American Idol (season 7) American Idol (season 7) The seventh season of "American Idol", the annual reality show and singing competition, began on January 15, 2008 and concluded on May 21, 2008. Ryan Seacrest continued to host the show with Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returning as judges. David Cook was announced the winner of the competition on May 21, 2008, defeating runner-up David Archuleta by a margin of roughly 12 million votes out of over 97 million, which was at that time the highest recorded vote total ever recorded in the show's history. The split was 56% to 44%. The seventh
TV Now Awards its kind and was held at the Mansion House on 12 April 2008. A number of RTÉ presenters won awards at the ceremony, including Kathryn Thomas who won the TV Now 2008 Award for Favourite Female TV Presenter and Ryan Tubridy who won the award for Favourite Male TV Presenter. Anne Doyle won the Favourite News Presenter Award. "Fair City", despite being nominated against a number of its UK counterparts, won Ireland's Favourite Soap, whilst Favourite Reality Show was the talent contest "You're A Star". "The Clinic" won the award for Favourite Drama Series. RTÉ Sport's coverage of the national