Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

A Dal 2014 was the third edition of A Dal which selected the Hungarian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. Thirty entries competed in the competition that consisted of three shows which commenced on 25 January 2014 and concluded with an eight-song final on 22 February 2014. All shows in the competition were broadcast on m1 and Duna TV World.

The format of the competition consisted of six shows: three heats, two semi-finals and a final. The six shows took place at MTVA studios in Budapest and were hosted by Éva Novodomszky and Gábor Gundel Takács, with Levente Harsányi and Krisztina Rátonyi conducting backstage interviews.[1][2] Last year's winner, ByeAlex, also took part in the show as a digital commentator, providing reports and facts regarding the competition.[3] The three heats, held on 25 January 2014, 1 February 2014 and 8 February 2014, each featured ten entries with six advancing to the semi-finals from each show. The semi-finals, held on 15 and 16 February 2014 during A Dal-hétvége (A Dal-weekend), each featured nine entries with four advancing to the final from each show. The final, held on 22 February 2014, selected the Hungarian entry for Copenhagen from the eight remaining entries.

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 summation of the judges scores determined the final scores for the first round. In the heats, the top three entries with the highest scores advanced to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, the top two 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 a public vote via submitting an SMS. The three entries that received the most votes from each heat would also advance to the semi-finals, while the two entries that received the most votes from each semi-final would also advance to the final. 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.

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:[1]

• Kati Kovács – Singer, lyricist and actress
• Jenő Csiszár – Radio anchor
• Magdi Rúzsa – Singer who represented Hungary in 2007 in Helsinki with "Unsubstantial Blues"
• Philip Rákay – MTV programme director

Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries for the competition between 10 October 2013 and 1 December 2013. Competing artists were required to either hold Hungarian citizenship or be able to speak Hungarian fluently. 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.[4] After the submission deadline had passed, a record 435 entries were received by the broadcaster. A ten-member preselection jury selected thirty entries for the competition.[1] The competing entries were announced during a press conference on 11 December 2013.[5] Among the competing artists was former Eurovision Song Contest entrant Gergő Rácz (competing as a member of Fool Moon), who represented Hungary in the 1997 Contest as a member of V.I.P..

The first heat took place on 25 January 2014 where ten entries competed. Six entries qualified to the semi-finals after two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, three qualifiers were determined by the combination of scores from each judge. The three qualifiers were "Running Out of Time" performed by Viktor Király, "Morning Light" performed by Marge and "Hogy segíthetnék" performed by Leslie Szabó. In the second round of voting, the remaining seven entries that were not in the initial top three faced a public vote consisting of votes submitted through SMS in order to determine three additional qualifiers. The last three qualifiers were "Retikül" performed by Group'N'Swing, "1 percig sztár" performed by Ibolya Oláh and "Csak a zene" performed by Depresszió.[6]

The second heat took place on 1 February 2014 where ten entries competed. Six entries qualified to the semi-finals after two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, three qualifiers were determined by the combination of scores from each judge. The three qualifiers were "Running" performed by András Kállay-Saunders, "Waterfall" performed by Joni and "We All" performed by Bogi. In the second round of voting, the remaining seven entries that were not in the initial top three faced a public vote consisting of votes submitted through SMS in order to determine three additional qualifiers. The last three qualifiers were "Ég veled" performed by Heni Dér, "Karcolás" performed by Lilla Polyák and "This Is My Life" performed by Muzikfabrik.[7]

The third heat took place on 8 February 2014 where ten entries competed. Six entries qualified to the semi-finals after two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, three qualifiers were determined by the combination of scores from each judge. The three qualifiers were "Brave New World" performed by Dénes Pál, "The Last One" performed by New Level Empire and "It Can't Be Over" performed by Fool Moon. In the second round of voting, the remaining seven entries that were not in the initial top three faced a public vote consisting of votes submitted through SMS in order to determine three additional qualifiers. The last three qualifiers were "Catch Me" performed by Gigi Radics, "A legnagyobb hős" performed by HoneyBeast and "Játssz még jazzgitár" performed by Mystery Gang.[8]

The first semi-final took place on 15 February 2014 where nine entries competed. Four entries qualified to the final after two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, two qualifiers were determined by the combination of scores from each judge. The two qualifiers were "Running Out of Time" performed by Viktor Király and "We All" performed by Bogi. In the second round of voting, the remaining seven entries that were not in the initial top two faced a public vote consisting of votes submitted through SMS in order to determine two additional qualifiers. The last two qualifiers were "Csak a zene" performed by Depresszió and "The Last One" performed by New Level Empire.[9]

The second semi-final took place on 16 February 2014 where nine entries competed. Four entries qualified to the final after two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, two qualifiers were determined by the combination of scores from each judge. The two qualifiers were "Running" performed by András Kállay-Saunders and "It Can't Be Over" performed by Fool Moon. In the second round of voting, the remaining seven entries that were not in the initial top two faced a public vote consisting of votes submitted through SMS in order to determine two additional qualifiers. The last two qualifiers were "Brave New World" performed by Dénes Pál and "A legnagyobb hős" performed by HoneyBeast.[10]

The final took place on 22 February 2014 where the eight entries that qualified from the semi-finals competed. The winner of the competition was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the jury determined the top four entries that advanced to the second round. The voting system for the four jurors was different from the method used in the heats and semi-finals. Each juror announced their scores after all songs had been performed rather than assigning scores following each performance and the jurors ranked their preferred top four entries and assigned points in the following manner: 4 (lowest), 6, 8 and 10 (highest). The four entries with the highest total scores proceeded to the second round: "Running" performed by András Kállay-Saunders, "We All" performed by Bogi, "It Can't Be Over" performed by Fool Moon and "Running Out of Time" performed by Viktor Király. In the second round, "Running" performed by András Kállay-Saunders was selected as the winner via a public vote consisting of votes submitted through SMS. 145,000 votes were registered in the second round.[11]

The following five members comprised the Hungarian jury:[21]

• Zoltan Palásti Kovács – Chairperson – musical teacher, music historian, musician, DJ, producer
• Kati Kovács – performer, singer, songwriter
• Attila Náksi – DJ, music producer, record company owner
• Péter Dorozsmai – musician, producer, songwriter, sound engineer
• Vera Tóth – singer, songwriter, lyricist

The Hungarian votes in the First Semi-Final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.[22]

Semi-final 1 – Hungarian Results
Draw	Country	Z. Palásti Kovács	K. Kovács	A. Náksi	P. Dorozsmai	V. Tóth	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Armenia	2	14	14	2	5	6	5	3	8
02	Latvia	8	6	2	8	15	8	7	9	2
03	Estonia	14	11	9	9	13	13	13	14
04	Sweden	9	10	11	5	3	7	2	2	10
05	Iceland	11	9	3	11	10	10	3	5	6
06	Albania	5	8	12	7	8	9	12	12
07	Russia	4	12	6	6	4	5	9	6	5
08	Azerbaijan	3	5	7	4	1	2	14	10	1
09	Ukraine	12	7	4	14	9	11	4	8	3
10	Belgium	10	4	10	15	14	12	10	13
11	Moldova	13	13	15	13	11	15	15	15
12	San Marino	7	3	5	10	7	4	8	4	7
13	Portugal	15	15	13	12	6	14	6	11
14	Netherlands	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	12
15	Montenegro	6	2	8	3	12	3	11	7	4
16	Hungary

The Hungarian votes in the final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.[23]

Final – Hungarian Results
Draw	Country	Z. Palásti Kovács	K. Kovács	A. Náksi	P. Dorozsmai	V. Tóth	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Ukraine	17	8	8	17	7	10	12	9	2
02	Belarus	18	19	12	20	9	18	11	15
03	Azerbaijan	2	6	10	5	1	2	25	12
04	Iceland	13	20	1	18	8	11	8	6	5
05	Norway	12	24	24	11	12	21	9	18
06	Romania	19	7	21	12	19	17	15	21
07	Armenia	5	12	15	3	17	9	5	4	7
08	Montenegro	20	3	4	6	10	5	24	17
09	Poland	9	13	22	8	22	15	7	8	3
10	Greece	25	14	25	25	25	25	18	23
11	Austria	8	9	5	16	11	8	2	2	10
12	Germany	16	15	20	15	15	19	10	14
13	Sweden	11	10	7	4	13	6	6	3	8
14	France	22	21	23	24	23	24	22	25
15	Russia	15	16	11	21	14	16	13	16
16	Italy	14	22	14	23	18	22	23	24
17	Slovenia	21	11	13	10	6	13	17	19
18	Finland	1	23	6	9	24	14	1	5	6
19	Spain	7	4	9	14	4	4	20	11
20	Switzerland	4	17	19	22	20	20	4	10	1
21	Hungary
22	Malta	3	5	18	13	21	12	19	20
23	Denmark	23	25	16	19	16	23	14	22
24	Netherlands	6	1	3	1	5	1	3	1	12
25	San Marino	24	2	2	7	3	3	16	7	4
26	United Kingdom	10	18	17	2	2	7	21	13