A Dal

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A Dal is Hungary’s annual music contest, run by the national broadcaster Duna. It started in 2012 and was Hungary’s way to choose its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest from 2012 to 2019. Even though Hungary stopped taking part in Eurovision in 2020, A Dal continues as its own music competition.

How it works
- A Dal is open and shares information about the songs during the selection process.
- The show includes three heats (four in 2021), two semi-finals, and a final.
- In each heat there are ten songs; six move on to the semi-finals (three chosen by both the jury and the public, plus one chosen by the public alone).
- Each semi-final has nine songs; four advance to the final (three by jury and public, one by the public alone).
- The final has two voting rounds: the first round, using the jury, picks the top four from the eight finalists; the second round, using the public, chooses the winner from those four.

Eurovision connection
- The first winner of A Dal was Compact Disco with “Sound of Our Hearts.” They reached the Eurovision final in 2012 and finished 24th.
- The most successful A Dal winner at Eurovision is András Kállay-Saunders with “Running” in 2014, who finished 5th in the final— Hungary’s best result since 1994.

Note
- While Hungary withdrew from Eurovision in 2020, A Dal continues as a standalone music competition.