The 68th Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final took place last night in Malmö, Sweden and it was Switzerland's entry Nemo that won the competition.
The first non-binary winner of Eurovision, Nemo soared to victory with ‘The Code'. A mix of innovative staging, impressive vocals and a memorable hook secured the surprise victory over long-time favourites Croatia.
Nemo's win marks the first time Switzerland has won Eurovision since Céline Dion in 1988. It is their third time of winning the competition overall. Nemo beat 24 countries to clinch the title during the live show after being awarded a huge 591 points.
Croatia's Baby Lasagna came second with 547 points for ‘Rim Tim Tagi Dim' and Ukraine landed third with alyona alyona and Jerry Heil who performed ‘Teresa & Maria' socring 453 points.
This year's Eurovision proved to be controversial due to the inclusion of Israel. Pro-Palestinian campaigners tried to pressure both the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to remove Israel from the competition and the other performers to boycott the competition. Despite a relatively low number of points from the jury vote, Israel's Eden Golan came second in the public vote with 323 points for her song ‘Hurricane'. That saw them clinch the number 5 spot overall.
The United Kingdom's Olly Alexander finished in 18th place and was surprisingly awarded zero points from the public vote. He received a total of 46 points from the jury vote.
Martin Österdahl, the EBU's Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, said:
“We are incredibly grateful to SVT for their hard work and commitment in hosting this year’s event. For the third time, Malmö opened its heart to us and we thank them for the warm welcome given to everyone who was part of the 2024 Contest.
“Our congratulations go to Nemo and their excellent performance of ‘The Code' that is added to the illustrious list of Eurovision winners. SVT and Malmö, once again, were excellent in producing the Eurovision Song Contest and everyone who was part of this year’s event, at home or in the arena, will have wonderful memories.”
The Grand Final was opened by a wonderful Flag Parade featuring all 25 competing artists.
After all songs had been performed, iconic Swedish pop group Alcazar reunited for one night only to open the interval with their hit song ‘Crying at the Discotheque'.
Eurovision 2023 winner Loreen also performed before it was time to call in results from the juries across the participating countries, followed by the televoting points.
