Tonight: Who will win the German ticket?

The German national final for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest has generated lots of media and fan interest this year as almost all of the five participants are very well-known acts even outside of Germany. There is no clear favourite in the running and experts say that basically all participants have a good chance of winning! The five acts will be supported by five German celebraties - one for each act - which have been specially invited for the exciting show which will be hosted again by Thomas Herrmanns. Not only the competition will be thrilling as host broadcaster NDR has invited famous Eurovision Song Contest related artists: Marija Šerifović, last year's winner, Ruslana, winner of the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, Charlotte Perrelli, winner of the 1999 edition and participating in this year's Swedish Melodifestivalen and finally the winner of the German national selection last year, Roger Cicero.

The five participants 

Cinema Bizarre, the shooting-stars of the German pop scene, are very popular with the young audience and their electro-rock has been played on all music stations. They released their first single and album last autumn and both immediately went into the German top ten sales charts. The group is aiming for an international career as well as their album will be released in France later this month. In the German final, they will perform Forever Or Never. 

No Angels were Germany's first ever Popstars winners in 2000 and have reached the No.1 spot in both the singles and the album charts lots of times. The group split in 2004 as the singers wanted to start solo careers, but they re-united in 2007. Since then, they have performed in lots of German TV shows. In Hamburg, they will perform the mid-tempo song Disappear which - according to them - is a perfect song for the Eurovision Song Contest!

Marquess is a Hanover-based group who wants to charm the audience with Latin-influenced music. The group had a monster hit in the German-speaking countries and parts of Eastern Europe last year with Vayamos Companeros which even reached the number one spot in the Swiss charts! Their entry for the German final is a sing-along Spanish number again, La Histeria. For the main singer of the group, Sascha Pierro, it's already the second time in a German national final as he competed in 2003 already with the song Wenn Grenzen fallen.

Carolin Fortenbacher may not be a household name in Germany yet, but millions of people have seen her in one of the main roles in the musical Mamma Mia in Hamburg. She hopes to start a pop career now and will release her album Drama the day after the German national final. In the competition, she will perform the highly dramatic ballad Hinter'm Ozean which she recorded together with the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

Tommy Reeve has released his first album last year which proved to be very successful in Germany with hits like I'm Sorry. Tommy started to play the piano at the age of five and wrote his first songs as a teenager. During the German final, he hopes to impress especially his female fans with the tender ballad Just One Woman which was produced by one of Germany's top producers, Thorsten Brötzmann.

The winner of the German final will be decided by televote, first to choose the two acts for the Superfinal and then to select the German representative for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. Germany already has a spot in the Final of the contest which will take place on the 24th of May.