Skåne, the historical province in the south of Sweden, have been selecting the Skåne Person of the year ever since 1967. A lot of names familiar to Eurofans have won and this year Måns Zelmerlöw, the 2007 Melodifestivalen finalist, is still in the running for the award.
Among past Skåne Person of the year winners many names familiar to Eurofans can be found. Östen Warnebring (Sweden 1967 and multiple Melodifestivalen participant and winner) has been awarded the prize twice in 1968 and 1982, Siw Malmkvist (Sweden 1960, Germany 1969) won in 1972, Sven Melander (MF host 1994) won in 1991 and in 2003 the winner was Sanna Nielsen (MF 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007).
This year, Måns Zelmerlöw, who placed third in the 2007 Melodifestivalen with Cara mia, is one of the seven candidates left (voted down from 14) to win the award. Mans first appeared in the 2005 edition of the Idol talent show in Sweden, then he went on to win Let's Dance beating Anna Book in the show's final. In the 2007 Melodifestivalen he made it to the final with Cara Mia and he was the second favourite of the public vote placing third overall after The Ark and Andreas Johnsonn. Cara mia topped the Swedish charts for three weeks in April and became a big hit outside Sweden as well.
More information on the candidates and how to vote for Mans can be found on Swedish Radio website by clicking here.
Special thanks to Jarod for his contribution to the article.
