Over the last few weeks, the voting for the 2009 esctoday.com national final awards took place. Thousands of votes were cast and now it is time to reveal the winners. Today, the recipents of the awards for Best staging and presentation, Best webcast and Best voting system.

The 2009 esctoday.com National Final Award for BEST STAGING AN PRESENTATION goes to…

• …SVT for the Swedish national final Melodifestivalen 2009 hosted by Petra Mede

All six Melodifestivalen shows were hosted by comedian Petra Mede, who Petra Mede had alreasy appeared on some of Sweden's leading shows including episodes of Det sociala spelet, Hjälp! and Dubbat. She had also been a presenter on Extra! Extra! and Stockholm live as well as TV-framträdanden, Musikmaskinen, Morgonsoffan and Parlamentet. With her witty charm, she kept she audience entertained during Sweden's most popular TV show.

Petra Mede talking to Sarah Dawn Finer and Malena Ernman in the fourth semi final:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjHFUk4McCI

Sweden was the clear winner in this category getting 53.6% of the votes. The complete results were as follows:

1. Sweden – 53.6%
2. Norway – 18.2%
3. Denmark – 10.7%
4. United Kingdom – 10.4%
5. Poland – 7.1%

The 2009 esctoday.com National Final Award for BEST WEBCAST goes to…

• …NRK for their webcast of the Norwegian national final MGP 2009

This was the only award to be chosen internally based on the suggestions (and their reasons) as made by the readers. It was decided that this award is given to the Norwegian broadcaster. The webcast of all Norwegian shows were almost always running well for most people, but the main reason for this award is the fact that all shows could be watched for free on demand after the live broadcast. In fact final can still be found online along with shows of previous years.

The 2009 esctoday.com National Final Award for BEST VOTING SYSTEM goes to…

• …SVT for the voting system of the Swedish national final Melodifestivalen 2009

Semi finals: The finalists are chosen by televoting in two rounds of voting. In the first round the top four are chosen, but the bottom three are already announced before the close of the voting and eliminated. The top four compete in pairs and the favourite of each pair qualifies for the final. The other two entries enter the second chance round. Furthermore, an international jury chooses its favourite of each heat, which would be in the running for a wildcard in the final.
Second chance round: The eight songs compete in pairs. Televoting chooses the favourite of each pair to move forward to the second round, where the formula is repeated and two finalists are chosen.
Final: An international jury and eleven regional juries all give 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points to their top seven songs. The top seven of the televoting are then given 24, 48, 72, 96, 120 and 144 points.

The first part of the voting in the final:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eva6JXFO39U

Sweden won this category ahead of Norway and Portugal. The complete results were as follows:

1. Sweden – 41.6%
2. Norway – 19.1%
3. Portugal – 16.0%
4. United Kingdom – 13.3%
5. Spain – 9.9%