Spain was represented at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song " (Once Upon a Time)", written by Alejandro Martínez, David Parejo, Gonzalo Pinillos and Luis Ramiro, and performed by Pinillos himself. The Spanish participating broadcaster, (RTVE), internally selected its entry for the contest.
Background
Prior to the 2025 contest, (TVE) until 2006, and (RTVE) since 2019, had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest representing Spain ten times since TVE's first entry in the inaugural . They have won the contest on one occasion: in with "" by María Isabel. RTVE opted not to take part in the contest between and , with , then-director of TVE, claiming it promoted "stereotypes do not share". Its return proved successful, with its entrants placing third in and and second in . In , Chloe DelaRosa competed for Spain with the song "", which ended up in 6th place out of 17 entries with 144 points.
Before Junior Eurovision
Internal selection RTVE internally selected its entry for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025. The broadcaster opened a submission process for interested artists aged between nine and fourteen on 27 May 2025. All submissions required participants to enter covers of two songs, with applications open until 30 June 2025. It was also revealed that the Spanish entry for the contest would once again be selected from a pool of songs submitted by "a large group of [both] national and international composers" in a separate process, as had been the case since , and later recorded in September 2025, with suitability to the vocal abilities and style of the selected artist named as the main criteria in the song selection.
At the closing of the application window, 270 applications had been received. Twelve acts were selected to take part in an audition round, held on 21 July 2025 at in Pozuelo de Alarcón, where the Spanish representative was chosen unanimously by a panel consisting of the head of the Spanish delegation to the contest , Benidorm Fest producer César Vallejo, vocal coach Verónica Ferreiro and three other RTVE employees: head of communications , executive producer Miriam García Corrales and director Sergio Calderón. On 23 July 2025, Gonzalo Pinillos was announced as the selected entrant; he had previously auditioned to represent the country in . His competing entry, " (Once Upon a Time)", had been selected by 12 September and was released on 6 October; besides Pinillos, its composers had previously authored the Spanish entries in and 2024.
Promotion As part of the promotion of his participation in the contest, Pinillos starred in the 26th edition of the charity campaign alongside Chenoa. On 20 October 2025, the music video of his entry was aired ahead of an episode of the prime time show on . On 28 November 2025, he was received at the Georgian embassy in Madrid by ambassador Alexander Chkuaseli, where he was presented with a message by Anita Abgariani. On 3 December 2025, he performed at a special "farewell party" at the bookstore in Madrid.
At Junior Eurovision The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 took place at the Gymnastic Hall of Olympic City in Tbilisi, Georgia on 13 December 2025. On 4 November 2025, an allocation draw was held to determine the running order of the contest, ahead of which each song was classified into a different category based on its musical style and tempo. Spain was drawn to perform in position 14, following the entry from the and before the entry from .
In Spain, the event was broadcast on with commentary by Julia Varela and Tony Aguilar. In addition, RTVE aired the contest internationally through as well as online via RTVE Play.
Performance Gonzalo Pinillos took part in technical rehearsals on 8 and 10 December, followed by two dress rehearsals on 12 December. His performance of " (Once Upon a Time)" at the contest is staged by Juan Sebastián Domínguez, who previously worked in an analogous position for , and choreographed by Monica Peña. It features two supporting dancers who perform a theatrical choreography alongside Pinillos, as well as a piano which is later replaced by a circular bookcase prop and references to book characters Asterix, Naruto Uzumaki and Obelix; it had been anticipated that the staging would feature references to the music video.
Voting
The spokesperson for the Spanish jury was Chloe DelaRosa, who represented . Spain placed fifth in the final, scoring 152 points; 54 points from the online vote and 98 points from the juries.
+Points awarded to SpainScoreCountry12 points10 points8 points7 points6 points5 points4 points3 points2 points1 pointSpain received 54 points from the online vote
+Points awarded by SpainScoreCountry12 points10 points8 points7 points6 points5 points4 points3 points2 points1 point
Detailed voting results The following members comprised the Spanish jury:
Daniel Ruiz Gómez David Pizarro Gio García Alonso Rocío Aguilar
+ Draw Country Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points 01 6 8 10 9 8 8 3 02 7 13 12 17 17 14 03 9 17 11 13 7 11 04 13 14 13 8 16 16 05 5 7 4 6 15 7 4 06 12 6 8 15 6 9 2 07 8 16 15 4 12 10 1 08 2 10 6 7 3 4 7 09 4 4 5 5 5 3 8 10 11 5 7 1 14 6 5 11 15 11 9 10 13 12 12 14 12 16 11 9 15 13 16 9 14 12 10 13 14 15 1 1 3 3 1 1 12 16 17 15 17 16 11 17 17 3 2 1 2 2 2 10 18 10 3 2 14 4 5 6 References