It’s been two years in the making, but the 65th Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam has finally drawn to a close.
And while the competition may be over, there’s still plenty of time to celebrate this year’s shows, the artists and their songs. The team at wiwibloggs is proud to present the eighth edition of our Vision Music Awards (VMAs). As Eurovision season wraps up, it’s one more opportunity to give the class of 2021 their final hurrah before we say buongiorno to Eurovision 2022 in Italy.
In the aftermath of the contest, the Wiwi Jury have shortlisted candidates across 14 categories, ranging from the classic Best Dressed and Best Live Vocals awards to the brand-new-for-2021 honours Best Use of Social Media and Best Eurovision Campaign Trail.
But who deserves the gold? That’s up to you.
You can vote for your favourites to win the Vision Music Awards in 11 of our 14 categories. The remaining three awards — the Congeniality Award, the Dana International Award for LGBTQ+ Equality and Least Bothered by Results — will be decided by the Wiwi Jury.
Read on to see the finalists and to vote for your favourites now.
Scroll down to vote in the Vision Music Award polls.
VMAs 2021: The Nominees
You can vote for as many contestants in each poll as you like, but you can only submit your votes one time. So choose wisely, and make it count! We’ll also be hiding the results until it is time to announce the winners to keep the drama high and the spoilers low. Without further ado… wiwibloggs readers, start voting now!
Most Likely to Succeed Commercially
ABBA. Céline Dion. Gina G. Many acts have used the Eurovision Song Contest as a launch pad for their chart-topping careers. More recently, the Netherlands’ Duncan Laurence rocked charts around the world — his Eurovision 2019 winning song “Arcade” became the first song contest track since 1996 to crack the US Billboard Chart. This award honours the contestant who is most likely to make it big — or at least cash some checks — once the hype for Eurovision 2021 fades.
[polldaddy poll=10846882]Previous winners:
2013: Norway’s Margaret Berger
2014: The Netherlands’ Common Linnets
2015: Belgium’s Loïc Nottet
2016: Australia’s Dami Im
2017: Belgium’s Blanche
2019: Italy’s Mahmood
2020: Iceland’s Daði Freyr
Best Dressed
Classic, couture, campy, kitsch… the Eurovision wardrobe department has it all. This award celebrates the contestant who brought it to the runway and turned out the fiercest looks. Whether it’s on-stage or off-stage at the Moroccanoil Turquoise Carpet, every Eurovision star knows there’s always time for fashion.
[polldaddy poll=10846886]Previous winners:
2013: Romania’s Cezar Ouatu
2014: Ukraine’s Mariya Yaremchuk
2015: Russia’s Polina Gagarina
2016: Poland’s Michal Szpak
2017: Poland’s Kasia Mos
2019: Australia’s Kate Miller-Heidke
Best Live Vocals
Eurovision may be a battle of songs, but equally important is the voice. In 2012, Rona Nishliu’s epic high notes almost shattered the glass of the Crystal Hall Arena. In the years that have followed, other vocalists have given her a run for her money. This year featured a number of talented singers, but only one can win the title.
[polldaddy poll=10846888]Previous winners:
2013: Ukraine’s Zlata Ognevich
2014: Spain’s Ruth Lorenzo
2015: Latvia’s Aminata Savadogo
2016: Poland’s Michal Szpak
2017: The Netherlands’ O’G3NE
2019: The Netherlands’ Duncan Laurence
Most Memorable Staging
This award honours the contestants who took the biggest risks on stage, creating memorable — if sometimes divisive— performances. Before casting your vote, consider the creativity and originality of each performance.
[polldaddy poll=10846890]Previous winners:
2013: Romania’s Cezar Ouatu
2014: Poland’s Donatan & Cleo
2015: Belgium’s Loïc Nottet
2016: Russia’s Sergey Lazarev
2017: Azerbaijan’s Dihaj
2019: Australia’s Kate Miller-Heidke
Best Choreography
Some acts keep it simple while others go all out with their choreography. At Eurovision 2018, Cyprus’ Eleni Foureira set the city of Lisbon en fuego and redefined hairography as we know it. We’ve since seen some epic dance numbers take the song contest stage, and this year is no exception. But who threw the best shapes in Rotterdam?
[polldaddy poll=10846892]Most Improved
The road to Eurovision can be long and bumpy. But for a lot of acts, even the most difficult journeys arrive at beautiful destinations — even if a revamp is required along the way. This award highlights the artist who surprised us the most by demonstrating major improvements from their pre-Eurovision reveal to the contest itself. When casting your vote, consider how far they’ve come — and where they finished on the scoreboard in Rotterdam.
[polldaddy poll=10846885]Previous winners:
2013: San Marino’s Valentina Monetta
2014: Ukraine’s Mariya Yaremchuk
2015: Georgia’s Nina Sublatti
2016: Belgium’s Laura Tesoro
2017: The UK’s Lucie Jones
2019: Czech Republic’s Lake Malawi
Best Song with a Message
All music is art. And often that art comes with a story. Whether it’s the tale of a personal struggle or a message for society at large, songwriting enables an artist to channel their sentiment through art — and Eurovision helps them relay it to a global audience. Jamala’s “1944” demonstrated the plight of her ancestors, Boggie’s “Wars For Nothing” was a call for world peace and Bilal Hassani’s “Roi” taught us all to shine bright. But which song from this year preached its gospel the best?
[polldaddy poll=10846897]Best Use of Social Media
As we delve deeper and deeper into the digital age, social media is now an integral part of the Eurovision experience. Many contestants post updates and engage with their fans via Twitter, Instagram and TikTok — and we continue to see some incredibly creative uses of these apps. Challenges, storytime videos and dance tutorials… the class of 2021 have done it all. Whose social game was the strongest?
[polldaddy poll=10846898]
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Best Use of Props
It’s not uncommon for Eurovision contestants to share the stage with elaborate props. Whether whimsical or avant-garde, these props can become iconic in their own right for helping the artist create a memorable moment on stage. In recent years, we’ve seen a giant hamster wheel from Ukraine, a butter churner from Poland, and rows upon rows of maneki-neko lucky cats from Israel. Who has earned a spot in this pantheon of fab?
[polldaddy poll=10846901]Best Eurovision Campaign Trail
Some acts go all out with promo before Eurovision kicks off. In a normal year, that might include attending Eurovision pre-parties across the continent. This year, things have looked a little different — but we’ve still enjoyed projects like Senhit’s #FreakyTripToRotterdam and Natalia Gordienko’s swanky red carpet launch event in Moscow. When casting your vote for this award, consider whose pre-Eurovision campaign developed the most momentum leading up to the contest.
[polldaddy poll=10846904]Best Music Video
Before we see the acts belt their Eurovision songs live on-stage in their full glory, we get additional visual delights in the form of music videos. This award honours the act whose music video wowed us the most. Our nominee list includes all the 2021 acts who released a full music video alongside their Eurovision song.
[polldaddy poll=10846907]Congeniality Award (Wiwi Jury to decide)
Since 2013, Team Wiwi has awarded Miss/Mr Congeniality to the contestant whose press conferences and off-stage appearances did the most to honour the Eurovision tradition of peace and camaraderie. Daria Kinzer missed out on a grand final spot at Eurovision 2011, but she stayed throughout the week and partied with her fans until the wee hours of the morning. All smiles, all the time. This award honours the artist who did their upmost to keep the Eurovision community smiling.
Previous winners:
2013: Israel’s Moran Mazor
2014: Portugal’s Suzy Guerra
2015: Armenia’s Tamar Kaprelian
2016: Russia’s Sergey Lazarev
2017: Austria’s Nathan Trent
2019: Cyprus’ Tamta
The Dana International Award for LGBTQ+ Equality (Wiwi Jury to decide)
This award honours Dana International, who became the first transgender woman to win Eurovision in 1998. Conservatives at home asked Israel to withdraw from the contest, but she stood her ground and sang for all oppressed people en route to victory. The Wiwi Jury awards this prize to the contestant who did the most for the many LGBTQ+ fans who follow Eurovision. Activism is risky business, but the winner knows that doing what’s right is more important than bowing to the haters.
Previous winners:
2013: Finland’s Krista Siegfrids
2014: Austria’s Conchita Wurst
2015: Serbia’s Bojana Stamenov
2016: Israel’s Hovi Star
2017: Montenegro’s Slavko Kalezic
2019: France’s Bilal Hassani
Least Bothered by the Results (Wiwi Jury to decide)
Eurovision is serious business, with over 180 million people tuning in to watch Europe’s largest televised entertainment event. And yet every year some contestants tune out all the pressure and just show up and do their thing. We salute those acts who don’t let the drama get them down and know they have worth regardless of the outcome.
Previous winners:
2013: The Netherlands’ Anouk
2014: France’s Twin Twin
2015: Austria’s The Makemakes
2016: Georgia’s Nika Kocharov and the Young Georgian Lolitaz
2017: Portugal’s Salvador Sobral
Who do you think will win each Vision Music Award? Who did you vote for? Let us know in the comments below.
Dadi for campaign trail! why isnt he on there!
Until when does the voting last?
Jendrik for Mr Congeniality surely! He was so happy and humble to be at Eurovision, and so supportive of all the other artists, particularly those who couldn’t perform live or who couldn’t attend the turquoise carpet event. And he doesn’t feel hate!
Vasil should win this year’s Dana International Award. He’s been out the entire time and wasn’t afraid to show it. Italy only showed in that one kiss.
If I was selecting least bothered by the result, I’d pick Hooverphonic. They’re already established, they took a classy song to the contest, performed it well, qualified for the final, many people, who did not know them, know about them now, those that knew them years ago now know they are still active. It’s all win win for them as far as I can see despite coming low on the board on the big night.
Congeniality Award I hope you give it to Tix. His reactions in green room were so funny.
Did you see the video of him going bonkers for 2 minutes during one of the recaps? I loved how he fell down during Gjon’s high note and rebounded to start dancing again during Iceland’s clip
I do think it’s a bit of a cop-out leaving Blind Channel out of the best campaign trail. They created their own social media hashtag campaign with #jointhedarkside, encouraged fans to paint their middle fingers red, gave hundreds upon hundreds of interviews every single day and were just generally really active on all platforms promoting their music and message. I for one was really impressed how much they were doing, even moreso since they weren’t even fans of Eurovision lol
I agree! It was puzzling not to see them even mentioned as an option
Benny for “least bothered by the result”! He was the most chill person this year, check out his turquoise carpet interview.
“Most Likely to Succeed Commercially” – OMG, get rid of this, it’s so embarrassing! Who on earth wants to win this?
I think James Newman from the United Kingdom has a great chance of winning “Least bothered by the results”
I can’t see this myself. James is a serous musician and songwriter. I doubt he wants to forever be bracketed with the woman that sang horribly flat for Jemini.
Most likely to succeed commercially: Victoria, Dadi, and Destiny Best Dressed: Måneskin, Barbara Pravi, Hooverphonic Best Live Vocals: Barbara Pravi, Destiny, Kateryna Pavlenko Most Memorable Staging: Gjon’s Tears, Go_A, Dadi og Gagnamagid Best Choreography: Elena Tsagrinou, Dadi og Gagnamagid, The Roop Most Improved: Albina, The Black Mamba, and Vincent Bueno Best Song with a Message: Manizah, Jendrik, Måneskin Best Use of Social Media: Jendrik and Montaigne Best Use of Props: Dadi og Gagnamagid, Victoria, Go_A, Manizah Best Eurovision Campaign Trail: Victoria and Senhit (they kinda missed Jendrik here ig) Best Music Video: Albina, Gjon’s Tears, Go_A, Hooverphonic, Jendrik, Lesley Roy,… Read more »
I’m very confused about the best dressed nominees. Samanta Tina? Seriously? And don’t get me started on Stefanias outfit.
Hooverphonic kept it classy, but I do think that there were many better outfits this year
Yeah, those were terrible options. Maneskin would be my pick for Worst Dressed.
My votes:
Best Succeed Commercially: Maneskin
Best Dressed: Barbara Pravi
Best Live vocals: Gjon’s Tears
Most memorable staging: Gjon’s Tears
Best choreography: Daði og Gagnamagnid
Most improved: Eden Alene
Best Song With Message: Maneskin
Best Use of Social Media: Senhit
Best Use of Props: Daði og Gagnamagnid’s Keytars
Best Eurovision Campaign Trail: Senhit
Best Music Video: Gjon’s Tears
Actually about 8 people got my vote for two separate categories (each time I voted more than one person) and those were: Senhit, Montaigne, Manizha, Stefania, Måneskin, Daði, Victoria and Go_A!
I think I already know who are gonna win the jury awards…
who?
Where is Eden’s ‘Set Me Free’ for best music video? I was specifically looking for it bc the revamp music video is my personal favorite clip from this year. Am I missing something or is this an oversight?
best music video
It looks like they have corrected the mistake and added her to the list. She most certainly was not there when this was posted (and after some votes had been cast). Definitely unfair but at least she is on the list now I suppose. Thanks for updating.
My votes (and I really tried to be semi-objective about them): Most likely to succeed commercially: Basically, all of them. I won’t even reveal who I voted for, because I really want all of them to have an international career, if they want to. Best dressed: Hooverphonic; Stylish, cool, and always in fashion. Best live vocals: Everyone mentioned, but this one just has to go to Gjon! Most memorable staging: Ukraine! (although Gjon and Go_A would be each other’s runner-ups in these two categories) Best choreography: Efendi. She really made it memorable through movement. Also Dadi and his team, and… Read more »
WOW. Totally agree with you!
Least bothered about the result should be Joint winners between UK, Germany, Spain and Netherlands
I feel like the one that is least bothered about the result is definitely going to be Jendrik as he just there to spread a message and h we a good time
best dressed: TUSSE? WHAT? LOL
So there is no Hurricane for the “best choreography award”? Ridiculous hahhaha
“James Newman’s trumpets: the revenge.” Coming soon in all theatres.
Off-topic: “I Wanna Be Your Slave” reached a peak of #12 on the UK Singles Chart, higher than the Eurovision winning song! https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/
I’m not surprised that it’s higher up, considering that it’s in English.
The way the most likely to succeed commercially only predicted the most commercial song once and that was last year with dadi freyr lol
I really hope that Wiwibloggs choose Samanta Tina as the least bothered by the result. She came last in the semi and still was really happy and she still post about how happy she is being in ESC. She even made a post about how she didn’t care about her last place.
I think it should be Black Mamba – they were literally on their phones throughout the whole voting.
Absolutely agree with you!
It’s gonna be Jendrik tho…
I hope not. He did not take the result that greatly. He made some videos about how he need to write better songs. But still, he was not angry at least