Hungary is gearing up for their next Eurovision participation! For one more year, the country’s national selection format A Dal is going to return to our screens and crown the nation’s next hopeful. And for those who wish to throw themselves into battle, the time is now!

Deadline on 8 November; two new prizes in 2019

As reported by the national broadcaster MTVA, the submission window for A Dal 2019 will be open by the midnight of 8 November. Applications may be submitted only through the event’s official website, by filling in the application form (with all necessary supporting documents) and uploading their music.

This year sees the introduction of two more awards for the finalists of the competition. Besides the winning act which will be offered the right to fly to Tel Aviv and represent Hungary at the Eurovision Song Contest, the song with the Best Lyrics will be awarded the homonymous prize, while the best newcomer will receive the “A Dal 2019 Discovery” award.

In order to encourage artists from all music genres to submit their music, last year’s A Dal winners, the band AWS shared their experience and talked about how their victory made them popular and successful around their country and beyond:

We have proved that there is a place for metal music on television and on the stage of summer festivals. This was the best summer of our life: there were never so many people and a great dream came true: we could take part in the Wacken Open Air Festival, one of the world’s biggest summer metal music festivals. This was clearly due to our victory in A Dal!

Further details regarding the Hungarian national selection are expected in the weeks to come.

Hungary at Eurovision

Hungary first entered the Eurovision house in 1994 and made an impressive debut with a remarkable 4th place, which is still their best result to date. The country has participated 16 times in total and has seen only two semi-final eliminations, since the system’s introduction in 2004.

Since 2011, Hungary has been qualifying to the Grand Final every year, and has ended up in the Top 10 twice (2014, 2017). At Lisbon’s Eurovision Song Contest, the country of central Europe was represented by the metal band AWS, with the Hungarian-lyric song Viszlát nyár (Summer, Gone). The band progressed to the final, where they came 21st, with a total of 93 points.