The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia honouring the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman (Sweden's representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 and Head of Delegation for Sweden until 2021) and Richard Herrey (member of Herreys, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 for Sweden), the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon.
Although sanctioned by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the awards are not presented during the Eurovision final, but rather are handed out during the official afterparty. Beginning with the 2009 contest, the trophies are handed out prior to the final.
The awards are divided into 3 categories:
In , a special one-off award was presented, the Poplight Fan Award, as voted by fans on the Swedish website Poplight.se and presented to their favourite debuting artist under the age of 25.
Since 2010, the show commentators have replaced the previous winners as the selection jury for the winners.
This award was first presented in , replacing the Fan Award.
Between 2005 and 2015, Sveriges Television (SVT) awarded Marcel Bezençon Awards during its national selection Melodifestivalen. These awards followed the same format as that for the Eurovision awards, with awards given to songs that competed in the final of the contest.