Armenia win Junior Eurovision 2026 with Naré's BOO!, and Spain finish second
Thirteen-year-old Naré took Junior Eurovision 2026 in Malta for Armenia with 202 points, ahead of Spain (184) and France (165). Portugal's Salvador Rio finished 13th with Alma on 64 points, 50 of them from the online vote.
Armenia have won Junior Eurovision 2026. Naré, who is 13 and from Yerevan, sang BOO! at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta’ Qali on Saturday night and finished on 202 points, ahead of 15 other entries.
What made it hard to beat was balance. Points are split down the middle between professional juries and an online vote, and Naré was near the top of both: 103 from the juries, 99 from viewers.
The chasing pack
Spain pushed her all the way and finished second with Lucas Paulano on 184. Spain actually edged Armenia with the juries (108 to 103), but the online vote tipped it. France’s Alec completed the podium on 165, with San Marino (Violamarie, 148) and Georgia (Davit Lomidze, 145) rounding out the top five.
Naré had been trying for three years. She was picked from 40 singers called to in-person auditions, and her song comes from two familiar names in Armenian pop: Grigor Kyokchyan, who wrote the country’s 2022 junior entry, and Lilit Navasardyan, who wrote the 2025 junior entry and Paloma Rumba, Armenia’s song at this year’s senior contest. It is Armenia’s third junior win, after 2010 and 2021.
How Portugal did
Salvador Rio took Alma to Malta and finished 13th on 64 points. The split tells its own story: the juries gave him 14, viewers gave him 50. Portugal tied with Ireland and placed ahead on the strength of that online score.
With the senior contest raising its minimum age to 18 from 2027, the junior show matters more as a shop window for singers who have not got there yet. As for next year, the winning country traditionally gets first refusal on hosting, but the call belongs to the EBU, which announces it on the official Junior Eurovision site.
By Lucy Bennett
Chart: Tugadaily, data from the EBU