Every year there are contestants at Eurovision that do so much right only to have the public or jury do so much wrong. There were plenty of flashpoints this year. Austria’s The Makemakes were vocally on point and set a piano on a fire — but finished with zero points. And so did Germany’s Ann Sophie. Even if you didn’t want them to win, nil points seems a little harsh. Then there was Edurne — Spain’s tigress who poured her heart and soul and Jose Fuentes gowns into her campaign. She ended up 21st. But in the end our readers thought that one act was more wronged than any other. After counting 3,568 votes, we can now reveal that Italy’s Il Volo have won the Vision Music Award 2015 for Most Wronged.

Eurovision 2015 marked the first time that the winner didn’t win the televote. That’s because third-place finishers Italy cruised to victory with the public, only to finish third as a result of the jury’s lacklustre reception. That result has sparked all manner of debate about whether the jury is relevant and how much power it should wield. European voters loved “Grande Amore” — but love couldn’t conquer all.

Il Volo join previous winners Cezar Ouatu (2013) and Mei Finegold (2014).

Eurovision 2015: Most Wronged

1. Il Volo 832 votes, 23.32%
2. Edurne 830 votes, 23.26%
3. Ann Sophie 782 votes, 21.92%
4. The Makemakes 390 votes, 10.93%
5. Lisa Angell 386 votes, 10.82%
6. Melanie Rene 348 votes, 9.75%

VISION MUSIC AWARDS 2015: THE NOMINEES

This award is just one of a dozen awards we have launched as part of the Vision Music Awards 2015 (VMAs). Our 13 categories—from best dressed to most most wronged at ESC—identify the contestants who left the biggest impression on Eurovision fans, regardless of whether they won the contest or not. You can watch the nominations video below. You can also read more about the awards here.

Il Volo at Eurovision 2015

Follow all of our Italy Eurovision news here

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frances van siclen
8 years ago

Sweden stank !!!!!

Regina
Regina
8 years ago

It is over and we all have our own opinions. Can not go back. Each artist at the 2015 Eurovision received exposure and it is up to them now to make something out of it. IL Volo was not known even in Italy since they went to United States shortly after winning the song contest at ages 14 and 16. They worked hard and now at 20 and 22 appreciate the chance of being at Eurovision. They are nice young men and are working hard to make their audiences happy with their music. Now Europe knows them and they will… Read more »

Stephanie
8 years ago

Mind you, Il Volo was already coming in with a televote advantage since the were already popular even prior to San Remo, which they won mostly on the backs of the televoters – the two jury panels had them lower

davve
davve
8 years ago

italys song would never place in any credible contemporary music chart anywhere near the top10….

davve
davve
8 years ago

And the jury voting needs to remain.. to stabilize neighbourly voting.. and ” media attention voting”..like Italy in 2015.. who won the televoting more because of the media hype surrounding them than actual music quality..

Italys song is good.. but its very mediocre when considering the music itself… it sounds like something simon cowell would have given to a cheesy band in like 2002…..

davve
davve
8 years ago

People have been complaining alot. But the fact is that Sweden and all participating countries signed on these rules. And in fact Sweden scored the overall best in all components…. Italy won the televoting.but to win ESC you need to do great overall.. and Sweden did better… get over it.

Julian
Julian
8 years ago

Yeah like Eurovision will be the most interesting when all the countries will give their points to the same 10 countries and in the correct order as per the scientific value of music.
Preferably all will sing in English, a Swedish composer song which we know is the most complex music – from Earth anyway, and be approved as person or group as not having unauthorised looks, mimic or thoughts.

PhysalisFranchetti
8 years ago

@Charles I read your comment quite a few times before writing my last post. You said “I’ll agree by adding “People vote for whatever they want to with no criteria whereas we all feel fishy and sneaky about professional jurors…..”” which means to me that that was your opinion. However, I can now see that we broadly agree. My own opinion is that the televoting will stay despite all the problems, such as diaspora voting (the public like having their say – its expected). I also think that the professional juries will stay too – they are like the ‘belt… Read more »

Charles
Charles
8 years ago

@PhysalisFranchetti I honestly appreciate your comment and I thank you for taking time to clear things up as I do agree with you in many things. However, I would like to suggest that you read again my comment because: a) I am not the one who feels that professional jurors’s voting is “sneaky and fishy”; everybody anti-jurors does. A way to say, “hey I spent my 60 cents voting for this crap, so now I want my choice to win”. b) I totally support a professional juror’s voting as it prevents bad taste from winning and prevents Eurovision from not… Read more »

Charles
Charles
8 years ago

@ESCaddict: You are also very funny like Jedward 🙂 … aka … funny people I couldn’t care less :). But keep reading me, for what it takes, sure I don’t wanna make you cry or feel traumatized … I mean… the 3rd placing of Il Volo has caused such a commotion amongst people that some almost had to be carried out to an hospital. 🙂

Charles
Charles
8 years ago

@Eugene ESC UK: I might have not followed my own advice, but you came quite close to follow my path. It’s undeniable that giving my opinion might come as a contradiction to my “idea of moving on”, but for what it takes, I like that people know how I feel and think …in ether 5 words or a Phd-esque comment. You replied me that means something 🙂 I never liked televoting and I never will … and you have proved me right, people don’t need criteria to vote on whatever they want, yet it bothers me that the voters couldn’t… Read more »

ESCaddict
ESCaddict
8 years ago

@charles
You are so funny. You say “move on” and then more time on the subject than anybody else.
I could not stop laughing at all your “who cares” posts on the subject of next year’s hosts.
Ha ha ha.

Nadors
Nadors
8 years ago

@Charles At the end of the final night I was disappointed Il Volo was 3rd (they were my favourites and I’m Italian). But it was no scandal for me, I thought people preferred the other 2 songs that were good songs as well. Only when I saw the jury’s vote did I get annoyed. And not because the jury cannot overturn the public vote, it is possible with the current system. But because if you analyse them well you can notice a lot of single jurors ranking Il Volo last or close to. Now the overall result of being 6th… Read more »

PhysalisFranchetti
8 years ago

@Charles @someone else who knows who they are I am sorry if you took from what I said about televoting that people should or should not vote in a certain way. That was not my intention at all. People vote for what they like, which often means that they vote for what seems familiar to them. Do the people concerned know that they are doing this? No. I don’t believe the vast majority do at all, but when the voting is looked at over a small number of years, there are very distinct patterns that show these biases. The term… Read more »

briii
briii
8 years ago

i think the jury need to be reformed especially the catagories being voted for. why? because certain songs will win eurovision and if that happens then countries will all send the same type of songs. With the current system opera will not win unless u are dancing around and have crazy coregraphing. The juries need to either be real perfessionals like professor’s in music compsers not backing singers! and they judge on what they think is a good song and make cure there are 20 odd this will be much better and will prevent people sending songs to fit the… Read more »

Charles
Charles
8 years ago

@Maya G: Maybe you should chill a bit and wait for 2016 to come considering that, as you clearly say, we will have 40 more rubbish songs to love and vote for … because as far as 2015 is concerned the trash we heard was too fancy and too elaborated for the cheeseburger expectations of those who actually love and follow Eurovision (they know who they are too!!!) … for the least musical reasons … almost like waiting for the next dramatic Kardashian episode for no reason. But as Eugene stated here “People like what they like” and I’ll agree… Read more »

Maya G
Maya G
8 years ago

If the juries know best, just let them decide and cancel televote instead of misleading people to believe their votes matter.
If the juries’ opinion isn’t any better than that of the televoters, then leave it 100% televote.
The 50%-50% system is the worst of both worlds.

mawnck
mawnck
8 years ago

Eurovision: Not a democracy. Never has been.

GIVE. IT. A. REST.

Denis
Denis
8 years ago

For heavens sake, how can they be wronged? They ended up 3. It’s not like they ended up in 15th place or something. 3rd place is hardly being wronged. Spain was wronged. Germany too. Italy doubtful. I don’t know why you are making it into a scandal. The juries and audience are bound to think differently at times.You can’t expect them to agree all the time, that’s almost impossible.Once in a while this has to happen. Once in 7 years is hardly a scandal.. As Anders said, had Il Volo sung earlier the result would perhaps have been different. They… Read more »

PhysalisFranchetti
8 years ago

Televoting can make Eurovision voting a complete nonsense, this is a fact. Large diasporas, such as the Turkish population in Germany are nearly always going to swing the televote because there are so many of them. Juries are absolutely required in Eurovision, but the point about them having a lot of power is a very important one. Currently jurors have to list a few details and sign a declaration stating that they will act independantly. The majority do, but some don’t. How do we know they don’t? Because the ESC are discarding votes that are deemed to be the result… Read more »

Maya G
Maya G
8 years ago

@Charles: Dude, take a chill pill. Eurovision IS Euro-trash, like it or not. Heroes, Grande Amore, A Million Voices, Golden Boy, Beauty Never Lies, The Rhythm Inside etc. – all are lightweight pop songs. We not need experts correcting the taste of the ‘ignorant masses’ where catchy, airy hits are involved. People like what they like.

Julian
Julian
8 years ago

The fact is that the introduction of juries have not made the competition better. More boring yes but better not. The entries had almost 0 impact outside the ESC environment. Aside from Polina Gagarina who by political decision was elected to sing during a few important sport events.
And there are strong chances that this is the second winner decided by juries first being Emmelie only this year was a blatant reverse all for the ego of a Swedish decision maker most probably.

Charles
Charles
8 years ago

@AndersP: Finally someone with the mind in the right place and using the right words …

Charles
Charles
8 years ago

@PhysalisFranchetti
Your “what’s done is done” for me just should end this boring and over-the-top issue … it’s almost as if people were trying to live in a different universe … please!!

Charles
Charles
8 years ago

@Maya G: So your point is … Eurovision is and should only be about having nothing else but pure trash and just trash … instead of music? The Latvian and Belgium entries were nothing but rubbish and for that reason they were your favourites? And televoters should have the lux of wasting their money voting on utter filth and garbage … called music? Just to be clear …that you, the world after some serious pints of bear and the rats crawling on the smelly cellar are all in the same page.

Dar
Dar
8 years ago

the juries must stay .. becuase results in Eurovision since 2009 have been more justified and fair than before when extreme block voting occurred
remember Eurovision was jury voting for over 40 years before tele-voting ..
maybe some reforms are needed for jury voting but it should still be a 50-50 result .. get over it !!

Aufrechtgehn
8 years ago

I am not a fan of the Italian entry – I absolutely detest popera. But the public has spoken and voted them winners, and this has to be respected. It’s an absolute outrage that the juries overruled this democratic decision and robbed Italy of its fair and square win. This is absolutely unacceptable.

There is only one solution: the juries have got to go. I can not comprehend how anyone with a right mind still can hang on to them, even after this fiasco.

AndersP
AndersP
8 years ago

I think the juries did the job they were meant to do. And look at the chart evidence post Eurovision. Grande Amore didn’t beat Heroes in the charts, it didn’t shoot to number 1 across Europe. There wasn’t a groundswell of Il Volo love. Had it performed much earlier in the show, I think it’s televote would have been different. It was bound to happen at some point that the juries would influence the winner over the televote. Once in seven years is hardly a travesty.

Julian
Julian
8 years ago

Juries must have their powers downgraded to the point where they cannot decide the winner anymore.

Lena
Lena
8 years ago

I agree.This year Italy brought an amazing song,it was a huge suprise.When we were leaving in soviet union ,there is a little window between soviet union and europe and it was San Remo.Thank you Italy ,IL Volo was unbeatable,thought a like Mans also. Austria,Germany and Spain were underated.And Czech Republic,Belarus and Denmark or Malta should have been in final.

Maya G
Maya G
8 years ago

I don’t think it matters if the judges sabotaged Il Volo on purpose or just weren’t into the song. The problem is that 200 random people have a greater power than that of millions of televoters. I didn’t really care for either Sweden or Italy (my favorites were Latvia and Belgium) but I thought this voting system is flawed ever since it was introduced in 2009. I knew eventually a song would win despite not winning the televote and the fans would feel cheated. As for the ‘music professionals’, b**** please – it’s Eurovision, were one Euro-trash song is declared… Read more »

Mario = Legend
Mario = Legend
8 years ago

I’m not seeing why people keep saying that the juries manipulated the result of the televote. Uh, nope, They cast their results 24 hours before the public did, maybe they have a little bit of a prediction and thing ‘Oh yeah, let’s knock that down’ …… Uh. Yeah that logic doesn’t work for me. It just happened that they had different tastes to the public, a great opera group to the public perhaps. But if these juries truly are music professionals then this is nothing to them, why score Il Divo Lite when you know the real thing is like… Read more »

Kristen
Kristen
8 years ago

overrated and unattractive.

#MarioVision ~ A GreAtY chance was just lost 4 Italia this year..
#MarioVision ~ A GreAtY chance was just lost 4 Italia this year..
8 years ago

*Grande Amore* was great song…Winner material song…Really pity that such amazing song like that did not win the Vision…Italy had a great chance to win this year but was just unlucky i guess…And i wonder when Italians will have this chance again…Maybe it will gonna take a while 4 them before this happens next time..

Dar
Dar
8 years ago

im not getting into the italy should have won becuase of televote.. sweden won overall end of.. i did prefer italy over sweden also

one thing i will say that if italy continue to use san remo format the will win in next 3 years for sure ..
watch out for italy 2016 !!

#MarioVision
#MarioVision
8 years ago

Il Volo of Italy were the real winners of Vienna’s 2015 Vision.. The juries just put them in low place so to NOT win the Vision.. If the juries still would had ranked them as 2nd or 3rd with over 250 points then Il Volo would had manage to come victorious & get the victory.. Really pity.. Sweden’s song was promoted as hell before the live shows & they tried to pass on our minds that it was a winner song when it was not.. It was very good song but NOT 4 victory.. It did not win the OGAE… Read more »

Krinos
Krinos
8 years ago

I believe the juries gave Italy a fair ranking, but I still think Italy should have won. The televote’s top three should be left untouched, IMO, but having the voting system give that result without completely eliminating the juries is out of the question. Too bad. But if anything else, the televote’s winner should never be pushed out of their rank. Points lowered? Sure. Third place instead? Taking it too far. Charles – I agree that people should accept that it is what it is, but that won’t stop them from being displeased. When the subject comes up, as it… Read more »

PhysalisFranchetti
8 years ago

@Charles I agree that what’s done is done, but what we could talk about is whether we are happy about the voting generally, since that is what leads to perceived ‘wrongs’. For instance, I want to know if anyone has any more details about the jury marking scheme i.e. perhaps the vocals get marks out of 10, the lyrics marks out of 10, the staging gets ?? etc. A scheme was posted in 2014 under the name ‘Jury Voting Criteria’ on a Wiwiblogs comments section. The marking scheme specified in that post seems like a reasonable match, but I want… Read more »

Charles
Charles
8 years ago

Errata: Ruslana won in 2004 not 2014 … sorry for that! lol

Charles
Charles
8 years ago

Can we all move on from this? It’s just childish to still be crying over the final results certain songs achieved … in Eurovision we have always had this and we shall always have it .. it’s comes with the whole ESC package and we have to deal with it or just chill out from such nonsense drama. Am I supposed to waste my time on songs like Ruslana in 2014 or the Russian ladies in 2012 who had awful songs but still managed to achieve what the have achieved? Hell no … so for all those crying for Il… Read more »

#MarioVision
#MarioVision
8 years ago

I personally voted 4 Lisa Angel of France…Her finishing just 25th with 4 only points was really wrong result.. ~ At least Il Volo of Italy won the televoting & finished 3rd overall.. ~ Edurne of Spain did less badly with finishing higher as 21st though.. ~ MakeMakes of Austria did not deserve really a not bad placing so their result was not that wrong.. ~ Ann Sophie of Germany did not deserve to finish last with even zero points but her song was my 22nd…So there were others that had more wrong results than her.. ~ About Switzerland finishing… Read more »

Oostenrijk
Oostenrijk
8 years ago

@Mar: if you could have only left your personal taste aside, you wouldn’t have commented on how the Makemakes didn’t deserve a higher position.

Mar
Mar
8 years ago

The voting was really close in this poll, in my opinion all the nominees except the Makemakes deserved higher positions, but that’s just me. Maybe we should let our personal music tastes by the side and look at the facts: if acts like Lisa and Edurne didn’t click with the juries nor the public, can we say they were really wronged? I would say the ones who got wronged the most were the millons of people who had their votes invalidated by so called “proffesionals”, seriously check out who some of the jurors are and what they do, it’s ridiculous… Read more »

Lýdia
Lýdia
8 years ago

For me, the real winners of this year’s Eurovision are Il Volo.In my opinion, Swedish song is dozen, uninteresting, the singer did not put to the song any emotion, heart, nothing, it’s empty song with no soul , which was built only on effective embodiment on stage.I think that the professional jury does not like this kind of music, bel canto, they are looking at this music from above, I would like to know what quality they seen on the Swedish song? In my opinion Swedish singer with his singing is few levels lower compared with Il Volo. His song… Read more »

Hopedied
Hopedied
8 years ago

Where is Czech Reupublic the most wronged country this year and in ESC history ???

Freyah
Freyah
8 years ago

Italy came third! How are they most wronged when they got top 3. Sorry, their nomination for this was pretty bull. This sort of thing should go to countries which actually missed qualification (like Ireland or Malta) or came below top 20 (Spain or Germany for example), not the top 3.

I guess Zlata Ognevich was clearly wronged in 2013, Serbia in 2012, Sweden in 2010 and 2014.

Deniz
Deniz
8 years ago

@Mitchellvaneijk
Totally true

spanish
spanish
8 years ago

the unic thing i love in this photo is the european union flag

spanish
spanish
8 years ago

all the years is the same, when people have to vote, never do it. later say all the years the same spain…, italy…., uk…. its your problem. of course this year winner in mi opinion wasnt the best, there were betters songs.

Cathal
Cathal
8 years ago

Btw televote was ment to be jury up in the line where I said ” I don’t get why italy counldnt have been top 3 in TELEVOTING” replace TELEVOTING WITH JURY!