The Netherlands has participated in every edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest since its inception in 2003 and is the only country to have taken part in every edition of the contest. The country has won the competition on one occasion; in 2009, with the song "Click Clack" by Ralf Mackenbach. Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS (formerly AVRO) has been responsible for the participation, selecting the nation's entrant through the national final Junior Songfestival.
History
The Netherlands 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]
The broadcaster AVROTROS, formerly AVRO, is responsible for the organisation of the Dutch Junior Eurovision Song Contest entry. A national final has been organised by AVRO to select the entry, called Junior Songfestival. Entrants previously wrote their own songs and sent it to the broadcaster, where a jury and the public decided the winner. Since 2016, candidates audition individually and are placed in groups later on.
The 2007 contest was held in the Netherlands, in the venue Ahoy in Rotterdam. The 2012 contest was held in the Netherlands as well, this time in Amsterdam, making it the first country to host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest twice.
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.[3] The Dutch broadcaster, AVROTROS, sent their own commentator to each contest in order to provide commentary in the Dutch language. Spokespersons were also chosen by the national broadcaster in order to announce the awarding points from Netherlands. The table below list the details of each commentator and spokesperson since 2003.
^Incomplete broadcast of the contest, starting at 18:30 CET during France's performance and pausing at 19:00 (skipping San Marino) before resuming during Ukraine's performance. The Netherlands rebroadcast the full event on NPO Zapp via NPO 3 a day later due to the live broadcast being delayed and interrupted on said channel the night before. The contest was however broadcast live and in full on NPO 2 Extra.[28]