Marcel Bezençon Awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia honoring the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman (Sweden's representative in the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest and current Head of Delegation for Sweden) and Richard Herrey (member of the Herreys, Eurovision Song Contest 1984 winner from Sweden), the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon.^[1] The awards are divided into 3 categories:

• Press Award - Given to the best entry as voted on by the accredited media and press during the event.
• Artistic Award - Presented to the best artist as voted on by the commentators.
• Composer Award - A jury consisting of the participating composers vote for the best and most original composition.

In 2008, a special award was presented, the Poplight Fan Award, as voted by fans on the Swedish website poplight.se and presented to their favourite debuting artist (under age 25).^[2]

In 2010 the Eurovision Song Contest added a new category, the commentator's vote. Previously, this category was awarded by the former winners, but logistical problems has made the organisers change the basis of the vote. It has been too difficult to get hold of past winners, and some of them don't watch the contest. On the other hand, the commentators follow the rehearsals intensely and are regarded as a more reliable group for the voting. The commentators vote for the "Artistic Awards."^[3]

Although sanctioned by Eurovision Song Contest, the awards are not presented during the final event broadcast, rather they are handed out during the official contest after party. In 2009, however, the trophies were awarded prior to the event final.

Sweden's Melodifestivalen also presents the awards during their own competition proper.

Winners

Press Award

Year	Country	Song	Performer	Final Result	Points	Host city
2002	France	"Il faut du temps"	Sandrine François	5th	104	Tallinn
2003	Turkey	"Everyway That I Can"	Sertab Erener	1st	167	Riga
2004	Serbia and Montenegro	"Lane moje" (Лане моје)	Željko Joksimović	2nd	263	Istanbul
2005	Malta	"Angel"	Chiara	2nd	192	Kiev
2006	Finland	"Hard Rock Hallelujah"	Lordi	1st	292	Athens
2007	Ukraine	"Dancing Lasha Tumbai" (Dancing Лаша Тумбай)	Verka Serduchka	2nd	235	Helsinki
2008	Portugal	"Senhora do mar (Negras águas)"	Vânia Fernandes	13th	69	Belgrade
2009	Norway[4]	"Fairytale"	Alexander Rybak	1st	387	Moscow
2010	Israel[5]	"Milim" (מילים)	Harel Skaat	14th	71	Oslo
2011	Finland[6]	"Da Da Dam"	Paradise Oskar	21st	57	Düsseldorf

Artistic Award

Voted by previous winners

Year	Country	Performer	Song	Final Result	Points	Host city
2002	Sweden	Afro-dite	"Never Let It Go"	8th	72	Tallinn
2003	Netherlands	Esther Hart	"One More Night"	13th	45	Riga
2004	Ukraine	Ruslana	"Wild Dances"	1st	280	Istanbul
2005	Greece	Helena Paparizou	"My Number One"	1st	230	Kiev
2006	Sweden	Carola	"Invincible"	5th	170	Athens
2007	Serbia	Marija Šerifović	"Molitva" (Молитва)	1st	268	Helsinki
2008	Ukraine	Ani Lorak	"Shady Lady"	2nd	230	Belgrade
2009	France[4]	Patricia Kaas	"Et s'il fallait le faire"	8th	107	Moscow

Voted by commentators

Since 2010, the show commentators have replaced the previous winners as the selection jury for the winners.

Year	Country	Performer	Song	Final Result	Points	Host city
2010	Israel[5]	Harel Skaat	"Milim" (מילים)	14th	71	Oslo
2011	Ireland[6]	Jedward	"Lipstick"	8th	119	Düsseldorf

Composer Award winners

This award was first presented in 2004, replacing the Fan Award.

Year	Country	Song	Composer(s) Lyrics (l) / Music (m)	Performer	Final Result	Points	Host city
2004	Cyprus	"Stronger Every Minute"	Mike Konnaris (m & l)	Lisa Andreas	5th	170	Istanbul
2005	Serbia and Montenegro	"Zauvijek moja"	Slaven Knezović (m) and Milan Perić (l)	No Name	7th	137	Kiev
2006	Bosnia and Herzegovina	"Lejla"	Željko Joksimović (m), Fahrudin Pecikoza (l) and Dejan Ivanović (l)	Hari Mata Hari	3rd	229	Athens
2007	Hungary	"Unsubstantial Blues"	Magdi Rúzsa (m) and Imre Mózsik (l)	Magdi Rúzsa	9th	128	Helsinki
2008	Romania	"Pe-o margine de lume"	Andrei Tudor (m), Andreea Andrei (l) and Adina Şuteu (l)	Nico & Vlad	20th	45	Belgrade
2009	Bosnia and Herzegovina[4]	"Bistra voda"	Aleksandar Čović (m & l)	Regina	9th	106	Moscow
2010	Israel[5]	"Milim" (מילים)	Tomer Hadadi (m) and Noam Horev (l)	Harel Skaat	14th	71	Oslo
2011	France[6]	"Sognu"	Daniel Moyne (m), Quentin Bachelet(m) and Jean-Pierre Marcellesi (l), Julie Miller (l)	Amaury Vassili	15th	82	Düsseldorf

Fan Award

The Fan Award was handed out in 2002 & 2003, and voted on by the members of OGAE, the Eurovision international fan club. It was discontinued and replaced by the Composer Award in 2004.

In 2008, a special award, called the Poplight Fan Award, was introduced and was voted on by ESC fans (see above). It has not awarded since then.

Year	Country	Performer	Song	Final Result	Points	Host city
2002	Finland	Laura Voutilainen	"Addicted to You"	20th	24	Tallinn
2003	Spain	Beth	"Dime"	8th	81	Riga
2008	Armenia	Sirusho	"Qélé, Qélé" (Քելե Քելե)	4th	199	Belgrade

Melodifestivalen winners

Since 2005 Sveriges Television (SVT) has awarded Marcel Bezençon Awards during its national selection Melodifestivalen. These awards follow the same format as that for the Eurovision awards, with awards given to songs that competed in the final of the contest.^[7][8]

Press Award

Year	Song	Performer	Final Result	Points
2005	Shirley Clamp	"Att älska dig"	4th	130
2006	BWO	"Temple of Love"	2nd	202
2007	Sonja Aldén	"För att du finns"	6th	62
2008	Sanna Nielsen	"Empty Room"	2nd	206
2009	Caroline af Ugglas	"Snälla snälla"	2nd	171
2010	Anna Bergendahl	"This Is My Life"	1st	214
2011	Eric Saade	"Popular"	1st	193

Artistic Award

Year	Performer	Song	Final Result	Points
2005	Nanne Grönvall	"Håll om mig"	2nd	209
2006	Carola	"Evighet"	1st	234
2007	Sonja Aldén	"För att du finns"	6th	62
2008	BWO	"Lay Your Love on Me"	3rd	158
2009	Sarah Dawn Finer	"Moving On"	6th	87
2010	Eric Saade	"Manboy"	3rd	155
2011	Danny Saucedo	"In the Club"	2nd	149

Composer Award

Year	Song	Composer(s)	Performer	Final Result	Points
2005	"A Different Kind of Love"	Joacim Dubbelman, Martin Landh, Sam McCarthy	Caroline Wennergren	5th	116
2006	"Sing For Me"	Andreas Johnson, Peter Kvint	Andreas Johnson	3rd	200
2007	"I Remember Love"	Peter Hallström, Sarah Dawn Finer	Sarah Dawn Finer	4th	122
2008	"Empty Room"	Bobby Ljunggren, Aleena Gibson	Sanna Nielsen	2nd	206
2009	"You're My World"	Emilia Rydberg, Fredrik "Figge" Boström	Emilia	9th	28
2010	"Keep on Walking"	Salem Al Fakir	Salem Al Fakir	2nd	183
2011	"Leaving Home"	Jojo Borg Larsson, Nicke Borg, Fredrik Thomander, Anders "Gary" Wikström	Nicke Borg	8th	57

Fan Award

As with for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest a fan award was also given out for the 2008 Melodifestivalen.

Year	Performer	Song	Final Result	Points
2008	Amy Diamond	"Thank You"	8th	36

Notes

1. ^ "Marcel Bezençon Award - an introduction". Poplight. http://poplight.zitiz.se/marcelbezenconaward/en. Retrieved 2009-06-02. 
2. ^ Viniker, Barry (2008-03-11). "Marcel Bezençon Award for fans". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/10840. Retrieved 2009-06-02. 
3. ^ http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=18433&_t=Israeli+grand+slam+in+the+Marcel+Bezen%C3%A7on+Awards
4. ^ ^{a b c} Klier, Marcus (2009-05-18). "The Eurovision 2009 Marcel Bezençon Awards". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/14096. Retrieved 2009-06-02. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Klier, Marcus (2010-05-30). "Israeli grand slam in the Marcel Bezençon Awards". EurovisionTV. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=18433&_t=Israeli+grand+slam+in+the+Marcel+Bezen%C3%A7on+Awards. Retrieved 2009-06-02. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} Roxburgh, Gordon (2011-03-16). "Winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards". European Broadcasting Union. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=36363&_t=winners_of_the_marcel_bezencon_awards. Retrieved 16 May 2011. 
7. ^ "Vinnare av Marcel Bezencon Award 2009" (in Swedish). SVT. http://svt.se/2.79613/1.1531032/vinnare_av_marcel_bezencon_award_2009&from=rss. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
8. ^ "Melodifestivalen 2011: Eric Saade, Danny och Nicke Borg vann Marcel Bezençon Award" (in Swedish). poplight.zitiz.se. 2011-03-13. http://poplight.zitiz.se/artikel/melodifestivalen-2011-eric-saade-danny-och-nicke-borg-vann-marcel-bezencon-award. Retrieved 14 May 2011. 

External links

Eurovision portal

• Eurovision Song Contest
• poplight.zitiz.se
• 2008 Winners announced
• Footage of the 2009 awards presentation
• Footage of the 2010 awards presentation
• Footage of the 2011 awards presentation