Hungary's first entry in the Eurovision Song Contest would have been "Árva reggel", performed by Andrea Szulák, in1993, but aqualification 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 byFriderika Bayer, in1994. 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.
The1995 entry was not as successful, garnering only 3 points, narrowly beating last-place Germany. In1996 Hungary again failed to qualify when "Fortuna", performed byGjon Delhusa did not qualify from the pre-qualification round.
Hungary withdrew after the1998 contest. It had planned to return in 2004,[1] but ultimately did not take part in the contest. They eventually returned in2005, where they finished in 12th place in the final with "Forogj, világ!", performed byNOX. However, Hungary withdrew again in2006, returning in2007 with "Unsubstantial Blues", the first Hungarian entry in English, performed byMagdi Rúzsa, the winner of the 3rd season of the Hungarian talent showMegasztár. The song came 9th inHelsinki, receiving 128 points in the final.
After coming last in the semi-final in the2008 contest, MTV confirmed Hungary's participation at the2009 contest inMoscow. After its original choice was revealed to have been released before 1 October 2008, breaking contest rules, it was decided that "Dance with Me", performed byZoltán 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 in2004.
In October 2009, MTV confirmed that it would not participate in the2010 contest due to financial limitations in the company which would prevent it from sending an entry.[4]Duna Televízió broadcast the event live and applied for EBU membership to send a representative toDüsseldorf in2011. However, during the EBU's 65th conference, Duna's bid to become an active member was rejected. In December 2010, it was confirmed that MTVA had agreed to return to the 2011 edition.[5] MTVA internally selected the song "What About My Dreams?", performed byKati 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 since2007. In the final, the song placed 22nd with 53 points.
In2012, MTVA organised a national final,A Dal, to select the Hungarian entry for the contest inBaku. The song "Sound of Our Hearts", performed byCompact 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 annually until 2019.
In2013, Hungary reached the top 10, when the song "Kedvesem (Zoohacker Remix)", performed byByeAlex, placed 10th with 84 points. Hungary reached the top five in2014, when the song "Running", performed byAndrás Kállay-Saunders, placed fifth with 143 points, achieving the best result for Hungary in the contest since its 1994 debut.
Hungary made it to the top ten once again in2017, when the song "Origo", performed byJoci Pápai, placed 8th with 200 points, achieving their best result in three years. Pápai represented Hungary again in2019 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 the2020 contest, which was subsequently cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic; it has been absent from the contest since.[6][7][8] MTVA stated that it would continue to organiseA 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 websiteIndex.hu speculated that the contest was considered "too gay" for MTVA to participate.[10]
Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.[14]
^Aqualifying 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.
^In order to reduce the number of participating countries at the 1996 event aqualifying 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.
^"A TV műsora | szeptember 6-12" [The TV program | 6–12 September].Rádió és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 10, no. 36.Budapest, Hungary. 6 September 1965. pp. 22–24. Retrieved15 January 2025 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"A TV műsora | febr. 28–márc. 6" [The TV programme | 28 Feb.–6 Mar.].Rádió és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 11, no. 9.Budapest, Hungary. 28 February 1966. pp. 22–24. Retrieved28 December 2022 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"A TV műsora | április. 3-9" [The TV programme | 3–9 April].Rádió és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 12, no. 14.Budapest, Hungary. 3 April 1967. pp. 22–24. Retrieved15 February 2025 – via Nemzeti Archívum.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^"TV – szombat IV.6" [TV – Saturday IV.6].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 13, no. 14.Budapest, Hungary. 1 April 1968. p. 13. Retrieved15 February 2025 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"TV – szombat III.29" [TV – Saturday III.29].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 14, no. 13.Budapest, Hungary. 24 March 1969. p. 13. Retrieved15 February 2025 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"TV – szombat III.21" [TV – Saturday III.21].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 15, no. 11.Budapest, Hungary. 16 March 1970. p. 13. Retrieved15 February 2025 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"TV – szerda IV.21" [TV – Wednesday 21 April].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 16, no. 16.Budapest, Hungary. 19 April 1971. p. 7.Archived from the original on 21 April 2024. Retrieved21 April 2024 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"TV – szerda IV.5" [TV – Wednesday 5 April].Rádió- és Televízió-újság (in Hungarian). Vol. 17, no. 14.Budapest, Hungary. 3 April 1972. p. 7.Archived from the original on 5 January 2023. Retrieved5 January 2023 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Kedd – május 8" [Tuesday – 8 May].Rádió- és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 18, no. 19.Budapest, Hungary. 7 May 1973. pp. 12–13. Retrieved15 February 2025 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Szombat – május 25" [Saturday – 25 May].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 19, no. 20.Budapest, Hungary. 20 May 1974. p. 20. Retrieved15 February 2025 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Vasárnap – április 20" [Sunday – 20 April].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 20, no. 15.Budapest, Hungary. 14 April 1975. pp. 22–23. Retrieved15 February 2025 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Vasárnap – augusztus 20" [Sunday – 20 August].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 21, no. 31.Budapest, Hungary. 2 August 1976. pp. 22–23. Retrieved15 February 2025 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Szombat – november 19" [Saturday – 19 November].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 22, no. 46.Budapest, Hungary. 14 November 1977. pp. 20–21. Retrieved9 January 2023 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Kedd – május 23" [Tuesday – 23 May].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 23, no. 21.Budapest, Hungary. 22 May 1978. pp. 12–13. Retrieved10 January 2023 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Szombat – május 2" [Saturday – 2 May].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 26, no. 17.Budapest, Hungary. 27 April 1981. pp. 24–26. Retrieved12 January 2023 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Szombat – május 15" [Saturday – 15 May].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 27, no. 19.Budapest, Hungary. 10 May 1982. pp. 24–26. Retrieved12 January 2023 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Szombat május 3" [Saturday 3 May].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 31, no. 17.Budapest, Hungary. 28 April 1986. p. 18. Retrieved14 January 2023 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Vasárnap május 10" [Sunday 10 May].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 32, no. 18.Budapest, Hungary. 4 May 1987. p. 19. Retrieved15 January 2023 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Szombat" [Saturday].7 Nap [hu] (in Hungarian). Vol. 43, no. 18.Subotica, Yugoslavia. 29 April 1988. pp. 56–57. Retrieved8 December 2024 – viaVajdasági Magyar Digitális Adattár.
^"Szombat" [Saturday].7 Nap [hu] (in Hungarian). Vol. 44, no. 18.Subotica, Yugoslavia. 29 April 1988. pp. 56–57. Retrieved8 December 2024 – viaVajdasági Magyar Digitális Adattár.
^"TV1 – szombat május 4" [TV1 – Saturday 4 May].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 36, no. 18.Budapest, Hungary. 29 April 1991. p. 24. Retrieved28 October 2022 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Szombat május 9" [Saturday 9 May].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 37, no. 19.Budapest, Hungary. 4 May 1992. p. 50. Retrieved23 July 2022 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"TV | szombat május 15" [TV | Saturday 15 May].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 38, no. 19.Budapest, Hungary. 10 May 1993. p. 46. Retrieved23 July 2022 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"TV szombat | április 30" [TV Saturday | 30 April].Rádió– és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 40, no. 19.Budapest, Hungary. 25 April 1994. pp. 46–47. Retrieved23 July 2022 – via Nemzeti Archívum.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^Eurovision Song Contest 1994 (Television programme) (in English, French, and Irish).Dublin, Ireland:Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ). 30 April 1994.
^"Szombat | Televízió – május 13" [Saturday | Television – 13 May].Rádió és Televízióújság (in Hungarian). Vol. 41, no. 17.Budapest, Hungary. 8 May 1995. pp. 42–45. Retrieved23 July 2022 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^Eurovision Song Contest 1995 (Television programme) (in English, French, and Irish).Dublin, Ireland:Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ). 13 May 1995.
^"Szombat május 18. | Televízió" [Saturday 18 May | Televízió].Rádió és TeleVízió újság (in Hungarian). Vol. 42, no. 20.Budapest, Hungary. 13 May 1996. pp. 42–45. Retrieved23 July 2022 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^"Szombat május 3. | Televízió" [Saturday 3 May | Television].Rádió és TeleVízió újság (in Hungarian). Vol. 43, no. 18.Budapest, Hungary. 28 April 1997. pp. 44–47. Retrieved23 July 2022 – via Nemzeti Archívum.
^ab"56 éves lett Gundel Takács Gábor" [Gábor Gundel Takács turns 56 years old] (in Hungarian). Ridikül. 27 August 2020.Archived from the original on 23 June 2022. Retrieved23 June 2022.
^"Pályázati Felhívás 2017" [Call for Proposals 2017] (in Hungarian). mediaklikk.hu. 10 October 2016.Archived from the original on 11 January 2017. Retrieved10 October 2016.
For the most recent participation see
Helsinki
Düsseldorf
Moscow
