At the end of November organisers at 1 in 360 — San Marino’s Internet selection show for Eurovision 2018 — revealed the shortlist of around 70 acts for the first of three wildcard spots in the national selection.

And this evening — after counting the votes from Eurovision fan groups — they revealed that Emma has secured the very first spot.

The Finnish songbird edged past Malta’s Franklin Calleja by just two points, but well ahead of third and fourth place finishers Sada Vidoo and Tiago Braga.

The UMK 2017 star has been documenting her attempt to represent San Marino on her YouTube channel. Her sincerity and passion touched our hearts — especially after all the drama of UMK earlier this year.

She’s also shared the emotional side of the process and the difficulty of getting back up again after the events in UMK 2017. In one emotional segment, Emma said, “I have no strength at all to fall again.”

But all the pieces came together and she submitted her audition. Standing in a stairwell (with great acoustics), Emma sang Andra Day’s “Rise Up”.

She sings, “I’ll rise up/In spite of the ache/I’ll rise up/And I’ll do it a thousand times again”.

The second wildcard vote

Ten acts will make the live shows in 2018, and of these three will be wildcards.

The second wildcard round is already open and it’s rather straightforward. Votes were reset on December 1, and the artist with the most number of votes (in this case hearts) will bag the ticket.

Artists who competed in the Eurovision fan group vote are obviously still able to compete in Wildcard #2, which runs until December 10.

As of Monday evening, only 16 of the 557 published entries had managed to earn more than 2,000 votes in the second wildcard voting. Click on our article below to see who’s done it…

Are you happy with the first wildcard? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments section below!