Hungary was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Pioneer" written by Zé Szabó and Borbála Csarnai. The song was performed by Freddie. The Hungarian entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden was selected through the national final A Dal 2016, organised by the local Media Services and Support Trust Fund (MTVA) and the Hungarian public broadcaster Duna Media Service. An initial 30 entries competed in the national final which consisted of six shows: three heats, two semi-final and a final. Entries were selected to advance in the competition based on the votes of a four-member judging panel as well as the votes from the public. Eight entries qualified to compete in the final of A Dal 2016 where the judging panel first selected four of the entries to proceed to a second round of voting. In the second round of voting, "Pioneer" performed by Freddie was selected as the winner based entirely on a public vote.
Hungary was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2016. Performing during the show in position 4, "Pioneer" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. It was later revealed that Hungary placed fourth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 197 points. In the final, Hungary performed in position 5 and placed nineteenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 108 points.
Background
Prior to the 2016 contest, Hungary had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirteen times since their first entry in 1994. Hungary's best placing in the contest was fourth, which they achieved with their début entry in 1994 with the song "Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?" performed by Friderika Bayer. Hungary had attempted participate in the contest in 1993, however, their entry was eliminated in the preselection show Kvalifikacija za Millstreet. Hungary withdrew from the contest for six years between 1999 and 2004 and also missed the 2006 and 2010 contests. In 2014, Hungary achieved their second best result in the contest since their début, placing fifth with the song "Running" performed by András Kállay-Saunders. In 2015, Hungary placed 20th in the Eurovision final with the song "Wars for Nothing" performed by Boggie.
The Hungarian national broadcaster, Media Services and Support Trust Fund (MTVA), broadcasts the event within Hungary and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. MTVA confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 19 October 2015. Since 2012, MTVA has organised A Dal, a national selection show which has managed to, thus far, produce entries that have qualified the nation to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest each year and has resulted in two top 10 placings in 2013 and 2014. The Hungarian broadcaster continued selecting their entry through this process for 2016 with details regarding the organization of the A Dal 2016 national final being released along with their participation confirmation.
Before Eurovision A Dal 2016 A Dal 2016 was the fifth edition of A Dal which selected the Hungarian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Thirty entries competed in the competition that consisted of six shows which commenced on 23 January 2016 and concluded with an eight-song final on 27 February 2016. All shows in the competition were broadcast on Duna, Duna World and online at mediaklikk.hu/adal. The final was also broadcast at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.
Format
The format of the competition consisted of six shows: three heats, two semi-finals and a final. The six shows took place at MTVA Studio 1 in Budapest and were hosted by Csilla Tatár and Levente Harsányi. The three heats, held on 23 January 2016, 30 January 2016 and 6 February 2016, each featured ten entries with six advancing to the semi-finals from each show. The semi-finals, held on 13 and 20 February 2016, each featured nine entries with four advancing to the final from each show. The final, held on 27 February 2016, selected the Hungarian entry for Stockholm from the eight remaining entries.
Voting Results during each show were determined by each member of the four-member judging panel and votes from the public. During the heats and the semi-finals, two rounds of voting determined which entries advanced to the next stages of the competition. In the first round of voting, each judge assigned scores to each entry ranging from 1 (lowest score) to 10 (highest score) immediately after the artist(s) conclude their performance. The public acted as the fifth juror and also assigned one aggregate score between 1 and 10 by either submitting their score via an SMS, voting through a mobile app specifically designed for the competition, or voting online through the show's official website. The summation of the judges scores and the aggregate score from the public vote determined the final scores for the first round. In the heats, the top five entries with the highest scores advanced to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, the top three entries with the highest scores advanced to the final in the first round of voting. In the case of a tie among the entries in the first round of voting, the judging panel would deliberate and determine which entries would advance. In the second round of voting, the remaining entries that did not qualify during the first round faced an additional public vote where the single entry that received the most votes from each heat and semi-final would also advance further in the competition. In the case of a tie during the second round of voting, the entry which received a higher score during the first round of voting would advance and should a tie still persist, the judging panel would deliberate and determine which entry advanced.
In the final, the eight remaining entries also faced two rounds of voting. In the first round, the judges assigned points to their four preferred entries: 4 (lowest), 6, 8 and 10 (highest). The top four entries determined by the judges qualified to the second round of voting. In the second round, a public vote exclusively determined the winning entry.
Judges
The judging panel participated in each show by providing feedback to the competing artists and selecting entries to advance in the competition. The panel consisted of: PierrotEmerton award-winning composer, performer, songwriter and producer ZsédaMultiple Fonogram and Emerton award-winning performer and musician Károly Frenreiszrock musician and composer Miklós BothFonogram and Budai award-winning performer and composer
Competing entries Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries for the competition between 19 October 2015 and 25 November 2015. Competing artists were required to either hold Hungarian citizenship or be able to speak Hungarian fluently. In addition, only artists that had a valid contract with a record company/professional management and that had either released an album or have had national radio airplays or television appearances were eligible to compete. Artists were permitted to collaborate with international composers and submit songs in English and/or in a recognised minority language in Hungary, however, in such cases a translation of the lyrics to Hungarian were required. After the submission deadline had passed, 372 entries were received by the broadcaster.
A ten-member preselection jury selected thirty entries for the competition. The competing entries were announced during a press conference on 15 December 2015 held on the A38 multi-purpose ship in Budapest. Among the competing artists was former Eurovision Song Contest entrant András Kállay-Saunders (competing as Kállay Saunders Band), who represented Hungary in the 2014 contest.
The song "Reggeli Reggae", written by Miklós Heiczinger and Gergely András Nacsinák and to have been performed by Misztrál, was disqualified on 29 December 2015 as the song was presented before 1 September 2015, breaching the rules of the competition. "Katonák" by Viki Singh was announced as the replacement.
Artist Song Songwriter(s) "It Is Love" Viktor Rakonczai, Tamara Olorga B The First "You Told Me You Loved Me" Barna Pély, Máté Garai, Gergő Garai Benji "Kötéltánc" Ferenc Vilmos Kolosai, Gyárfás Máté, Szabolcs Hujber and Andi Tóth "Seven Seas" Ádám Kovacsics, Johnny K. Palmer ByTheWay "Free to Fly" Bence Vavra, Péter Szikszai, Ferenc Feng Ya Ou, Norbert Szűcs C.E.T. "Free" Balázs Molnár, Péter Novák, Martina Király Egy Másik Zenekar "Kéne közös kép" Jenő Bartalos, Zoltán Takács Freddie "Pioneer" Zé Szabó, Borbála Csarnai "Speed Bump" Gyula Éliás, Johnny K. Palmer "Love and Bass" Laci Gáspár, Péter Ferencz, Marcell Tóth, Tamás Orbán Group'n'Swing "Szeretni fáj" Áron Romhányi, Tamás Orbán "Come Along" Júlia Horányi, Szabolcs Harmath Ív "Love Kills Me" Lóránt Tóth Kállay Saunders Band "Who We Are" András Kállay-Saunders, Márk Pacsai, Ádám Tóth Karmapolis and Böbe Szécsi "Hold On To" András Kenyeres, Böbe Szécsi, Szabolcs Szipszer, Gábor Lipi, András Kenyeres Maszkura és a tücsökraj and Siska Finuccsi "Kinek sírjam" Szabolcs Bíró, Gábor Boros, Attila Földesi, Csaba Kertész, Gyula Vadász, Szilveszter Losonczi Misztrál "Reggeli reggae" Miklós Heiczinger, Gergely András Nacsinák "Ott leszek" Krisztián Burai, Fatima Mohamed, Krisztina Kotsy Mushu "Uncle Tom" Izsák Palmer, Örs Kozák, Antal Kert Nika "Emlékkép" Zé Szabó, Tamás Molnár Odett "Stardust" Péter Polgár, Odett Polgár "Győz a jó" Begi Lotfi, Gergő Oláh, Zsolt Szepesi, Tamás Molnár Parno Graszt "Már nem szédülök" József Oláh Passed "Driftin'" Levente Szabó, Dorottya Nizalowski, Fanni Nizalowski, Bálint Áron Farkas "Colors" Norbert Szűcs, Péter Linka Petruska "Trouble in My Mind" András Petruska "Katonák" Viktor Fitos, Attila Valla "Fire" Renáta Tolvai, Zsolt Szepesi, Todd Williams "Power of Love" Jázmin Török "Why" Szabolcs Harmath, Johnny K. Palmer "Singing Peace" Tamás Subecz, Petra Veres-Kovács
Shows Heats Three heats took place on 23 January, 30 January and 6 February 2016. 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. Viktor Király performed in heat 1, the band Ocho Macho performed together with rapper Deniz in heat 2, and A Dal 2013 winner and the 2013 Hungarian Eurovision entrant ByeAlex and his band performed in heat 3.
+ Heat 123 January 2016 Artist Song Total Result 1 Odett "Stardust" 7 8 6 8 5 34 2 "Ott leszek" 6 7 6 6 5 30 3 ByTheWay "Free to Fly" 6 8 7 5 5 31 Advanced 4 Mushu "Uncle Tom" 7 8 7 8 6 36 Advanced 5 "Power of Love" 8 8 7 7 5 35 6 Benji "Kötéltánc" 7 9 8 9 6 39 Advanced 7 Egy Másik Zenekar "Kéne közös kép" 4 10 7 9 6 36 Advanced 8 "Singing Peace" 5 7 6 7 7 32 9 Freddie "Pioneer" 9 9 9 7 8 42 Advanced 10 "Fire" 5 10 7 7 6 35 Advanced
+ Heat 230 January 2016 Artist Song Total Result 1 Passed "Driftin'" 8 7 7 7 5 34 Advanced 2 Group'n'Swing "Szeretni fáj" 5 8 6 7 5 31 3 "Colors" 6 8 7 6 5 32 4 Maszkura és a tücsökraj and Siska Finuccsi "Kinek sírjam" 5 8 6 9 4 32 5 C.E.T. "Free" 5 6 6 5 5 27 6 "Győz a jó" 7 10 8 8 6 39 Advanced 7 "Love and Bass" 7 9 8 7 6 37 Advanced 8 "Why" 9 9 8 7 6 39 Advanced 9 Karmapolis and Böbe Szécsi "Hold On To" 8 8 6 8 6 36 Advanced 10 Kállay Saunders Band "Who We Are" 8 9 9 7 8 41 Advanced