Suspilne, the Ukrainian national broadcaster, has revealed the participants of the Junior Eurovision 2026 Star School.

The first episode of Shchodennyky Dityachoho Yerobachenia 2026 (Junior Eurovision 2026 Diaries) was broadcast today. In this episode, the 15 longlisted artists performed at a public audition in the Respublika Park shopping centre in Kyiv. A three-member judging panel then decided which ten artists would progress to Star School.

The jury members were:

Svitlana Tarabarova – Musical Producer of Junior Eurovision 2026 selection

alyona alyona – Songwriter for Junior Eurovision 2026 selection, represented Ukraine at Eurovision 2024

Mélovin – Represented Ukraine at Eurovision 2018

The ten artists who qualified for Star School are:

VYHOR

Roman Doroshenko

Sofiia Dupelych

Dmytro Karabet

Erika Kolesnichenko

Anastasiia Pshedina

Marko Serdynskyi

Zlata Solonenko

Oliviia Tkachyk

Karina Shtefanesa

The artists who did not qualify are:

Kateryna Vatan

Sofiia & Veronika Voznika

Vladyslav Danielvskyi

Sofiia Nazarenko

Mariia Blyznuk

Star School took place in the Children’s Camp ‘One Land’ in Bukovel in the Carpathian Mountains. Star School saw the ten remaining artists develop their creative abilities, improve their vocal, choreography and acting skills. From these artists, six were chosen to advance to the final of the Ukrainian selection for Junior Eurovision 2026 on September 13. The results of Star School will be revealed over the next episodes of Shchodennyky Dityachoho Yerobachenia 2026.

Sofia Neresesian represented Ukraine at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with “Motanka”. She won the public vote and finished second overall with 177 points. This was Ukraine’s best result at Junior Eurovision since 2013.

Source: Suspilne

Ukraine in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest+

Ukraine debuted in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 and has competed in the contest ever since. To date, Ukraine has only won the competition once. In 2012, Anastasiya Petryk won in Amsterdam with the song “Nebo”. She scored 138 points, including eight sets of 12 points. Ukraine has hosted the contest twice, the first time in 2009 and the second in 2013 following their victory in Amsterdam.