Congratulations Norway

Well, that's it for another year.

The 2009 Eurovision Song Contest winner is Norway.

Congratulations to Alexander Rybak and his self-penned entry, Fairytale. Congratulations too to Yohanna for reaching Iceland's biggest points haul and taking second place. Also congratulations to AySel and Arash on third for Azerbaijan, Hadise from Turkey for fourth place and Jade Ewen of the United Kingdom for fifth place. In fact, congratulations to all the entrants, to Channel One in Russia and the EBU for what has been probably the best Eurovision Song Contest so far.



Over the coming months, esctoday.com will be undergoing some changes. The future for both the website and the Eurovision Song Contest is very bright.

we look forward to seeing you at http://www.esctoday.com/

Have your say in the Greek 2009 Eurovision selection

For the first time in the history of Greece's Eurovision Song Contest participation, the international public is invited to have a say in the selection of the song which will represent the country in the Eurovision Song Contest. The seventh vote of the Greek jury to decide which of the three songs Sakis Rouvas will perform on the night of the Greek final belongs to the public from all over Europe who will have the chance to choose their favourite song through a special poll here on esctoday.com, the only official international poll for the Greek national final.

Be part of the Greece 2009 international jury

The Greek final will take place tomorrow, Wednesday 18th February, and viewers will be called to select one song from a choice of three for Sakis Rouvas to perform on stage in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. The Greek public will vote through a national televote campaign. The winning song will be selected by a mixture of televote and jury vote at a 40-60 split. One of the the jury votes will be given to the members of esctoday.com from across the European broadcasting area (except Greece).

How To Vote

In order to vote in the poll, you must be a registered member of esctoday.com. If you are not a member, you need to become a registered member here and activate your profile. Click here to become a member of esctoday.com now. Simply follow the instructions provided.

Rules

Readers may vote only once in each phase of the voting. Votes from Greece will not be accepted. Greek votes will be given through the national televote as part of the show. This poll is for people from outside of Greece only. People trying to create multiple accounts will only have one vote counted. esctoday.com is using several checks and verifications to ensure that this result is fair. Duplicate votes or multiple votes from one person will be discounted.

A separate article will be opened to launch the first voting phase. The second phase will be opened during the live coverage article of the show on Wednesday night.

Phase One

The voting will be conducted in two phases. One poll will open later today and it will close T 19.30 CET on Wednesday 18th February. The result of this poll will be used as a ''back up'' result should any technical problems occur during the live vote. The back-up vote will be based on the three videos shown below. These are provided by ERT for use in the voting.

Phase Two

The second phase will start and close at the same time the Greek audience gets to vote during the final. This poll will be based on the performance by Sakis Rouvas of the three songs that are being presented to the audience, and will determine the international voting part of the show. The poll will open at the same time as the telephone lines in Greece and will close at the same time as the telephone lines. The result will then be given to ERT.


Stay tuned to esctoday.com to have your say in the Greek national final to select the country's 2009 Eurovision Song Contest entry.

THE VIDEOS: (Videos provided with permission by ERT)

Song 1: Out of control

Song 2: Right on time




Song 3: This is our night

esctoday.com apologises for being offline

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