Maria will represent the Netherlands at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2026 with 'Stronger Together', after winning the 2026 edition of the country’s long-running national selection, Junior Songfestival.
The nine-year-old singer from Groningen emerged victorious during Saturday’s live final at RTM Stage in Rotterdam Ahoy, securing 31 points from the three voting panels. Maria received the maximum 12 points from the professional jury, 10 points from the children’s jury and 9 points from viewers at home.
Her victory came in an exceptionally close final. Just three points separated Maria from fourth-placed Nolan, with The Crossovers and Vajèn both finishing on 29 points. Maria was the professional jury's favourite, while the children's jury gave its top score to Vajèn and the public vote went to The Crossovers.
'Stronger Together' was written by Mell Jonk and Ton Dijkman and carries a message about solidarity, empathy and looking out for one another. According to AVROTROS, the song encourages people to understand each other and not look away when someone is experiencing sadness or pain.
Maria is the youngest of this year's four acts. AVROTROS describes her as a nine-year-old performer who wants to develop her singing and dancing skills. She reportedly grew up in a musical family and spent part of her childhood in London, where she attended singing and musical theatre classes. According to local broadcaster OOG Groningen, she was also approached about auditioning for Britain's Got Talent when she was six, although her parents felt she was too young at the time.
Her Junior Songfestival journey began with the wider 2026 selection process. Around 1,600 applications were submitted before the in-person casting rounds in March, from which the finalists were selected. The nine finalists were subsequently divided into four acts, with each act receiving an original song to perform in the national final.
The final result was determined by three equally weighted voting panels: a professional jury, a children's jury and the public. Each panel awarded 8, 9, 10 and 12 points to its four favourites.
The professional jury consisted of Berget Lewis, Kris Kross Amsterdam and Numidia, while the children's jury featured Meadow, the Netherlands' 2025 Junior Eurovision representative, and Level Up, who competed in the previous edition of Junior Songfestival.
The final was hosted by Stefania Liberakakis and Matheu Hinzen, both of whom have previous Junior Eurovision experience. Stefania represented the Netherlands as part of Kisses in 2016 and later represented Greece at Eurovision 2021, while Matheu represented the Netherlands at Junior Eurovision 2019.
A record of uninterrupted participation
Maria will become the Netherlands' representative at the 24th edition of Junior Eurovision. The country has participated in the competition every year since its inaugural edition in 2003, making it the only country to have taken part in every edition to date.
The Netherlands has won Junior Eurovision once. In 2009, Ralf Mackenbach won the contest in Kyiv with 'Click Clack', giving the country its only victory so far. The Netherlands also came close to a second title in 2011, when Rachel finished second with 'Teenager', missing out on first place by five points.
In 2025, the Netherlands was represented by Meadow with 'Freeze'. She finished 10th out of 18 countries with 93 points at the contest in Tbilisi, Georgia. Meadow received 47 points from the jury and 46 from the online vote.
Maria will now take over from Meadow and travel to Ta' Qali, Malta, where Junior Eurovision 2026 will be held on Saturday, 24 October at the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre.
The Netherlands' latest Junior Eurovision adventure will begin with 'Stronger Together' — a song whose message of unity will now be taken from Rotterdam to the international stage.
Listen to the song here:
