18-year-old Viktoria Nowak from Poland has been named the winner of Eurovision Young Dancers 2015. The final of the biennial competition for dancers aged between 16 and 21 took place on Friday 19 June at the New Theatre in Pilsen, Czech Republic.

Dancers from 10 EBU Member broadcasters took part: Hosts ČT (Czech Republic), RTSH (Albania), WDR (Germany), PBS (Malta), NRK (Norway), TVP (Poland), RTVS (Slovakia), RTVSLO (Slovenia), SVT (Sweden) and NTR (The Netherlands).

The event was broadcast live in 6 of the participating countries, on youngdancers.tv and YouTube.

The 10 dancers in the 2015 competition performed in front of a 500 strong audience and were judged by a panel of three world-renowned dancers: Canadian hip-hop choreographer Alexandra ‘Spicey’ Landé, Czech ballet dancer and Principal of SemperOper Ballet Jiří Bubeníček, and Spanish ballet dancer and Eurovision Young Dancers 1993 winner Zenaida Yanowsky.

The participants performed solo routines before taking part in a group performance. The jury then chose two dancers to take part in an exciting ninety-second duel which decided the winner of this year’s competition.

Viktoria Nowak performed a solo routine “Piece in Old Style” to music by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki.

She was born in Poznan in 1987 and began dancing at the age of eight, when her mother took her to ballet school for the first time.

Viktoria said: "I’d like to thank my choreographer and everyone I have met here for such a wonderful time. I am grateful to all my family for their support and can’t believe I’ve won."

The winner received a trophy and 7,000 euros. Second placed Staša Tušar from Slovenia received a prize of 3,000 euros.

“I would like to congratulate Poland on their victory,” said EBU Executive Supervisor Vladislav Yakovlev. “Viktoria Nowak gave exceptional performances all week, and really deserved to win the competition. I commend the other 9 participants and thank Czech Television for putting on this wonderful event and the city of Pilsen for being such excellent and welcoming hosts. Everyone involved here has done a simply amazing job, and the EBU is very grateful for your hard work,” he added.

Eurovision Young Dancers 2015 was a co-production between the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Member Ceská Televize (ČT).

Petr Dvořák, Director General of ČT, said the competition has provided an excellent springboard for the dancers who took part: “I believe that all the participants of Eurovision Young Dancers will find the contacts and experiences gained in Pilsen useful for progressing in their careers. For the winner, it will undoubtedly bring a breakthrough on the international scene.”

He added, “For us, the experience of hosting a European competition like this has also been beneficial. It has clearly demonstrated that ČT, with its organisational and technical capacity, is very well prepared.”

The Eurovision Young Dancers competition was first staged 30 years ago in Italy. Spain has won the competition the most times, five, while Sweden, Belgium, and Switzerland have all come second twice.

The competitors

The Eurovision Young Dancers 2015 (with their age in brackets) were as follows:

Klaudio Begaj from Albania (17) RTSH

Helena Nováčková from the Czech Republic (17) ČT

Thomas Rohe from Germany (21) WDR

Anthea Zammit from Malta (21) PBS

Trine Lise Moe from Norway (19) NRK

Viktoria Nowak from Poland (18) TVP

Valéria Stašková from Slovakia (18) RTVS

Staša Tušar from Slovenia (17) RTVSLO

Agnes Klapp from Sweden (18) SVT

Thijs Hogenboom from The Netherlands (20) NTR

The full list and profiles of participants for the 2015 Eurovision Young Dancers, along with high resolution photos, can be found on the official website, YoungDancers.tv.