On Sunday night Europe’s biggest pop music awards show took place in Bilbao, Spain. While Camila Cabello took home four MTV EMA Awards, some of our beloved Eurovision stars managed to win in their regional categories as well. It’s a nice reminder of how various Eurovision national finals can play a role in the careers of great artists — even if they don’t make it to Eurovision.

As ever, the EMAs are mostly decided by audience vote, and each country also gets to vote for its best local act. These categories usually attract a few nominations of recent Eurovision acts, with Loïc Nottet, Amir and Magdi Rúzsa winning for their countries last year.

Margaret — Best Polish Act

She nearly represented Poland in 2016 with her crossover hit “Cool Me Down”. And while she proved her success at Melodifestivalen earlier this year, Margaret was already an established force at the MTV EMAs. Winning the award for Best Polish Act back in 2015, she’s been nominated every year since then. Her Polish fans seem to be very loyal to the busy pop singer.

Diogo Piçarra — Best Portuguese Act

Unfortunately this year just wasn’t meant to be for Diogo Piçarra, as he withdrew his entry for Festival do Cançao following plagiarism accusations. Nevertheless, he now has reason enough to celebrate, as he took home this year’s award as Best Portuguese Act.

Annalisa — Best Italian Act

Sanremo veteran Annalisa is another national final veteran who won the regional category at this year’s MTV EMAs. Coming third at the 2018 Sanremo Festival, she recently won the OGAE Second Chance Contest. Moreover, with her recent album Bye Bye reaching number two on the Italian charts, 2018 seems to be a good year for the Italian chanteuse.

2018 MTV EMAs All Eurovision Nominees

  • Zibbz (Switzerland 2018) — Best Swiss Act
  • Felix Sandman (Melodifestivalen 2018) — Best Swedish Act
  • Benjamin Ingrosso (Sweden 2018) — Best Swedish Act
  • Margaret (Krajowe Eliminacje 2016, Melodifestivalen 2018) — Best Polish Act
  • Nadav Guedj (Israel 2015) — Best Israeli Act
  • Annalisa (Sanremo 2013,15,16,18) — Best Italian Act
  • Diogo Piςarra (Festival do Canςão 2018) — Best Portuguese Act

Did you watch the MTV EMAs? Did the right acts win? Let us know in the comments below.

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Maximos
Maximos
5 years ago

Diogo needs to retun to FDC and WIN!

joff
joff
5 years ago

Annalisa, she is perfect for Eurovision!

Polegend Godgarina
5 years ago

The EMAs are the most useless awards ever, they’re literally the VMAs hosted in some European city. I hate how they’d rather nominate flop American acts no one knows here, than successful European acts. I mean, they gave Janet Jackson that special career award, but does anyone older than 30 know any of her songs here? And the national categories, which should be the most important part, are treated as second-class.

Anonymous ESC Fan
Anonymous ESC Fan
5 years ago

I was born in 1996 and I know who Janet Jackson is.

Marc
Marc
5 years ago

How Annalisa beat Ghali? He’s way much popular than her in Italy xd

Eastman
Eastman
5 years ago

Diogo needs to come back to Festival da Cancaco, win and keep Portugal out of the semi-finals.