Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Country	Ireland
National selection
Selection process	Junior Eurovision Éire
Selection date(s)	Semi-final 11 October 2015 18 October 2015 25 October 2015 1 November 2015 Final 8 November 2015
Selected entrant	Aimee Banks
Selected song	"Réalta na mara (Star of the sea)"
Finals performance
Final result	12th, 36 points
Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
2015 • 2016►

Ireland selected their Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 entry through Junior Eurovision Éire. The competing songs were broken down into four semi-finals. On 23 March 2015 it was announced that Ireland would debut at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015.^[1]

Junior Eurovision Éire was won by Aimee Banks, who sang "Réalta na mara" for Ireland at the contest. She placed 12th with 36 points.

Junior Eurovision Éire

Shows

Semi-final 1

Final Duel

Jury's vote

• Stiofán Ó Fearail: David Kennedy
• Niamh Kavanagh: Lisa-Rose McMahon
• Brian Kennedy: David Kennedy

Semi-final 2

Final Duel

Jury's vote

• Stiofán Ó Fearail: Aimee Banks
• Niamh Kavanagh: did not vote
• Brian Kennedy: Aimee Banks

Semi-final 3

Final Duel

Jury's vote

• Stiofán Ó Fearail: Muireann Vaughan
• Niamh Kavanagh: Muireann Vaughan
• Brian Kennedy: Aislí Moran

Semi-final 4

Final Duel

Jury's vote

• Stiofán Ó Fearail: Zena Donnelly
• Niamh Kavanagh: Sophie Halligan
• Brian Kennedy: Zena Donnelly

Final

Along with the winners from the four heats, two wildcard acts were entered into the final. They were Lisa-Rose McMahon who came second in week 1 and Aislí Moran who came second in week 3.

Final Duel

For the final, a sing-off was introduced between the top two contenders.

Jury's vote

• Stiofán Ó Fearail: Aimee Banks
• Niamh Kavanagh: Aimee Banks
• Brian Kennedy: Zena Donnelly

Artist and song information

"Réalta na Mara (Star of the sea)"
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 entry
Country	Ireland
Artist(s)	Aimee Banks
Languages	Irish
Composer(s)	Aimee Banks, Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff, Brendan McCarthy
Lyricist(s)	Aimee Banks
Finals performance
Final result	12
Final points	36

Aimee Banks

Aimee Banks (born 14 February 2002)^[7] is a young soprano from Moycullen, in County Galway. She represented Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with "Réalta na Mara", (lit. Star of the sea), a song which she co-wrote and composed with Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff and Brendan McCarthy.

Banks had recently been awarded first place for the International Vocal Competition "American Protege" and was to perform in Carnegie Hall on 19 December. She secured eight National Titles at Ireland's Classical Festival Feis Ceoil 2015 and was also awarded Overall Vocalist Award and Bursary 2015 for Midlands Feis Ceoil. She had recorded her debut album My Classical Spirit and donated the proceeds to "Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice".

Banks is in second year in Coláiste na Corribe. She can sing in six different languages.

At Junior Eurovision

At the running order draw which took place on 15 November 2015, Ireland were drawn to perform seventh on 21 November 2015, following Australia and preceding Russia.^[8]

Final

There was a deep purple background with a lot of stars. The 'star of the sea' also appeared in bright light towards the end of the song. The other imortant notice was that the waves in the sea behind Aimee were less rough, becoming as the song progressed to match with the lyrics. The stage for the performance was covered in dry ice, giving a mystical effect to the performance.

Aimee Banks at stage of JESC 2015

At the end of the voting, Ireland finished 12th with 36 points.

Voting

The voting during the final consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released one month after the final.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Ireland had placed 10th with the public televote and 14th with the jury vote. In the public vote, Ireland scored 43 points, while with the jury vote, Ireland scored 19 points.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Ireland and awarded by Ireland in the final and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the final.

Points awarded to Ireland

Points awarded by Ireland

12 points  Bulgaria 10 points  Malta 8 points  Armenia 7 points  Belarus 6 points  Slovenia 5 points  Albania 4 points  Georgia 3 points  Serbia 2 points  Australia 1 point  Ukraine Split voting results The following five members comprise the Irish jury: Caitríona Ní Cheannabáin Gearóid Ó Murchú Aoife Scott Morgan Cooke Keith Ó Briain Split voting results from Ireland Draw Country C. Ní Cheannabáin G. Ó Murchú A. Scott M. Cooke K. Ó Briain Average Jury Points Televote Points Points Awarded 01  Serbia 4 2 6 1 3 4 3 02  Georgia 6 10 4 03  Slovenia 2 6 5 8 5 7 6 04  Italy 1 5 4 1 05  Netherlands 3 1 5 06  Australia 5 3 6 4 2 07  Ireland 08  Russia 1 2 09  Macedonia 3 3 4 1 2 10  Belarus 12 7 7 8 3 7 6 7 11  Armenia 10 8 10 12 12 12 5 8 12  Ukraine 2 1 13  Bulgaria 7 4 4 7 6 12 12 14  San Marino 2 1 15  Malta 8 10 8 10 10 10 8 10 16  Albania 6 12 12 7 5 8 3 5 17  Montenegro 2 References ↑ Granger, Anthony (23 March 2015). "Ireland: Debuts At Junior Eurovision". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 23 March 2015.  1 2 Granger, Anthony (11 October 2015). "Tonight: Ireland Starts Their Junior Eurovision Selection". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 11 October 2015.  ↑ "Junior Eurovision: Programme 1". tg4.ie. TG4. Retrieved 12 October 2015.  1 2 3 Mulhall, Garrett (14 October 2015). "Ireland : Heat 2 Sunday October 18th – Song Details for Junior Eurovision Search". eurovisionireland.net. Eurovision Ireland. Retrieved 14 October 2015.  1 2 3 4 "Junior Eurovision: Programme 3". tg4.ie. TG4. Retrieved 22 October 2015.  1 2 "Junior Eurovision: Programme 4". tg4.ie. TG4. Retrieved 31 October 2015.  ↑ Participant profile ↑ James-Fisher, Luke (15 November 2015). "Running order for Junior Eurovision 2015". junioreurovision,tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 15 November 2015.  Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015   Countries Final (by final results) Malta (winner) Armenia Slovenia Belarus Albania Russia Serbia Australia Bulgaria Georgia Ukraine Ireland Montenegro San Marino Netherlands Italy Macedonia   Artists Final (by final result) Destiny Chukunyere Mika Lina Kuduzović Ruslan Aslanov Mishela Rapo Mikhail Smirnov Lena Stamenković Bella Paige Gabriela Yordanova & Ivan Stoyanov The Virus Anna Trincher Aimee Banks Jana Mirković Kamilla Ismailova Shalisa Chiara & Martina Ivana Petkovska & Magdalena Aleksovska   Songs Final (by final result) "Not My Soul" "Love" "Prva ljubezen" "Volshebstvo" "Dambaje" "Mechta" "Lenina pesma" "My Girls" "Colour of Hope" "Gabede" "Pochny z sebe" "Réalta na mara" "Oluja" "Mirror" "Million Lights" "Viva" "Pletenka – Braid of Love" (Note: "Withdrawn" refers to entries that withdrew after applying to enter)  Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest   Participation 2015 2016   Artists 2010s Aimee Banks Zena Donnelly   Songs 2010s "Réalta na mara" "Brice ar Bhrice" (Note: Entries scored out are when Ireland did not compete)