remaining artist from each semi-final was determined by a public televote.
The twelve chosen artists from the semi-finals, advanced into the grand final which was scheduled to take place on 8 September 2015. The winning participant was selected by a 50/50 combination of both telephone vote and the votes of jury members made up of music professionals. Gabriela Yordanova represented Bulgaria in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015. The song that she performed at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest is "Colour of Hope" and she was accompanied by the runner-up of the election, Ivan Stoyanov.
Bulgaria finished 9th in the final with 62 points.
Host country selection
Following 's win at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014, the European Broadcasting Union had given the Italian broadcaster RAI the first refusal to host the 2015 contest. However, on 15 January 2015, RAI declined the right to host the contest. The Executive Supervisor for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, Vladislav Yakovlev, praised the Italian broadcaster RAI for their time looking into the possibilities of hosting, even though they made their début appearance in 2014, and further explained how the EBU were in a lucky position to have received bids from two countries.
The EBU announced later that day that they had received bids from two countries to host the contest; those countries being and , who finished in second and fourth places respectively in 2014. Bulgarian broadcaster BNT confirmed on 15 January they had submitted a bid to host the 2015 contest. The national broadcaster for Malta, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), stated prior to the 2014 contest that they would host again if they won.
On 26 January 2015, it was announced that Bulgaria had been chosen to host the 2015 edition, which took place on the 21 November 2015. It was the first time that the nation organised any Eurovision event. In March 2015, it was confirmed that Sofia would be the host city, with the Arena Armeec being the host venue.
Before Junior Eurovision
National selection In a joint organised event, Bulgarian broadcasters BNT and bTV, opened submissions between 3 and 23 July for singers aged between 10 and 15 to send their audio or video recordings to the Slavi Show team. After the deadline, a professional jury of music experts selected the best ones to proceed to the audition heats round. The selected singers were invited to perform live, in a series of audition heats, in front of a different jury made up of music experts and representatives from the three organisations to select the acts going forward to a live shows. The process to select the representative began on 17 August 2015 during the "Slavi's Show" on bTV, the programme in which Krisia, Hasan & Ibrahim were discovered. The selection procedure included internal audition heats, semi-finals and a national final which were broadcast during prime time. Over 90 kids participated in the auditions, where the judging panel consisting Slavi Trifonov and Evgeni Dimitrov, who were behind last year's entry "Planet of the Children", and Georgi Milchev and Filip Stanev judged the singers. A total of 24 stars were selected from the auditions to compete at the live semi-finals. From this stage of the show there were also hosts - Petya Dikova and Boris Soltariyski. The format was also changed from the auditions - the jury, now in a new lineup (Slavi Trifonov and Evgeni Dimitrov were joined by Orlin Pavlov, sent as representative from BNT), would select 8 finalists out of 12, with the audience in charge of voting through SMS to decide who would be the other 4 finalists. During the final the voting system was changed again - the winning participant who would represent Bulgaria on home soil, would be selected by a 50/50 combination of both telephone vote and the votes of jury members made up of music professionals. The song that the winning artist would perform at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest was chosen internally by the national broadcaster and announced at a later date.
Heats
+ Heat 1: 17 August 2015 Eleonora Ivanova Elisabeta Tasheva Eliya Todorova Gabriela Yordanova Ivan Stoyanov Ivana Baldarkova Kristian Pavlov Liliya Stoyanova Mariya Bakardzhieva Maya Stoycheva Mila Angelova Nikol Kaneva Nora Karaslavov Rosen Petrov Yuliana Mur Zara Uzunova
+ Heat 2: 18 August 2015 Anna DrumevaDilyan & Kostadin Dyankov Gabriela Ivanova Georgi Todorov Kristalena Stoyanova Kristiana Kirilova Lora Gerdzhikova Mariya Bozhinova Mariya Dimova Patrisiya Simeonova Simona Ivanova Stanimira Ruseva Svetlana Radoslavova Teodor Palazov Valentina Kuncheva Viktoriya Glavcheva Viktoriya Maneva
+ Heat 3: 19 August 2015 Aleksana Stamova Aleksandar Tanev Aleksandrina Mehandzhiyska Alisa Krasteva Dimitrina Germanova Eleonora Dimitrova Elinor Palazova Ivanina Balkova Ivo-Konstantin Nachev Katrin Tsolova Pavel Pintev Petya Georgieva Preslava Petrova Teodora Lilova Teodora Todorova Valentina Nikova Yana Krasteva Yana Sabanova
+ Heat 4: 24 August 2015 Borislava Tsekova Daliya Isam Al-Atar Evgeniya Stoyanova Gabriela Gaydadzhieva Hristina Grebcheva Kristina Pashkova Lyubomira Busheva Moyra Yankova Nikol Palascheva Petar Bechev Radko Petkov Raya Krumova Simona Krasteva Stefani Aleksieva Vesela Asenova VIVA Zhasmin Stoyanova
+ Heat 5: 25 August 2015 Elena Bancheva Gergana Todorova Ivona Georgieva Mariam Mavrova Mariya-Magdalena Yordanova Monika Petrova Niya Yaneva Pavel Mateev Petya Kostova Stilyana Stoynova Valentina Demireva Vesela Paunova
+ Heat 6: 26 August 2015 Aleksandra Zlateva Andrea Nacheva Andzhela Naku Daniela Stoyanova Dara Ekimova Filip Filchev Gabriela Tsvetkova Gabriela Zhivkova Ivana Vasileva Kalina Popova Preslava Tsankova Valentin Kalenov & Nikoleta Sachkova Viktoriya Anastasova Viktoriya Tsankova
Semi-final 1 The first semi-final took place on 31 August. Eleonora Ivanova, Pavel Mateev and Ivan Stoyanov advanced to the final. The semi-final was hosted by Petya Dikova and Boris Soltariyski. Six children each performed a three-minute pop song together with the 'Ku-Ku Band' - the resident band of "Slavi's show". The public was able to choose their favourite of the six to go to the final, by voting online and by SMS. The jury chose another two artists, making a total of three from each show and 12 finalists overall. Key legend
Draw Artist Song (Original artist) Result 1 Eleonora Ivanova"Wrecking Ball" (Miley Cyrus) Advanced 2 Aleksandrina Mehandzhiyska "The Edge of Glory" (Lady Gaga) Eliminated 3Pavel Mateev "Nikoi" (Grafa) Advanced 4 Preslava Petrova "One Night Only" (Jennifer Hudson) Eliminated 5 Yuliana Mur "Nashe lyato" (Lili Ivanova) Eliminated 6 Ivan Stoyanov "Mercy" (Duffy) Advanced
Semi-final 2 The second semi-final took place on 1 September. Lora Gerdzhikova, Simona Ivanova and Filip Filchev advanced to the final. The semi-final was hosted by Petya Dikova and Boris Soltariyski. Six children each performed a three-minute pop song together with the 'Ku-Ku Band' - the resident band of "Slavi's show". The public was able to choose their favourite of the six to go to the final, by voting online and by SMS. The jury chose another two artists, making a total of three from each show and 12 finalists overall. Draw Artist Song (Original artist) Result 1 Alisa Krasteva "Price Tag" (Jessie J) Eliminated 2 Lora Gerdzhikova "Impossible" (Shontelle) Advanced 3Teodor Palazov "New York, New York" (Liza Minnelli) Eliminated 4 Kristiana Kirilova "Dusha" (Diana Express) Eliminated 5 Simona Ivanova"Je Veux" (Zaz) Advanced 6Filip Filchev"Easy" (Commodores) Advanced
Semi-final 3 The third semi-final took place on 2 September. Andrea Nacheva, Gabriela Yordanova and Dilyan & Kostadin Dyankov advanced to the final. The semi-final was hosted by Petya Dikova and Boris Soltariyski. Six children each performed a three-minute pop song together with the 'Ku-Ku Band' - the resident band of "Slavi's show". The public was able to choose their favourite of the six to go to the final, by voting online and by SMS. The jury chose another two artists, making a total of three from each show and 12 finalists overall. Draw Artist Song (Original artist) Result 1 Andrea Nacheva "Nobody's Wife" (Anouk) Advanced 2 Dimitrina Germanova "Az iskam" (Revolyutsiya Z) Eliminated 3 Nikol Kaneva "Proud Mary" (Creedence Clearwater Revival) Eliminated 4Gabriela Yordanova"Something's Got a Hold on Me" (Etta James) Advanced 5Borislava Tsekova "Lale li si, zyumbyul li si" (Bulgarian folk song) Eliminated 6 Dilyan & Kostadin Dyankov"Give In to Me" (Michael Jackson) Advanced
Semi-final 4 The fourth and last semi-final took place on 3 September. Radko Petkov, Mariam Mavrova and Gergana Todorova advanced to the final. The semi-final was hosted by Petya Dikova and Boris Soltariyski. Six children each performed a three-minute pop song together with the 'Ku-Ku Band' - the resident band of "Slavi's show". The public was able to choose their favourite of the six to go to the final, by voting online and by SMS. The jury chose another two artists, making a total of three from each show and 12 finalists overall. Draw Artist Song (Original artist) Result 1Radko Petkov "Lane Moje" (Željko Joksimović) Advanced 2Nora Karaslavov "I'll Be Your Shelter" (Taylor Dayne) Eliminated 3Petya Georgieva"Vse taka" (Nevena Tsoneva) Eliminated 4Rosen Petrov"Listen to Your Heart" (Roxette) Eliminated 5Mariam Mavrova"Feeling Good" (Cy Grant) Advanced 6Gergana Todorova"My Kind of Love" (Emeli Sandé) Advanced
Final The live final took place on the 8 September 2015. The results were determined by a 50/50 combination of both televote and the jury made up of music professionals. Draw Artist Song (original artist) Jury Televote Total Place 1 Dilyan & Kostadin Dyankov"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (Aerosmith) 1 2 3 12 2 Mariam Mavrova "Think" (Aretha Franklin) 6 7 13 6 3 Pavel Mateev "Vincero pedero" (Mario Frangoulis) 2 4 6 10 4 Simona Ivanova "Heroes" (Måns Zelmerlöw) 8 8 16 5 5 Gergana Todorova "Molitva" (Marija Šerifović) 10 9 19 4 6Lora Gerdzhikova "Slyap den" (Signal) 3 1 4 11 7 Ivan Stoyanov "Zhestokaya lyubov" (Philipp Kirkorov) 12 10 22 2 8 Andrea Nacheva "We Are the Champions" (Queen) 7 3 10 9 9 Filip Filchev "I Feel Good" (James Brown) 4 6 10 7 10Radko Petkov "The Hardest Thing" (Toše Proeski) 9 12 21 3 11Eleonora Ivanova"Halo" (Beyoncé) 5 5 10 8 12 Gabriela Yordanova"Osadeni dushi" (Lili Ivanova) 11 11 22 1
Song selection On 16 October 2015, the title of the Bulgarian song was revealed. The song would be called "Colour of Hope" (Tsvetut na nadezhdata). It was officially presented on 18 October 2015 during the show "The day starts on Sunday with Georgi Lyubenov" on BNT. It was also revealed that Gabriela would be accompanied by the runner-up of the national selection, Ivan Stoyanov.
Artist and song information Gabriela Yordanova