A total of twelve countries participated, with Macedonia and Malta making a return,[6][7] and Albania,[8] Belgium[9] and Israel choosing to withdraw.

[12] Gaia Cauchi representing Malta won the contest with the song "The Start".

[3] It also marked the first time in the history of the contest that a winning entry was sung entirely in English.

Sofia Tarasova, representing the host nation Ukraine, took second place and Ilya Volkov singing for Belarus took the third-place trophy.

[13] On 12 February 2013, the Ukrainian national broadcaster NTU and EBU announced that the 2013 contest would take place in Kyiv.

[16] Prior to that, in October, it was announced that the executive supervisor managed to maintain the participation of thirteen countries for the contest in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Prior to the event, a digital compilation album featuring all the songs from the 2013 contest, along with karaoke versions, was put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by Universal Music Group on 22 November 2013.

[18] The executive supervisor of the Junior Eurovision steering group, Vladislav Yakovlev, announced on 17 July 2013 that there would be some changes being introduced to the contest from 2013 onwards.

[21] The running order draw took place on 25 November 2013 during the contest's opening party.

[24] On 21 November 2013, it was revealed that 98.8 Castle FM in Scotland would be the only radio station broadcasting the ceremony in the United Kingdom.

On 30 September 2013, it was confirmed that Timur Miroshnychenko would host the contest alongside Zlata Ognevich.