News - National final season 2010: What happened last week? | Eurovision Song Contest News - Azerbaijan 2012 

Azerbaijan

The semi final of the Azerbaijani selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was held on Tuesday. Six acts presented one song each and the expert jury selected three of them to move forward to the national final on 1st March: Milk & Kisses, Safura Alizadeh and Maryam Shabanova. Still, we have probably not heard the country's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest yet as the national selection is mainly a performer selection and the song of the winning artist is likely to be replaced after the national final.

• Live report of the semi final here.
  
• Results of the semi final here.
  

Germany

Another country kicked off its national selection on Tuesday: Germany. Ten singers performed cover versions of more or less famous songs and five of them were chosen by televoting to compete in the elimination rounds starting on 16th February. They were Lena Meyer-Landrut, Kerstin Freking, Meri Voskanian, Cyril Krueger and Katrin Walter. 

• Live report of the first heat here.
  
• Results of the first heat here. 

Slovakia

Eurosong 2010 continued on Friday with the fifth heat. Another four acts were chosen by SMS voting to go forward to the semi final stage of the selection: Kristina, Smola a hrušky, Robert Mikla and Dáška Kostovčik. The line-up for the two semi finals on 14th and 21st February was completed on Sunday with the sixth and lastquarter final. This time, the lucky ones were Soňa , Miro Jaroš , Aya and Marián Bango.

• Complete results of the fifth quarter final here.
• Complete results of the sixth quarter final here. 

Norway

After three semi finals and a second chance round, the host country of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 chose its entry for Oslo in Oslo. Eight acts were still in the running and they were reduced to four by televoting alone. Out of the all-male top four, Didrik Solli-Tangen was eventually chosen as Norwegian representative by the jury and the televoters in the second round being the favourite of both. His song is called My heart is yours and it was written by Eurovision veterans Hanne Sørvaag and Fredrik Kempe. 

• Live report of the national final here.
  
• Complete results of the national final here. 

Denmark

Denmark is the only Nordic country with a one-evening national selection this year. The ten songs competed in the national final omn Saturday. In the first round, they were reduced to four by SMS voting and a jury. The remaining songs competed in duels until only one was left: In a moment like this performed by Chanée and Tomas N'evergreen. The song was written by Thomas G:son, a familiar face to the Eurovision Song Contest and various national selections along with Henrik Sethssona and Erik Bernholm. 

• Live report of the national final here.
  
• Complete results of the national final here.

Sweden

Swedish Melodifestivalen kicked off on Saturday with the first of four semi finals being held. Eight acts competed and two of them were chosen to compete in grand final on 13th March. Salem Al Fakir, winner of the first round of voting, directly qualified for the final and he was joined by Ola Svensson, winner of the second round of voting. Pain of Salvation and Jessica Andersson will get another chance in the second chance round on 6th March. 

• Live report of the first semi final here.
  
• Results of the first semi final here. 

Iceland

Iceland completed the Nordic Saturday with the final of Söngvakeppni sjónvarpsins being held. Six acts competed and the televoters decided to give Hera Björk the ticket to Oslo with her song Je ne sais quoi, which was written by herself along with Örlygur Smári, who had already written another two Icelandic entries in the competition. 

• Live report of the national final here.
  
• Results of the national final here.  

Cyprus

The Cypriot national final was held on Sunday with nine acts competing. The winner was chosen by televoting and a jury and both agreed to send Jon Lilygreen & the Islanders to Oslo with their song Life looks better in spring written by Nasos Lambrianides and Melis Konstantinou. 

• Live report of the national final here.
  
• Complete results of the national final here.

Netherlands

The Dutch national final was held on Sunday as well. Five acts performed five different versions of the song Ik ben verliefd (Sha la lie) written by Pierre Kartner. Originally, a juryof four people and the audience in the hall were supposed to determine the winner but after a tie in the voting, Pierre Kartner himself was to choose the Dutch entrant. He decided that Sieneke will go to Oslo. 

• Live report of the national final here.
  
• Complete results of the national final here. 

esctoday.com national final awards 2010

The 2010 esctoday.com National Final Awards will be held between April and May, which means between the national final season and the Eurovision Song Contest. We will repeat the same format with two rounds for nominations which was used this year - you can read how it works here. However, this time the individual polls for each country will always be held right after the national final, when the entries are still fresh. You can still vote for your favourites in the two national finals that have already been held: 

• Vote for your favourite performance not to qualify in Albania here.
  
• Vote for your favourite song not to qualify in Albania here.
  
• Vote for your favourite performance not to qualify in Finland here.
  
• Vote for your favourite song not to qualify in Finland here.
• Vote for your favourite performance not to qualify in Norway here.
• Vote for your favourite song not to qualify in Norway here.
  
• Vote for your favourite performance not to qualify in Denmark here.
  
• Vote for your favourite song not to qualify in Denmark here.
  
• Vote for your favourite performance not to qualify in Iceland here.
• Vote for your favourite song not to qualify in Iceland here.
  
• Vote for your favourite performance not to qualify in Cyprus here.
  
• Vote for your favourite song not to qualify in Cyprus here.
  
• Vote for your favourite performance not to qualify in the Netherlands here. 

Preview of week 10

Songs already chosen for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010