Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest
Hungary
Participating broadcasterMédiaszolgáltatás-támogató és Vagyonkezelő Alap (MTVA; 2011–2019)
Former members
Participation summary
Appearances17 (14 finals)
First appearance1994
Last appearance2019
Highest placement4th: 1994
Related articles
A Dal
External links
Hungary's page at Eurovision.tv Edit this at Wikidata
For the most recent participation see
Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Hungary has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 17 times since making its debut in 1994. Hungary attempted to participate in 1993 but failed to qualify from Kvalifikacija za Millstreet, a special qualifying competition set up for seven former Eastern Bloc countries.

Hungary's first contest in 1994 remains its most successful, with Friderika Bayer finishing in fourth place. The country's only other top five result is a fifth-place finish by András Kállay-Saunders in 2014. Other top ten results are Magdi Rúzsa finishing ninth in 2007, ByeAlex tenth in 2013, and Joci Pápai eighth in 2017, giving Hungary a total of five top ten placements.

History

Hungary's first entry in the Eurovision Song Contest would have been "Árva reggel", performed by Andrea Szulák, in 1993, but a qualification round was held for former Eastern Bloc countries, and the song did not manage to qualify to the final. The first official Hungarian participation was with "Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?", performed by Friderika Bayer, in 1994. Hungary received the maximum score of 12 points from the first three countries to vote. However, as the competition progressed, it attracted fewer votes and ultimately finished in fourth place.

The 1995 entry was not as successful, garnering only 3 points, narrowly beating last-place Germany. In 1996 Hungary again failed to qualify when "Fortuna", performed by Gjon Delhusa did not qualify from the pre-qualification round.

Hungary withdrew after the 1998 contest. It had planned to return in 2004,[1] but ultimately did not take part in the contest. They eventually returned in 2005, where they finished in 12th place in the final with "Forogj, világ!", performed by NOX. However, Hungary withdrew again in 2006, returning in 2007 with "Unsubstantial Blues", the first Hungarian entry in English, performed by Magdi Rúzsa, the winner of the 3rd season of the Hungarian talent show Megasztár. The song came 9th in Helsinki, receiving 128 points in the final.

After coming last in the semi-final in the 2008 contest, Magyar Televízió (MTV), the Hungarian broadcaster, confirmed Hungary's participation at the 2009 contest in Moscow. After MTV's original choice was revealed to have been released before 1 October 2008, breaking contest rules, it was decided that "Dance with Me", performed by Zoltán Ádok, would be Hungary's entry, after MTV's second choice to represent Hungary declined.[2][3] The song placed 15th in the second semi-final, failing to qualify for the grand final for the second time since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004.

In October 2009, MTV confirmed that it would not participate in the 2010 contest due to financial limitations in the company which would prevent it from sending an entry.[4] Duna TV broadcast the event live and applied for EBU membership to send a representative to Düsseldorf in 2011. However, during the EBU's 65th conference, Duna TV's bid to become an active member was rejected. In December 2010, it was confirmed that MTV had agreed to return to the 2011 edition.[5] MTV internally selected the song "What About My Dreams?", performed by Kati Wolf. The song placed 7th in the first semi-final with 72 points and was the first entry representing Hungary to qualify for the final since 2007. In the final, the song placed 22nd with 53 points.

In 2012, MTV organised a national final, A Dal, to select the Hungarian entry for the contest in Baku. The song "Sound of Our Hearts", performed by Compact Disco, was selected. The song placed 10th in the first semi-final with 52 points, and 24th in the final with 19 points. A Dal had been used as the Hungarian selection process every year since.

In 2013, Hungary reached the top 10, when the song "Kedvesem (Zoohacker Remix)", performed by ByeAlex, placed 10th with 84 points. Hungary reached the top 5 in 2014, when the song "Running", performed by András Kállay-Saunders, placed 5th with 143 points, achieving the best result Hungary has had since their first participation in 1994.

Hungary made it to the top ten once again in 2017, when the song "Origo", performed by Joci Pápai, placed 8th with 200 points, achieving their best result in three years. Pápai represented Hungary again in 2019 with the song "Az én apám", but failed to qualify for the final, marking Hungary's first non-qualification since 2009.

Hungary did not appear on the final list of participants for the later-cancelled 2020 contest; it has been absent from the contest since.[6][7][8] MTVA stated that it would continue to organise A Dal to "support the valuable productions created by the talents of Hungarian pop music directly" instead of participating in the contest.[9] The withdrawal came during a rise of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment among the leadership of Hungary and MTVA; while no official reason for the withdrawal was given by the broadcaster, an inside source speaking with the website Index.hu speculated that the contest was considered "too gay" for MTVA to participate.[10]

Participation overview

Table key
2 Second place
3 Third place
◁ Last place
X Entry selected but did not compete
Year Artist Song Language Final Points Semi Points
1993 Andrea Szulák "Árva reggel" Hungarian Failed to qualify[lower-alpha 1] X 6 44
1994 Friderika "Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?" Hungarian 4 122 No semi-finals
1995 Csaba Szigeti "Új név egy régi ház falán" Hungarian 22 3
1996 Gjon Delhusa "Fortuna" Hungarian Failed to qualify[lower-alpha 2] X 23 26
1997 V.I.P. "Miért kell, hogy elmenj?" Hungarian 12 39 No semi-finals
1998 Charlie "A holnap már nem lesz szomorú" Hungarian 23 4
2005 Nox "Forogj, világ!" Hungarian 12 97 5 167
2007 Magdi Rúzsa "Unsubstantial Blues" English 9 128 2 224
2008 Csézy "Candlelight" English, Hungarian Failed to qualify 19 ◁ 6
2009 Zoli Ádok "Dance with Me" English 15 16
2011 Kati Wolf "What About My Dreams?" English, Hungarian 22 53 7 72
2012 Compact Disco "Sound of Our Hearts" English 24 19 10 52
2013 ByeAlex "Kedvesem" (Zoohacker Remix) Hungarian 10 84 8 66
2014 András Kállay-Saunders "Running" English 5 143 3 127
2015 Boggie "Wars for Nothing" English 20 19 8 67
2016 Freddie "Pioneer" English 19 108 4 197
2017 Joci Pápai "Origo" Hungarian 8 200 2 231
2018 AWS "Viszlát nyár" Hungarian 21 93 10 111
2019 Joci Pápai "Az én apám" Hungarian Failed to qualify 12 97

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Year Category Song Composer(s)
lyrics (l) / music (m)		 Performer Final Points Host city Ref.
2007 Composer Award "Unsubstantial Blues" Magdi Rúzsa (m) and Imre Mózsik (l) Magdi Rúzsa 9 128 Finland Helsinki

Winner by OGAE members

Year Song Performer Place Points Host city Ref.
2011 "What About My Dreams?" Kati Wolf 22 53 Germany Düsseldorf

Barbara Dex Award

Year Performer Host city Ref.
2009 Zoli Ádok Russia Moscow

Conductors

Their first entry was conducted by Péter Wolf

Heads of delegation

The Head of the delegation was Szilvia Püspök between 2008 and 2016, then Lőrinc Bubnó in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Commentators and spokespersons

Year Commentator TV channel Spokesperson Ref.
1965–1966 Unknown RTV Did not participate [14]
1967 No television broadcast
1968–1969 Unknown RTV
1970–1971 [15]
1972 No television broadcast
1973 Unknown Magyar Televízió
1974 RTV
1975–1976 No television broadcast
1977–1978 Unknown RTV
1979–1980 No television broadcast
1981 András Sugár MTV [16]
1982–1985 No television broadcast
1986 István Vágó Magyar Televízió
1987 MTV1
1988–1989 No television broadcast
1990 Unknown
1991 No television broadcast
1992–1993 István Vágó M1
1994 M2 Iván Bradányi
1995 M1 Katalin Bogyay
1996 M2Did not participate
1997 M1 Györgyi Albert
1998 Gábor Gundel Takács Barna Héder
1999–2004 No television broadcast Did not participate
2005 Zsuzsa Demcsák
András Fáber
Dávid Szántó		 M1 Zsuzsa Demcsák
2006 No television broadcast Did not participate
2007–2008 Gábor Gundel Takács M1 Éva Novodomszky
2009 M1 HD
2010 Zsolt Jeszenszky Duna HD Did not participate
2011–2014 Gábor Gundel Takács M1 HD Éva Novodomszky
2015–2016 Duna HD Csilla Tatár
2017 Krisztina Rátonyi
Gábor Alfréd Fehérvári
2018 Bence Forró
2019
2021–2024 No television broadcastDid not participate

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ↑ A qualifying round was held for new countries looking to make their debut at the 1993 contest. Hungary failed to progress from this round; entries which failed to progress have subsequently been discounted by the EBU and do not feature as part of the countries' list of appearances.
  2. ↑ In order to reduce the number of participating countries at the 1996 event a qualifying round was held among all countries except the hosts. Hungary failed to progress from this round; entries which failed to progress have subsequently been discounted by the EBU and do not feature as part of the countries' list of appearances.

References

  1. ↑ Bakker, Sietse (15 October 2003). "38 countries participate in Eurovision 2004". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 2 April 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  2. ↑ Klier, Marcus (10 February 2009). "Hungary: Kátya Tompos withdraws from Eurovision". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  3. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (23 February 2009). "Hungary: Zoli Adok to Eurovision". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  4. ↑ Hondal, Victor (22 October 2009). "Hungary withdraws from Eurovision Song Contest". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  5. ↑ Hondal, Victor (27 December 2010). "Hungary returns to the Eurovision Song Contest". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  6. ↑ Herbert, Emily (13 November 2019). "41 Countries Will Participate in The Eurovision Song Contest 2020". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  7. ↑ Juhász, Ervin (11 October 2021). "Despite the rumours, no mention of Eurovision in the rules of Hungary's A Dal 2022!". ESCBubble. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  8. ↑ "REVEALED: the 41 countries joining Eurovision in Turin 2022". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 20 October 2021. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  9. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (29 October 2019). "Hungary: MTVA withdraws from Eurovision 2020". esctoday.com. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  10. ↑ Walker, Shaun; Garamvolgyi, Flora (27 November 2019). "Hungary pulls out of Eurovision amid rise in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric". The Guardian.
  11. ↑ "Marcel Bezençon Awards". eurovision.tv. July 2019. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  12. ↑ Cobb, Ryan (21 April 2017). "Analysing ten years of OGAE voting: "Underneath the fan favourite bias is a worthwhile indicator"". escxtra.com. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  13. ↑ Adams, William Lee (9 July 2015). "Poll: Who was the worst dressed Barbara Dex Award winner?". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  14. ↑ Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 369–381. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.
  15. ↑ Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 25–37. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9.
  16. ↑ Roxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 86–103. ISBN 978-1-84583-118-9.
  17. ↑ Farren, Neil (6 December 2017). "Hungary: A Dal 2018 Participants Announced". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  18. ↑ ""May we have your votes please?"". eurovision.tv. EBU. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  19. ↑ "Eurovision 2019 Spokespersons – Who will announce the points?". eurovisionworld.com. 18 May 2019. Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
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