Gianluca Bezzina secures 8th spot for Malta in Eurovision Song Contest

In last night's edition of the Eurovision Song Contest held in Malmo, Sweden, Malta's own Gianluca Bezzina, singing the romantic ditty 'Tomorrow', secured 8th place - the best result the country has enjoyed in the pan-European pop music contest since local singer Chiara placed 2nd with 'Angel' in 2005.

The contest was won by Denmark's Emmelie de Forest, who sang the folk-pop anthem Only Teardrops. She was followed by Azerbaijan's Farid Mammadov with 'Hold Me' and Ukraine's Zlata Ognevich, who sang Gravity (and, it must be noted, was carried on stage by a burly giant in a Viking costume... in true Euro-kitsch style excess).

The affable Gianluca Bezzina appeared to have charmed the Eurovision 'electorate' in the weeks leading up to the final - not only securing a spot in the semi-final last Thursday but also enjoying attention online. Thanks to his lighthearted romantic song about the love-shy 'Jeremy in IT', Malta was a trending topic on micro-blogging website Twitter both Thursday and yesterday.

Midway through the competition, Malta was toggling between 5th and 4th place.

True to recent editions of the Eurovision Song Contest, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe dominated the show, as apart from Greece, Italy and Malta, Southern Europe failed to make a dent in the top rankings. Though Greece languished in the top 3 spot for a while. It's not hard to see why - the jumpy ska-folk number 'Alcohol is Free' was a charming entry, as a group of attractive twenty-something males led by an elderly band member was a quirky sight that elevated the show away from dreary ballads and kitsch excess, if only for a few minutes.

Votes for Malta

San Marino - 10

Netherlands - 8

Hungary - 8

The United Kingdom - 7

Belarus - 7

 Romania - 5

Azerbaijan - 8

 Norway - 10

 Armenia - 6

 Italy - 10

Spain - 1

Latvia - 5

 Estonia - 5

 Germany - 5

 Iceland - 5

Ukraine - 2

 France - 2

 Greece - 3

 Denmark - 4

 Georgia - 3

 Macedonia - 3

 Cyprus - 3