| Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2008 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Magyar Televízió (MTV) | |||
| Country |  Hungary | |||
| Selection process | Eurovíziós Dalverseny 2008: Magyarországi döntő | |||
| Selection date | 8 February 2008 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Candlelight" | |||
| Artist | Csézy | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Failed to qualify (19th) | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Hungary was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Candlelight", composed by Viktor Rakonczai, with lyrics by Jánosi and Imre Mózsik, and performed byCsézy. The Hungarian participating broadcaster,Magyar Televízió (MTV), selected its entry through the national finalEurovíziós Dalverseny 2008: Magyarországi döntő. 15 entries competed in the national final where "Szívverés" performed by Csézy was selected as the winner based on the votes of a four-member jury panel as well as the votes from the public. The song was later translated from Hungarian to English for Eurovision and was titled "Candlelight". Composer Rakonczai had representedHungary in 1997 as part of the band V.I.P..
Hungary was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 22 May 2008. Performing during the show in position 15, "Candlelight" was not among the 10 qualifying entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Hungary placed nineteenth (last) out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 6 points.
Prior to the 2008 contest,Magyar Televízió (MTV) had participated in theEurovision Song Contest representing Hungary six times since its first entry in 1994.[1] Its best placing in the contest was fourth, achieved with its début entryin 1994 with the song "Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?" performed byFriderika Bayer. MTV had attempted to participate in the contestin 1993, however, its entry was eliminated in the preselection showKvalifikacija za Millstreet. The broadcaster withdrew from the contest for six years between 1999 and 2004 and also missed the 2006 contest. In2007, it achieved its second best result in the contest, placing ninth with the song "Unsubstantial Blues" performed byMagdi Rúzsa.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, MTV 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 2008 contest on 17 May 2007.[2] MTV has organised both internal selections and national selection shows to select its entries. The broadcaster opted to organize a national selection show for 2008 with details being released on 9 November 2007.[3]
Eurovíziós Dalverseny 2008: Magyarországi döntő was the national final organised by MTV to selecte its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Fifteen entries competed in the competition which took place at the Pólus Center's Fortuna Stúdió inBudapest and was hosted byÉva Novodomszky andLevente Harsányi. The show was broadcast onm1 as well as online atmtv.hu.[4]
The competition consisted of one show, held on 8 February 2008, and featured fifteen entries. The Hungarian entry for Belgrade was selected by public televoting and a four-member jury panel. Each juror assigned scores to each entry ranging from 1 (lowest score) to 10 (highest score) immediately after the artist(s) conclude their performance. The summation of the jury scores created a final ranking from which points from 1 (lowest) to 15 (highest) were distributed. The public was able to submit their votes via telephone or SMS and the overall ranking of the entries was also assigned points from 1 to 15. The summation of the jury and public votes determined the winning entry. In the case of a tie, the tie was decided in favour of the entry which received a higher number of points from the public.[5]
The jury panel consisted of:[6]
Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries for the competition between 9 November 2007 and 12 December 2007. Only artists that had a valid contract with a record company/professional management or had released a record were eligible to compete. All songs were required to be submitted in both Hungarian and English.[3][7] After the submission deadline had passed, 30 entries were received by the broadcaster.[8] A four-member preselection jury selected fifteen entries for the competition. The jury consisted ofMiklós Malek, Eszter Horgas, László Benkő and Balázs Lévai.[9] The competing entries were announced on 14 January 2008.[10][11]
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Gramm | "Még egy dal" | László Müller, 21 Gramm |
| Adrien Szekeres | "Piszkos tánc" | Adrien Szekeres, Gábor Kiss |
| Candies | "Van aki nyer" | Szabó Zé, Ákos Várszegi |
| Csaba Gál – Boogie | "Úgy figyeltelek" | Csaba Walkó, Csaba Gál, István Balahoczky |
| Csézy | "Szívverés" | Viktor Rakonczai, Jánosi |
| Dure | "Nem ismerlek már" | Dure |
| Ez One | "Lesz, ki téged hazavár" | Attila Fehér, Ákos Várszegi |
| Fiesta | "Gyűlölve szeretni" | Tamás Knapik |
| Lola | "Legszebb nap" | Eszter Major, Viktor Rakonczai |
| Monika Hoffman | "Légy te az első" | Ágnes Szabó, Zoltán Dandó |
| Orsolya Pflum | "Távol" | János Bende, Tamás Kelemen |
| Orsolya Szatmári | "Véletlen" | László Sárkány, Richárd Révész |
| Zsuzsa Antal and Fishers Company | "Falak között" | Charles Fisher, Zsuszsanna Antal |
| Zsuzsa Imre | "Érintés" | Gábor Mészáros, Sándor K. Varga |
| Zsuzsi Vágó and Árpád Zsolt Mészáros | "Két szív" | Tibor Kocsák, Szillárd Somogyi, Tibor Miklós |
The final took place on 8 February 2008 where fifteen entries competed. "Szívverés" performed byCsézy was selected as the winner by the combination of votes from a jury and a public televote consisting of votes submitted through telephone and SMS. Adrien Szekeres and Csézy were both tied with 29 points but since Csézy received the most votes from the public she was declared the winner.[12] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, guest performers includedFriderika Bayer (who represented Hungary in 1994),V.I.P. (who representedHungary in 1997),Nox (who representedHungary in 2005), andMagdi Rúzsa (who represented Hungary in 2007).[13]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Candies | "Van aki nyer" | 3 | 5 | 8 | 12 |
| 2 | Ez One | "Lesz, ki téged hazavár" | 1 | 4 | 5 | 15 |
| 3 | Zsuzsi Vágó and Árpád Zsolt Mészáros | "Két szív" | 12 | 13 | 25 | 3 |
| 4 | Monika Hoffman | "Légy te az első" | 9 | 1 | 10 | 11 |
| 5 | Zsuzsa Antal and Fishers Company | "Falak között" | 13 | 7 | 20 | 5 |
| 6 | Fiesta | "Gyűlölve szeretni" | 8 | 12 | 20 | 4 |
| 7 | Zsuzsa Imre | "Érintés" | 5 | 10 | 15 | 10 |
| 8 | Csaba Gál – Boogie | "Úgy figyeltelek" | 10 | 8 | 18 | 7 |
| 9 | Lola | "Legszebb nap" | 8 | 11 | 19 | 6 |
| 10 | Adrien Szekeres | "Piszkos tánc" | 15 | 14 | 29 | 2 |
| 11 | Dure | "Nem ismerlek már" | 3 | 3 | 6 | 14 |
| 12 | Orsolya Pflum | "Távol" | 12 | 6 | 18 | 8 |
| 13 | Csézy | "Szívverés" | 14 | 15 | 29 | 1 |
| 14 | 21 Gramm | "Még egy dal" | 5 | 2 | 7 | 13 |
| 15 | Orsolya Szatmári | "Véletlen" | 8 | 9 | 17 | 9 |
| Draw | Song | Total | Points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Van aki nyer" | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 26 | 3 |
| 2 | "Lesz, ki téged hazavár" | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 22 | 1 |
| 3 | "Két szív" | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 34 | 12 |
| 4 | "Légy te az első" | 7 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 31 | 9 |
| 5 | "Falak között" | 9 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 36 | 13 |
| 6 | "Gyűlölve szeretni" | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 30 | 8 |
| 7 | "Érintés" | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 27 | 5 |
| 8 | "Úgy figyeltelek" | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 33 | 10 |
| 9 | "Legszebb nap" | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 30 | 8 |
| 10 | "Piszkos tánc" | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 39 | 15 |
| 11 | "Nem ismerlek már" | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 26 | 3 |
| 12 | "Távol" | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 34 | 12 |
| 13 | "Szívverés" | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 38 | 14 |
| 14 | "Még egy dal" | 6 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 27 | 5 |
| 15 | "Véletlen" | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 30 | 8 |
On 11 February, it was announced that Csézy would perform "Szívverés" in English at the Eurovision Song Contest. The English version, titled "Candlelight", was presented on the same day.[14]
It was announced in September 2007 that the competition's format would be expanded to two semi-finals in 2008.[15] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top nine songs from each semi-final as determined by televoting progress to the final, and a tenth was determined by back-up juries. TheEuropean 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 2008, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals.[16] Hungary was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 22 May 2008.[17] The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 17 March 2008 and Hungary was set to perform in position 15, following the entry fromGeorgia and before the entry fromMalta.[18]
The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Hungary onm1 with commentary by Gábor Gundel Takács. MTV appointedÉva Novodomszky as its spokesperson to announce the Hungarian votes during the final.[19]
Csézy took part in technical rehearsals on 14 and 18 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 21 and 22 May.[20] The Hungarian performance featured Csézy in a black, white and pink dress with the stage displaying real candles and the LED screens projecting artificial candles.[21][22] On stage, Csézy was joined by four backing vocalists: Miklós Németh, Ignác Czutor, Gergő Rácz and Gábor Molnár. The performance also featured a pianist: the co-composer of "Candlelight" Viktor Rakonczai. Viktor Rakonczai and Gergő Rácz previously represented Hungary in 1997 as part of V.I.P., with all backing performers being members of the a cappella groupFool Moon.[23]
At the end of the show, Hungary was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Hungary placed nineteenth (last) in the semi-final, receiving a total of 6 points.[24]
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Hungary and awarded by Hungary in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Denmark in the semi-final and to Azerbaijan in the final of the contest.
| Score | Country |
|---|---|
| 12 points | |
| 10 points | |
| 8 points | |
| 7 points | |
| 6 points | |
| 5 points | |
| 4 points |  Serbia |
| 3 points | |
| 2 points | |
| 1 point |
|
|
