A Dal, the Hungarian national song competition is about to kick off for the seventh time and pick up their next Eurovision representative! Following the announcement of the process rules from the Hungarian national broadcaster MTVA, the broadcaster is now revealing how the national selection will be running and the exact dates of each event.

How will A Dal 2018 work?

A Dal 2018 will consist of a total of 6 televised shows: 3 heats, 2 semifinals and a Grand Final.

An expert jury will whittle down the submitted entries to 30 in order to compete in the 3 heats, which will be broadcast live on TV. The selection take place by the end of December.

Each heat will consist of 10 participating songs, with 6 songs proceeding to the semi-finals. (From each heat 5 songs will qualify to the next stage via a combined jury and app voting, whilst 1 song will make it via a combined televoting and app voting).

Thus the 18 qualified entries will be divided into the two semi-finals. From each semi-final, 4 songs will proceed to the Grand Final (3 songs will proceed to the Final via a combined jury and app voting, whilst 1 song will do via a combined televoting and app voting).

A total of 8 acts will battle for the golden ticket to Lisbon in the Grand Final.

During the Grand Final of A Dal scheduled to be held on 24 February, the expert jury will select its 4 favourite songs, out of the 8 competing entries. However, the final decision will be made by the audience, as the winner of the show will be determined via 100% televoting deliberation.

Dates of A Dal 2018

The dates of the heats, semi-finals and Grand Final have  been revealed:

• 20/01 – Heat 1
• 27/01 – Heat 2
• 03/02 – Heat 3
• 10/02 – Semi-Final 1
• 17/02 – Semi-Final 2
• 24/02 – Grand Final

Hungary at Eurovision

Hungary debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 with Frederika Bayer. The country made such an impressive Eurovision debut, as their representative finished 4th, acheiving their best result to date with her entry Kinek mondjam al vetkeimet.

This year, A Dal 2017 was won by the singer Joci Pápai with his entry Origo. His song seems to have made quite an impact on the European viewers and juries, as he managed to finish 8th in the Grand Final with 200 points.

Could Hungary reach the Eurovision top in Lisbon?