To highlight the art of writing song lyrics, Eurostory presents the Eurostory Best Lyrics Award – THE award for the best Eurovision song lyrics.

The award for 2021 is won by… Italy! To be precise: by the songwriter(s) of Måneskin for the lyrics of their song ZITTI E BUONI.

Who came second and third?
Second was Russia (Manizha) for the song Russian woman.
Third: The Netherlands (Jeangu Macrooy) with Birth of a new age

Who’s in the jury?
The winner was chosen by an international expert jury of 60 published book writers, journalists, editors, songwriters, translators and ex-Eurovision participants from 17 countries (75% of the votes, list of names: see below) – as well as more than 40.000 readers of Eurostory.nl (voting through the website, 25% of the votes).


Jury report
The jury wrote about the winner: ZITTI E BUONI is an unapologetic song with very evocative images. The metaphors in the lyrics are well-chosen and constantly speak to you. This is not a sweet song, and therefore the imagery isn’t pretty, but purposely disruptive. ZITTI E BUONI is a raw cry from the misfits of this fake society.’

The full lyrics in Italian and English translation can be read here.

Who are the previous winners?
2016: Ukraine
2017: France
2018: France
2019: Italy


Expert jury of 2021:

Former Eurovision participants
Getty Kaspers, singer, (Teach In, The Netherlands, 1975), Greetje Kauffeld, singer (The Netherlands, 1961), Eyjólfur Kristjánsson, singer/songwriter (Iceland, 1991), Marcos Llunas, singer/songwriter (Spain, 1997), Sven Lõhmus, songwriter (Estonia, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2017), Andreas Lundstedt, singer/songwriter (Six4One, Switzerland 2006 and member of Alcazar, Sweden), William Mangion, singer/songwriter (Malta, 1993), George Nussbaumer, singer/songwriter (Austria, 1996), Alexandros Panayi, singer/songwriter (Cyprus, 1995, 2000), Alf Poier, singer/songwriter (Austria, 2003), Nino Pršeš, singer/songwriter (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2001), Mihalis Rakintzis, singer/songwriter (Greece, 2002), Kimberley Rew, singer/songwriter, guitar player (Katrina & The Waves, United Kingdom, 1997), Fabio Ricci, singer/songwriter (Jalisse, Italy, 1997), Stephen ‘Beanz’ Rudden, singer/songwriter (United Kingdom, 1995), Émilie Satt & Jean-Karl Lucas, singers/songwriters (Madame Monsieur, France 2018, 2019), Moira Stafrace, singer/songwriter (Malta, 1994), Liliane St. Pierre, singer/songwriter (Belgium, 1987), Thérèse Steinmetz, singer (The Netherlands, 1967), Ketil Stokkan, singer/songwriter (Norway, 1986, 1990), John Waters, writer/composer (Ireland, 2007), ZiBBZ (Switzerland, 2018)

Authors & Journalists
Hanna Bervoets, author (The Netherlands), Mark Boog, poet (The Netherlands), Anne Broeksma, poet (The Netherlands), Tsead Bruinja, poet (The Netherlands), Bibi Dumon Tak, author (The Netherlands), Biljana Cvrenkovska, author/publisher (North Macedonia), Kristien Dieltiens, author (Belgium), Don Duyns, author (The Netherlands), Jaap Friso, journalist/reviewer (The Netherlands), Marinus de Goederen, singer/songwriter (The Netherlands), Steven Herrick, author (Australia), Steef van Gorkum, author (The Netherlands), Saskia Halfmouw, illustrator (The Netherlands), Sandra C. Hessels, translator (The Netherlands), Ingmar Heytze, poet (The Netherlands), Annelies Jorna, translator (The Netherlands), Lotte Kok, author (The Netherlands), Inge van der Krabben, author (The Netherlands), Ted van Lieshout, author/illustrator (The Netherlands), Cornald Maas, author/presenter/Dutch Eurovision commentator (The Netherlands), Koos Meinderts, author (The Netherlands), Matthijs Meinema, author (The Netherlands), Bart Moeyaert, author (Belgium), Thomas Möhlmann, poet (The Netherlands), Ester Naomi Perquin, poet (The Netherlands), Alexis de Roode, poet (The Netherlands), Anouk Saleming, author (The Netherlands), Mariëlle van Sauers, author (The Netherlands), Jan Paul Schutten, author (The Netherlands), José Luis Serrano, author (Spain), Marcia Sondeijker, lyricist Ireland, 2018 (The Netherlands), Erik Titusson, publisher (Sweden), Kaat Vrancken, author (Belgium), Lucas de Waard, author (The Netherlands), Laura Watkinson, translator (United Kingdom), Anna Woltz, author (The Netherlands), Stany Van Wymeersch, author (Belgium)