Hungary was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "", written by József Pápai and Ferenc Molnár, and performed by Pápai himself under the stage name Joci Pápai. The Hungarian participating broadcaster (MTVA) organised the national final 2019 in order to select its entry for the contest.
, this was Hungary's last entry in the contest, before the broadcaster opted out of participating the following year. The absence has continued in every edition since.
Background
Prior to the 2019 contest, (MTV) until 2010 and (MTVA) since 2011 had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Hungary sixteen times since MTV's first entry in . Their best placing was fourth, achieved with their début entry in 1994 with the song "" performed by Friderika Bayer. MTV had attempted to participate in the contest in , however, its entry was eliminated in the preselection show . MTV withdrew from the contest for six years between 1999 and 2004 and also missed the 2006 and 2010 contests. In , Hungary achieved its second-best result in the contest, placing fifth with the song "Running" performed by András Kállay-Saunders. In , it placed 19th in the Eurovision final with the song "Pioneer" performed by Freddie. they managed to finish in the top 10 again, now in the 8th place with "" sang by Joci Pápai. In , "" by rock-metal band AWS placed 21st in the grand final.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, MTVA organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2019 contest on 1 October 2018. Since 2012, MTVA has organised , a national selection show which has managed to, thus far, produce entries that have qualified to the final each year and has resulted in three top 10 placings in , , and .
Before Eurovision
A Dal 2019 2019 was the eighth edition of the national selection , which selected the Hungarian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The competition consisted of 30 entries competing in three heats, two semi-finals, and a final. The hosts are Bogi Dallos and Freddie. At the first press conference on 3 December 2018, MTVA announced the hosts, the jury, the 30 competing songs, and introduced the new logo of the show. The former symbol was in use since the inauguration of the contest, and every year they added the current year in the logo. The new one looks like a play button, or a plectrum, written in the inside A DAL 2019.
Format Judges A jury panel consisted of four people: Feró Nagy: the lead singer of the Hungarian band Beatrice Lilla Vincze: the lead singer of the Hungarian band Napoleon Boulevard, was part of the Hungarian jury in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 Misi Mező: the lead singer and guitarist of the Hungarian band Magna Cum Laude Miklós Both: two times Fonogram-award winner performer and composer.
Competing entries
On 1 October 2018, MTVA opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 15 November 2018. One of the finalists, Petruska, was disqualified after MTVA alleged that his song was plagiarized.
Artist Song Songwriter(s) Acoustic Planet "" Szabolcs Kölcsey feat. Gergő Demko "" Tímea Antal, Johanna Szigyártó "" Olivér Berkes, Arnold Vígh, Tamás Molnár Deniz "" András Vámos, Dénes Rizner Dénes Diana "Little Bird" Viktor Rakonczai, Tamara Olorga Fatal Error "" Mihály Balázs, Miklós Balázs, Zsolt Rimóczi, Dávid Rónai, Botond Kornyik, Bence Joós Gotthy "" Norbert Kovács, Ádám Gotthard "You're Gonna Rise" Klára Hajdu, Milán Szakonyi "Wasted" Barni Hamar "La Mama Hotel" Péter Turóczi, Dávid Heatlie Konyha "" Mátyás Szepesi, Miklós Toldi, Dániel Haller, Márk Badics Kyra "" Kyra Fedor Leander Kills "" Leander Köteles The Middletonz "Roses" Farshad Alebatool, Attila Fehér Holló, András Kállay-Saunders Mocsok 1 Kölykök "" Tamás Pulius, Ádám Horváth, Kristóf Molnár, Ádám Csekő Monyo Project "Run Baby Run" Endre Molnár, Edit Molnár "" Ferenc Molnár 'Caramel' Nomad "" Szabolcs Jánosi, Marcell Juhász, Ábel Mihalik, Levente Nagy "" Gábor Mészáros, Mária Osztás "" József Pápai, Ferenc Molnár 'Caramel' "Frida" Rozina Pátkai, Márton Fenyvesi, Zsófia Bán Petruska "Help Me Out of Here" András Petruska Ruby Harlem "" Tamás Heilig, Szandra Iván Salvus "" Zoltán Pötörke, Péter Erdélyi, Gergely Kiss, Dániel Szabó The Sign "" Máté Gábor Czinke "" Gergő Szekér USNK "" Dániel Somogyvári, Alex Márta "Someone Who Lives Like This" László Váray "" László Csöndör 'Diaz', Kata Kozma, Bence Vavra, Máté Fodor yesyes "Incomplete" Ádám Szabó, Dávid Danka 'Walston', Péter Halász
Shows Heats Three heats took place on 19 January, 26 January and 2 February 2019. In each heat ten entries competed and six entries qualified to the semi-finals after two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, five qualifiers were determined by the combination of scores from each judge and an aggregate score from a public SMS and mobile app vote. In the second round of voting, the remaining five entries that were not in the initial top five faced a public vote consisting of votes submitted through SMS in order to determine one additional qualifier.
In addition to the competing entries, other performers featured during the shows. Skorpió performed their song "" as the interval act in heat 1, Bill Deák Blues Band performed in heat 2, and Fecó Balázs performed in heat 3.
+ Heat 119 January 2019 Artist Song Total Result 1 "" 8 9 8 8 8 41 Advanced 2 Konyha "" 6 8 8 8 8 38 Advanced 3 "Someone Who Lives Like This" 5 6 6 6 6 29 4 "Frida" 5 7 7 7 5 31 5 "Wasted" 6 6 5 5 7 29 6 "" 5 8 6 6 8 33 7 feat. Gergő Demko "" 10 9 6 6 8 39 Advanced 8 Nomad "" 6 7 7 7 8 35 Advanced 9 "" 7 9 9 8 8 41 Advanced 10 Deniz "" 6 7 6 6 9 34 Advanced
+ Heat 226 January 2019 Artist Song Total Result 1 "La Mama Hotel" 7 7 6 7 7 34 2 The Middletonz "Roses" 8 8 9 8 8 41 Advanced 3 "You're Gonna Rise" 5 8 7 6 6 32 4 Gotthy "" 5 5 4 4 8 26 5 Acoustic Planet "" 8 9 9 9 8 43 Advanced 6 Fatal Error "" 9 9 9 9 9 45 Advanced 7 "" 7 9 8 7 8 39 Advanced 8 Diana "Little Bird" 6 7 7 6 8 34 9 The Sign "" 7 7 8 8 8 38 Advanced 10 yesyes "Incomplete" 7 6 7 7 8 35 Advanced
+ Heat 32 February 2019 Artist Song Total Result 1 Leander Kills "" 7 8 7 7 9 38 2 Petruska "Help Me Out of Here" 8 8 9 8 7 40 Advanced 3 Monyo Project "Run Baby Run" 7 7 7 7 7 35 4 "" 8 9 8 8 8 41 Advanced 5 Salvus "" 7 8 6 7 8 36 6 Ruby Harlem "" 7 8 9 9 7 40 Advanced 7 "" 8 9 8 8 8 41 Advanced 8 Kyra "" 5 6 6 5 6 28 9 USNK "" 6 6 7 7 9 35 Advanced 10 Mocsok 1 Kölykök "" 8 8 8 7 8 39 Advanced
Semi-finals Two semi-finals took place on 9 and 16 February 2019. In each semi-final nine entries competed and four entries qualified to the final after two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, three qualifiers were determined by the combination of scores from each judge and an aggregate score from a public SMS and mobile app vote. In the second round of voting, the remaining six entries that were not in the initial top three faced a public vote consisting of votes submitted through SMS in order to determine one additional qualifier. Following the semi-final, Petruska was disqualified after MTVA alleged that his song was plagiarised. He was replaced in the final by Gergő Oláh, who had originally been eliminated but who was awarded a wildcard.
In addition to the competing entries, other performers featured during the shows. Miklós Varga and his children performed as the interval act in semi-final 1, and Republic performed in semi-final 2.
+ Semi-final 19 February 2019 Artist Song Total Result 1 USNK "" 6 6 7 7 8 34 2 yesyes "Incomplete" 7 6 7 7 8 35 3 Konyha "" 6 8 8 8 8 38 4 The Sign "" 7 7 8 8 7 37 5 Petruska "Help Me Out of Here" 8 8 9 9 8 42 Disqualified 6 Acoustic Planet "" 9 9 9 10 8 45 Advanced 7 Deniz "" 6 7 6 7 9 35 8 The Middletonz "Roses" 8 8 8 8 9 41 Advanced 9 "" 8 9 9 8 8 42 Advanced
+ Semi-final 216 February 2019 Artist Song Total Result 1 "" 9 9 8 8 9 43 Advanced 2 Nomad "" 7 7 7 7 8 36 3 Mocsok 1 Kölykök "" 8 8 8 7 8 39 4 "" 8 9 9 8 8 42 Advanced 5 "" 7 9 9 8 8 41 Wildcard 6 feat. Gergő Demko "" 10 8 6 6 8 38 7 Fatal Error "" 8 8 8 8 8 40 Advanced 8 Ruby Harlem "" 7 8 8 8 7 38 9 "" 9 10 9 8 9 45 Advanced
Final The final took place on 23 February 2019 where the eight entries that qualified from the semi-finals competed. The winner of the competition was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the jury determined the top four entries that would advance to the second round. The voting system for the four jurors was different from the method used in the heats and semi-finals. Each juror announced their scores after all songs had been performed rather than assigning scores following each performance and the jurors ranked their preferred top four entries and assigned points in the following manner: 4 (lowest), 6, 8 and 10 (highest). The four entries with the highest total scores proceeded to the second round. In the second round, "Az én apám" performed by Joci Pápai was selected as the winner via a public vote consisting of votes submitted through SMS, mobile app and online voting. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, guest performers included AWS, the winner of A Dal 2018 and who represented .
+ FinalFirst Round23 February 2019 Artist Song Total Place 1 The Middletonz "Roses" 0 4 0 4 8 6 2 "" 0 0 0 0 0 8 3 "" 10 6 0 0 16 4 4 Fatal Error "" 8 0 0 0 8 6 5 "" 0 10 10 6 26 1 6 "" 0 0 4 8 12 5 7 Acoustic Planet "" 6 0 6 10 22 2 8 "" 4 8 8 0 20 3
+ FinalSecond Round23 February 2019 Artist Song Place Acoustic Planet "" "" "" 1 ""
At Eurovision According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Hungary was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Hungary was set to perform in position 7, following the entry from Czech Republic and preceding the entry from Belarus.
Semi-final Hungary performed seventh in the first semi-final, following the entry from Czech Republic and preceding the entry from Belarus. At the end of the show, Hungary was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Hungary placed twelfth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 97 points: 32 points from the televoting and 65 points from the juries, therefore missing out the final for the first time since 2010 when the country did not participate. With the old voting system, Hungary would have ranked 12th with 49 points.
Voting