Morena has been approached by two international record companies despite failing to secure a place in the final of Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest.

The companies weighed the 24-year-old's potential and were won over by her energy and confidence on stage, which goes to show that the contest, despite being considered by many to be kitsch and a joke, provides a worthwhile platform for young Maltese singers.

"During my stay in Serbia I was also approached by several songwriters who wish to work with me," she told The Times, without giving away any names.

"Now I'll go back home, sit down and determine what's best. I'm always looking at new avenues for my musical career to grow, while remaining realistic," she said as she prepared to board the connection flight from Frankfurt to Malta.

"I enjoyed the experience. You learn so much and it was a wonderful ride. You obviously want to place but the result was never foremost in my mind. I gave it my best shot and enjoyed taking part," she added.

The young woman from Sannat, who was accompanied by her husband Marvin and sister and vocal coach Georgina Gauci, was eagerly anticipating settling back into some form of routine after a four-month whirlwind promoting her song.

More than anything, she was looking forward to returning to her job as a facilitator - which was put on hold when she won the Malta festival in January - at the Bishop's Conservatory primary school in Victoria.

After nearly two weeks in Belgrade, Morena returned yesterday afternoon to find some 200 people at the airport waiting to give her a warm welcome.

Waving placards saying Well Done Morena and posters of the singer, the crowd showered Morena with bouquets of flowers and hugs; a great show of support from people who believed in her despite her placing.

After Saturday's final - won by Dima Bilan representing Russia with his song Believe - the European Broadcasting Union released the scoreboard of how the countries placed in the previous two semi-finals.

Malta ranked 14th out of 19 countries with 38 points, coming in ahead of Cyprus (36 points), Lithuania (30 points), Belarus 27 points, the Czech Republic (nine points) and Hungary (six points).

Malta got eight points from Albania, six from the Czech Republic, four from Denmark, Portugal, Croatia and Latvia, three from Iceland and Bulgaria and two from the UK.

Ironically, in this heat, Malta gave 12 points to Switzerland's Paolo Meneguzzi, who surpassed Morena and placed 13th with 47 points.

The EBU this year chose to hold two semi-finals in a bid to make the contest a fairer one by separating countries that traditionally vote for each other.

However, composer Philip Vella pointed out that while the semi-finals had proved to be extremely fair, this element was lost when all 43 competing countries got to vote in the final.

"For example, Portugal, which has practically no neighbours, placed second in the semi-final but it did not fare so well in the final, placing 13th overall," he pointed out.

"The Eurovision is a mysterious game to crack but I enjoy playing it and won't be disheartened from taking part," he said.

Mr Vella said that, while the contest was predictable when it came to voting patterns, he could not fathom how a popular star such as Paolo Meneguzzi, who had a powerful ballad, failed to qualify.

Once again, neighbouring countries could not resist voting for one another and it was easy to guess throughout the night who would vote for whom, with very few surprises along the way. This point was also raised by Sir Terry Wogan, who has been commenting on the contest since the 1970s, and is now considering quitting because the show was no longer a music contest, especially after the UK's talented contestant Andy Abraham finished last.

At one point in his commentary for the BBC, as Russia's neighbours and former Soviet states repeatedly gave high marks for Believe, Sir Terry said that "the word has gone out" that it was "Russia's turn this year".

Russia received maximum 12 points from former Soviet states Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia, as well as Israel.

Interestingly, six countries from Western Europe - Iceland, the UK, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and San Marino - did not award any points to Russia.

Dima Bilan is the first male soloist to win the Eurovision since Toto Cutugno in 1990.

Ukraine placed second with Ani Lorak's energetic delivery of Shady Lady while Greece's young Kalomira came in third with Secret Combination.

For the fifth time in the contest's history, the top three songs were performed entirely in English and, after Finland's rock band Lordi won in 2006, Europe's voting public is choosing something softer for the ears and for the second year in a row a ballad won the contest.

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