A Dal

A Dal (English: The Song) is an annual music competition in Hungary organised by the national broadcaster Duna and was the national selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest between 2012 and 2019. The contest was introduced in 2012.

A Dal
GenreMusic, entertainment, reality television
Country of originHungary
Original languageHungarian
No. of series11
Release
Original networkDuna (2016– ),
Duna World (2012– ),
M1 (2012–2015),
Original release28 January 2012 (2012-01-28) –
present

The contest was introduced by the MTVA, the organisers of the contest, with a different philosophy than the contest used previously. A Dal was introduced to produce a Hungarian contest, with Hungarian musical tastes being presented to a European audience. The contest is also an open one, with all information of the songs being revealed in the selection process.

Format

The selected songs in the contest are shown to the Hungarian public through a number of special shows. It includes three heats (four in 2021), two semi-finals, and then a final.

Ten songs compete in each heat, with six moving on to the semi-finals, five from the jury and public together and one from the public exclusively selected in a second round. Nine songs compete in each semi-final. Four songs from each semi-final move on to the final, three advancing due to the jury and public and one due to the public exclusively. The final winner is selected through two rounds of voting: the first round selects the top four songs out of the eight finalists; the second round selects the winner from the four remaining songs. The first round uses only the jury and the second round uses only the public.

Between 2012 and 2019, A Dal was used as the selection process for the Hungarian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. Hungary withdrew from Eurovision in 2020, but despite this, A Dal is still being held as a standalone music competition.

Winners

The first winner of A Dal was the electronic band Compact Disco with the song "Sound of Our Hearts". At the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, the group qualified to the final (10th place in the semi-final with 52 points), and placing 24th in the final with 19 points.

The most successful A Dal winner is András Kállay-Saunders and his song "Running". At the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, Kállay-Saunders qualified for the final (placed 3rd in the semi-final with 127 points) and later placed 5th with 143 points, earning Hungary's second best placement ever and only top five finish since 1994.

Year Song Artist Songwriter(s) Final place Final points Semi place Semi points
2012 "Sound of Our Hearts" Compact Disco Behnam Lotfi, Csaba Walkó, Attila Sándor, Gábor Pál 24 19 10 52
2013 "Kedvesem (Zoohacker Remix)" ByeAlex Alex Márta, Zoltán Palásti Kovács "Zoohacker" 10 84 8 66
2014 "Running" András Kállay-Saunders András Kállay-Saunders, Krisztián Szakos 5 143 3 127
2015 "Wars for Nothing" Boggie Boglárka Csemer, Áron Sebestyén, Sára Hélène Bori 20 19 8 67
2016 "Pioneer" Freddie Zé Szabó / Borbála Csarnai 19 108 4 197
2017 "Origo" Joci Pápai József Pápai 8 200 2 231
2018 "Viszlát nyár" AWS Dániel Kökényes, Bence Brucker, Áron Veress, Soma Schiszler, Örs Siklósi 21 93 10 111
2019 "Az én apám" Joci Pápai József Pápai, Ferenc Molnár Caramel Did not qualify 12 97
2020 "Mostantól" Gergő Rácz & Reni Orsovai Máté Bella, Szabolcs Hujber, Gergő Rácz colspan=4 data-sort-value="" style="background: #ececec; color: #2C2C2C; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-na" | Did not participate
Contest later cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic[lower-alpha 2]
2021 "Egyetlen szó" Kaukázus János Kardos-Horváth, Tamás Kontor
2022 "Nem adom el" Ibolya Oláh Sándor Födő, György Hegyi, Vivien Csakmag
2023 "Éjféli járat" Titán Előd Szabó

See also

Notes
  1. The top prize was 10 million Ft.
  2. The top prize was 75 million Ft.

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