page_title: Eurovision Young Musicians
section_title: Participation
hierarchical_section_title: Eurovision Young Musicians / Participation
context_page_description: The Eurovision Young Musicians, often shortened to EYM, or Young Musicians, is a biennial classical music competition for European musicians that are aged between 12 and 21. It is organised by the European Broadcasting Union and broadcast on television throughout Europe, with some countries holding national selections to choose their representatives for the contest.
  The first edition of the Eurovision Young Musicians took place in Manchester, United Kingdom on 11 May 1982 and 6 countries took part. The contest was won by Markus Pawlik from West Germany, who played the piano. Austria is the most successful country in the Young Musicians contest, having won five times 1988, 1998, 2002, 2004, and 2014 respectively and has hosted the contest a record six times. The most recent edition of this competition took place in Edinburgh, Scotland on 23 August 2018 and was won by Ivan Bessonov, who played the piano for Russia.
context_section_description: Eligible participants include primarily Active Members (as opposed to Associate Members) of the EBU. Active members are those who are located in states that fall within the European Broadcasting Area, or are member states of the Council of Europe.
  The European Broadcasting Area is defined by the International Telecommunication Union:
  The "European Broadcasting Area" is bounded on the west by the western boundary of Region 1, on the east by the meridian 40° East of Greenwich and on the south by the parallel 30° North so as to include the northern part of Saudi Arabia and that part of those countries bordering the Mediterranean within these limits. In addition, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and those parts of the territories of Iraq, Jordan, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey and Ukraine lying outside the above limits are included in the European Broadcasting Area.
  The western boundary of Region 1 is defined by a line running from the North Pole along meridian 10° West of Greenwich to its intersection with parallel 72° North; thence by great circle arc to the intersection of meridian 50° West and parallel 40° North; thence by great circle arc to the intersection of meridian 20° West and parallel 10° South; thence along meridian 20° West to the South Pole.
  Active members include broadcasting organisations whose transmissions are made available to at least 98% of households in their own country which are equipped to receive such transmissions. If an EBU Active Member wishes to participate, they must fulfil conditions as laid down by the rules of the contest (of which a separate copy is drafted annually).
  Eligibility to participate is not determined by geographic inclusion within the continent of Europe, despite the "Euro" in "Eurovision" – nor does it have any relation to the European Union. Several countries geographically outside the boundaries of Europe have competed: Israel, Cyprus and Armenia, in Western Asia, since 1986, 1988 and 2012 respectively. In addition, several transcontinental countries with only part of their territory in Europe have competed: Russia, since 1994; and Georgia, since 2012. Listed below are all the countries that have taken part in the competition or are eligible to take part but have yet to do so.
  Forty-two countries have participated in the Eurovision Young Musicians since it started in 1982. Of these, eleven have won the contest. The contest, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), is held biennially between members of the Union.
  As of 2020, the Eurovision Young Musicians has had the most "one-and-done" participants of any continuous Eurovision event that has run for more than two years. No fewer than ten countries have made only one appearance at the event prior to withdrawing (Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the latter's direct successor Serbia). Comparatively, there have been eight for Eurovision Young Dancers, two (Serbia and Montenegro and Switzerland) for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and one (Morocco) for the flagship Eurovision Song Contest. It also has the most cases of countries withdrawing after winning, which has happened on three occasions (the Netherlands withdrawing from the 1992 contest, Germany withdrawing from the 1998 contest, and Russia withdrawing from the 2020 contest), compared to one instance each at Eurovision Young Dancers (Ukraine withdrawing from the 2005 edition) and the Eurovision Song Contest (Israel withdrawing from the 1980 edition). Malta and Slovenia are currently the only two countries that have participated every year since their debut, while another three (Norway, Poland, and San Marino) have only missed one contest each since debuting.
  It was the first EBU event to include a large number of former Soviet states and Warsaw Pact member states, many of whom debuted in the Young Musicians prior to their Eurovision Song Contest debut (including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, North Macedonia, and Poland).
caption: Participation since 1982:  Entered at least once   Never entered, although eligible to do so   Competed as a part of another country (Yugoslavia), but never as a sovereignty