| Contest: | Junior |
| Year: | 2016 |
| Country: | Macedonia |
| Preselection: | Internal selection |
| Entrant: | Martija Stanojković |
| Song: | Love Will Lead Our Way |
| Final Result: | 12th, 41 points |
North Macedonia participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 which took place on 20 November 2016, in Valletta, Malta, under the provisional reference of "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". The Macedonian broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) was responsible for organising their entry for the contest. Martija Stanojković was internally selected to represent North Macedonia with the song "Love Will Lead Our Way".
See main article: North Macedonia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Prior to the 2016 Contest, North Macedonia had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest eleven times, under the provisional reference of "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", since its debut at the inaugural contest in .[1] [2] North Macedonia were absent twice from the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in and .[3] They have never won the contest, with their best results being at the and, represented by the duo Rosica Kulakova and Dimitar Stojmenovski, and Bobi Andonov respectively, achieving fifth place.[3]
The Macedonian broadcaster announced on 19 July 2016, that they would be participating at the contest scheduled to take place on 20 November 2016, in Valletta, Malta.[4] On 24 July 2016, MRT announced that they had internally selected Martija Stanojković to represent them in Malta.[5] Her song for the contest, "Love Will Lead Our Way", was released on 10 October 2016.[6]
| Martija Stanojković | |
| Instrument: | Vocals |
| Occupation: | Student and singer |
| Birth Name: | Martija Stanojković |
| Birth Date: | 2004 4, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Skopje, Macedonia |
| Junior: | yes |
| Song: | "Love Will Lead Our Way" |
| Year: | 2016 |
| Country: | Macedonia |
| Artist: | Martija Stanojković |
| Languages: | Macedonian, English |
| Composer: | Aleksandar Masevski |
| Lyricist: | Aleksandar Masevski, Martija Stanojković |
| Prev: | Pletenka – Braid of Love |
| Prev Link: | Macedonia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 |
Martija Stanojković (Macedonian: Мартија Станојковиќ) (born 7 April 2004) is a Macedonian-Serbian singer. She represented Macedonia at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Valletta, Malta on 20 November 2016 with the song "Love Will Lead Our Way".
Martija finished second in the Serbian singing contest Pinkove Zvezdice, which is popular in the Balkan region. When she was four years old, she joined a dance club called Ultra, and she was dancing for seven years before she entered Pinkove Zvezdice. Martija is a fan of Justin Bieber.
"Love Will Lead Our Way" is a song by Macedonian singer Martija Stanojković. It represented Macedonia during the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016. It is composed and written by Aleksandar Masevski and Martija Stanojković. The official music video for the song was released on 10 October 2016.
During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which took place on 14 November 2016, Macedonia was drawn to perform seventh on 20 November 2016, following Bulgaria and preceding Poland.[7]
The final was broadcast in Macedonia on MRT 1.
At the beginning of her performance, Martija and her three dancers stood in the back of the stage in the shape of a pyramid, with Martija furthest back. When the music started, the dancers revealed Martija after about 15 seconds. The backdrop was lit up with red glitter in the beginning, which turned into different patterns that varied between the verse and the chorus. Despite being a favorite to win the contest, they only came 12th place.[8]
During the press conference for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016, held in Stockholm, the Reference Group announced several changes to the voting format for the 2016 contest. Previously, points had been awarded based on a combination of 50% National juries and 50% televoting, with one more set of points also given out by a 'Kids' Jury'. However, this year, points will be awarded based on a 50/50 combination of each country's Adult and, to be announced by a spokesperson. For the first time since the inauguration of the contest the voting procedure will not include a public televote.[9] Following these results, three expert jurors will also announce their points from 1–8, 10, and 12. These professional jurors are: Christer Björkman, Mads Grimstad, and Jedward.[10]