To highlight the art of writing song lyrics Eurostory presents the Eurostory Best Lyrics Award – THE award for the best Eurovision song lyrics. This year’s award is won by Austria: by the lyricists of the song Who the hell is Edgar? by Teya & Salena.

Who came second and third?
Second: Italy (Marco Mengoni), Due vite
Third: Armenia (Brunette), Future lover

Who’s in the jury?
The winner was chosen by an international expert jury of more than 40 authors, journalists, publishers, songwriters and former Eurovision participants from 20 countries (75% of the votes, list of names below) – as well as the readers of Eurostory.nl (voting through the website, 25% of the votes).

Teya & Salena: ‘Songwriters are so important!’
Teya and Salena, co-lyricists and performers of Who the hell is Edgar?, thank the jury and the public voters. ‘We are completely over the moon. For us, this shows how important good lyrics are and how important it is to give songwriters the recognition they deserve. We feel honoured. Thank you for caring.’

Jury report
The jury wrote about the winner: “Teya & Salena sing the funniest Eurovision lyrics in many years. Look at the first line: ‘There’s a ghost in my body and he is a lyricist.’ So… the girls are being possessed by a writer? Right. And not just any writer either: ‘It’s Edgar Allan Poe.’ Suddenly there’s a literary element to this Song Contest, as they are really referring to the American author (1809-1849) who is famous for his ghost stories. ‘He’s gonna make me rich,’ Teya & Salena sing, but that turns out to be disappointing. The song evolves into an accusation against the music industry, because the girls keep repeating the number ‘0,003’ which just so happens to be the exact amount of dollars an artist makes for one single Spotify stream. The song ends with a great last line: ‘At least it pays to be funny.’ Followed by a final outburst: ‘Ugh!’”

Previous winners of the Eurostory Best Lyrics Award:
2016: Ukraine
2017: France
2018: France
2019: Italy
2021: Italy
2022: Italy

The expert jury of 2023

Elsie Bay (Norway: Melodi Grand Prix participant 2022)

Marius Bear (Switzerland: Eurovision participant 2022)

Hanna Bervoets (The Netherlands: author)

Marko Bošnjak (Croatia: DORA participant 2022)

Anne Broeksma (The Netherlands: author)

Aidan Cassar (‘Aidan’) (Malta: Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2022 & X Factor participant)

Biljana Crvenkovska (North-Macedonia: author, publisher)

Kristien Dieltiens (Belgium: author)

Nikki Dekker (The Netherlands: author)

Mia Dimšić  (Croatia: Eurovision participant 2022)

Don Duyns (The Netherlands: author)

Falun Ellie Koos (The Netherlands: author)

Fazla (Bosnia and Herzegovina: Eurovision participant 1993)

Niki Francesca (Andorra: Eurovision participant 2007)

Ingmar Heytze (The Netherlands: poet, author, performer)

Trong Hieu  (Germany / Vietnam: Unser Lied für Liverpool participant 2023)

Vasil Ivanov (Bulgaria: Former Head of Press BNT Eurovision Bulgaria)

JOWST (Norway: Eurovision participant 2017)

Greetje Kauffeld (The Netherlands: Eurovision participant 1961)

Getty Kaspers (The Netherlands: Eurovision participant 1975)

Eyjólfur Kristjánsson (Iceland: Eurovision participant 1991)

Sunni Lamin Barrow (The Netherlands / Gambia: spoken word artist)

Cornald Maas (The Netherlands: author, presenter, Eurovision commentator)

Tommy Mansikka-aho (Finland: musician, writer, composer, Eurovision participant 1998)

Bart Moeyaert (Belgium: author)

Vera Morina (The Netherlands / Kosovo / Albania: author)

Gaute Ormåsen (Norway: Eurovision participant 2022, member of Subwoolfer)

Alexandros Panayi (Cyprus: Eurovision participant 1995, 2000)

Nino Pršeš (Bosnia and Herzegovina: Eurovision participant 2001)

Sheldon Riley (Australia: Eurovision participant 2022)

Martin Rombouts (The Netherlands: author, performer)

Alexis de Roode (The Netherlands: poet, author)

José Luis Serrano (Spain: author)

Liliane Saint-Pierre (Belgium: Eurovision participant 1987)

Moira Stafrace (Malta: Eurovision participant 1994)

Therèse Steinmetz (The Netherlands: Eurovision participant 1967)

Yentl van Stokkum (The Netherlands: author, poet)

Erik Titusson (Sweden: publisher)

Søren Torpegaard Lund (Denmark: Dansk Melodi Grand Prix participant 2023)

Walter Verdin (Belgium: Eurovision participant 1983 [Pas de deux])

John Waters (Ireland: writer/composer, Eurovision 2007)

Anna Woltz (The Netherlands: author)

Stany Van Wymeersch (Belgium: author)

How have we settled the result?
Expert jury members were asked to cast two votes: a number 1 choice (worth 3 points) and a number 2 choice (worth 1 point). The final results were converted into a 12-10-8-6 point distribution, which accounted for 75% of the final score. Website visitors were able to cast 1 vote, and this total score was also converted into 12, 10, 8, and 6 points, which then accounted for 25% of the final score.