The polls for the third annual esctoday.com awards are closed and now it is time to reveal the results, which are traditionally made public on Christmas. We continue with the final three categories: Best female national final performance not to qualify for Eurovision, Best male national final performance not to qualify for Eurovision and Best duo/group national final performance not to qualify for Eurovision.

The 2008 esctoday.com award for Best female national final performance not to qualify for Eurovision goes to…

• SANNA NIELSEN of Sweden for Empty room

It might be no surprise that Sanna Nielsen won this award as she has already taken home the trophy for Best national final performance. The song Empty room was written by Aleena Gibson and Bobby Ljungren and it was a #2 hit in Sweden. This is the first award for a Swedish act in this category following Slovenia's Saša Lendero and Spain's Mirela in 2006 and 2007 repsectively.

The complete results:

1. Sanna Nielsen of Sweden for Empty room – 42.0%
2. Coral of Spain for Todo está en tu mente – 21.5%
3. Caroline Fortenbacher of Germany for Hinterm Ozean – 13.0%
   Leona Daly of Ireland for Not crazy after all – 13.0%
4. Veronica Akselsen of Norway for Am I supposed to love again? – 10.6%

Watch the Best female national final performance not to qualify for Eurovision of the year below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0bcWNcSKLI

The 2008 esctoday.com award for Best male national final performance not to qualify for Eurovision goes to…

• KOSTAS MARTAKIS of Greece for Always and forever

Kostas Martakis entered the 2008 Greek national final with the song Always and forever, written by Dimitris Kontopoulos and Vicky Gerothodorou and finished second behind Kalomira. It was the third time already that a song composed by Kontopoulos finished second in a Greek national final. Unlike in the best female national final performance category, this is the first time this award goes NOT to a Swedish act: Andreas Johnson won in this category in 2006 while Måns Zelmerlöw did so last year.

The complete results:

1. Kostas Martakis of Greece for Always and forever – 34.0%
2. Sergey Lazarev of Russia for Flyer – 25.2%
3. Torstein Sødal of Norway for Eastern wind – 20.8%
4. Mikael Konttinen of Finland for Milloin – 11.3%
5. Nicolas Metaxas of Cyprus for Butterfly – 8.7%

Watch the Best male national final performance not to qualify for Eurovision of the year below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4sbgrr69L4

The 2008 esctoday.com award for Best duo/group national final performance not to qualify for Eurovision goes to…

• BWO of Sweden for Lay your love on me

BWO have already taken part in Melodifestivalen three times and will return for a fourth participation in 2009. In the 2008 Swedish selection, they competed with the song Lay your love on me, which was written by Bobby Ljunggren, Alexander Bard, Henrik Wikström and Anders Hansson. They won the third semi final by a landslide getting more than twice as many votes as the runner-up and would finish third in the national final behind Charlotte Perelli and Sanna Nielsen. It is the second time already BWO wins this award as they already did so in 2006 with Temple of love, which also brought them the victory for Best national final performance not to qualify for Eurovision. They are therefore the first act to win awards in two different years.

The complete results:

1. BWO of Sweden for Lay your love on me – 44.8%
2. La Casa Azúl of Spain for La revolución sexual – 19.6%
3. Beauty Queens of Serbia for Zavet – 17.7%
4. Biondo of Romania for Shine – 10.6%
5. Nordman of Sweden for I lågornas sken – 7.3%

Watch the Best duo/group national final performance not to qualify for Eurovision of the year below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk-Pr3slSUc

These were the final results of the 2008 esctoday.com awards. We want to thank all of you, who have taken part in the nominations process and the voting as well as the nominees, who are the reason why these awards are given out.