Hall of Fame

2010 – United Kingdom; Running on Empty, by David Graaff and Andy Brook

After leading almost all the way, Estonian entrant Christa was pipped at the post – with the votes of the very last jury giving the victory instead to “Running On Empty” by londonvision feat. Tiina. Having been represented in every single edition of the contest to date, this was the first ever win for the United Kingdom. It was a consensus result, too – this was only the second time a song had won the contest without getting a single maximum vote

2009 – Sweden; Här kommer solen, by Ylva and Linda Persson and Dan Attlerud, produced by Martin Klaman

Swedish twins Ylva and Linda, otherwise known as OneVoice,  ran away with the victory in 2009 with their own song, “Här kommer solen”, which they wrote together with Dan Atterud.  Earlier this year OneVoice narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals of Sweden’s Melodifestivalen. Fingers crossed for 2012!

2008 – Serbia; Vino, by Boban Djekic

The only new country to appear on the scoreboard in 2008 was Serbia, represented by Boban Djekic – who promptly won the competition on his first attempt with the polished “Vino”, beating out fellow first-timer Heja from Turkey and defending champion Stefan Engel from Germany. Persistence paid off for the contest’s most experienced competitor, Martin Faulkner from the UK, whose band Vulnerable recorded comfortably their best result to date in 4th place

2007 – Germany; Warrior of Love, by Stefan Engel, Randi Knobloch and Tato Gomez

2007 saw a modernisation of the contest, with the contest conducted online for the first time, and with only four competitors returning from 2005 or earlier. In the end there was a second victory for the country with the most entries in the contest’s history: Germany took the title with ‘Warrior of Love. The following year, Stefan Engel was to incorporate an online voting show with Eurovision-style scoreboard, bringing the contest to a much wider audience.

2006 – Poland; Oddajcie im wolnosc, by Patryk Smolarek

This year’s contest was the biggest ever, with a total of 37 entries, from 21 competing teams. Swedish duo  Ylva Glader and Linda Persson (OneVoice) enjoyed a remarkably successful debut, occupying the 2nd, 3rd and 7th places with their three entries.  Despite a tight finish, though, they were unable to get in the way of Poland’s Patryk Smolarek, who duly took the 2006 title with his ballad “Oddajcie im wolnosc”.

2005 – Greece; Apopse by Dimitris Kiklis, sung by Emilia Kiklis

The winning score of 80 was relatively low, and “Apopse” received no 12-point awards at all – a consensual winner in a year of polarisation among the juries. This was also underlined by the fact that just four points separated 4th place from 8th, while three songs unfortunately received no points at all. It  also proved to be the year of the debutant, with Austria and Greece dominating the top 3.

2004 – Denmark; Venter på mig, by Morten Boldt

The contest featured a total of 24 songs from 15 composers, representing seven different countries. Despite all the newcomers, the top of the scoreboard had a familiar look to it as Morten Boldt took his second successive victory (and his fourth overall) with “Venter på mig”. He didn’t have it all his own way, though – in fact, with just one jury left to vote, Annika Jansson’s “I tusen år” was leading by some distance, followed by “Where are you” from Germany. However, the final jury was Annika’s, and in a finish reminiscent of the 1999 contest, her top mark to Morten was just enough to help him leapfrog into first place and claim victory.

And some that didn’t take the title:

2004 – Cyprus; This Love, by Andreas Anastasiou

 

 

Andreas  Anastasiou wrote the haunting piano piece ‘This Love’ which came fifth in the Home Composed contest in 2007.

Four years later he co-composed the Cypriot Eurovision entry, San Aggelos S’Agapisa, which was performed in the second semi final in Dusseldorf.
2002 – Sweden; Do It, by Jonas Gladnikoff and Annika Jansson

Jonas will be well-known to budding songwriters as co-composer of the Irish entries in 2009 and 2010. He reached the final in Oslo with It’s for You, sung by Eurovision winner Niamh Kavanagh.  We’ll be hearing more from Jonas in the run up to the HCSC final, where he is joining us as a guest.

1997: Malta; Ismaghni ftit habib by Jason Cassar and Sunny Aquilina, sung by Chiara

Oh, how could we? After coming second, a year before her Eurovision debut in Birmingham, the Maltese team were disqualified because the songwriting team were professional. Chiara almost won Eurovision in 1998, finishing in third place behind Dana International and Imaani, and then came second in 1995. This is a charming ballad that might have been better saved for the Eurovision final

 1994 – Cyprus: Pictures, by Michalis Constantinides, sung by Michalis Hadjiyiannis

 Another second-placed artist who went on to greater things – in fact he also appeared on the Eurovision stage in Birmingham.

Now one of Cyprus’ most popular singers, his return to Eurovision is rumoured almost every year.

These and many other songs from the contest, along with a year-by-year commentary, are from the  official website, courtesy of Martin Faulkner

 

 

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