Armenia’s Naré wins Junior Eurovision 2026 with “BOO!”

Naré secures Armenia’s third victory

Armenia’s broadcaster AMPTV won the 24th Junior Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, October 24, when 13-year-old Naré received 202 points for “BOO!” in Ta’ Qali, Malta. The result gave Armenia its third victory in the competition, following wins in 2010 and 2021.

Spain’s Lucas Paulano finished second with 184 points for “Cuore Bello (Te Quiero, Te Quiero),” while France’s Alec placed third with 165 points for “Comment tu vas ?.”

Armenia prevailed in the online vote

The contest’s result combined equally weighted jury and online voting. Armenia received 103 points from the juries and 99 from online voters. France led the jury vote with 114 points, followed by Spain with 108, but Armenia led the online vote and ultimately finished 18 points ahead of Spain.

Viewers in the 16 participating countries and 178 additional nations and territories could vote through JESC.tv for up to three songs. The EBU said millions of valid votes were cast across two rounds: one based on preview clips before the show and another after the final live performance.

Sixteen countries performed in Malta

The 150-minute show was staged live by Malta’s Public Broadcasting Service at the Malta Fairs & Conventions Center. It featured 48 performers aged 9 to 14 representing 16 public-service broadcasters and was watched by an audience of around 4,000 people, alongside millions more on television and online.

The creative theme was “The Festa,” inspired by Malta’s village celebrations. Gaia Cauchi, Destiny Chukunyere and Keane Cutajar hosted the program. Naré, who comes from Yerevan, earned Armenia’s selection after taking part in four national-selection attempts.

“BOO!” was written by a five-member team

Naré performed “BOO!” in the contest’s concluding lineup. The song was written by Lilit Navasardyan, Grigor Kyokchyan, Nick Egibyan, Martin Mirzoyan and Anush Ter-Ghukasyan.

Her victory was confirmed by the European Broadcasting Union after the event, and the result was recorded in the contest’s official scoreboard.

The 2027 host remains undecided

The EBU said it would work with its member broadcasters, including AMPTV, during the coming weeks to identify and announce the host broadcaster for the 25th anniversary edition in 2027. Unlike the adult Eurovision Song Contest, winning Junior Eurovision does not automatically entitle the winning broadcaster to host the following contest.