Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Hungary was represented by Csézy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Candlelight".
Before Eurovision
Eurovíziós Dalverseny 2008: Magyarországi döntő
Eurovíziós Dalverseny 2008: Magyarországi döntő was the Hungarian national selection that selected Hungary's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.Competing entries
opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries. Every artist had to send both the Hungarian and English version of the song, so all of the songs in NF were in Hungarian, but the winner was sung in English in Serbia. From all 30 songs submitted to MTV, 15 songs were selected by a jury panel for the competition. The selection jury consisted of Miklós Malek, László Benko, Eszter Horgas and Balázs Lévai.| Artist | Song ' | Songwriter |
| Adrien Szekeres | "Piszkos tánc" ' | Adrien Szekeres, Gábor Kiss |
| Candies | "Van aki nyer" ' | Szabó Zé, Ákos Várszegi |
| Csaba Gál | "Úgy figyeltelek" ' | Csaba Walkó, Csaba Gál, István Balahoczky |
| Csézy | "Szívverés" ' | Imre Mózsik, Jánosi, Viktor Rakonczai |
| DURE | "Nem ismerlek már" ' | DURE |
| Ez ONE | "Lesz, ki téged hazavár" ' | Attila Fehér, Ákos Várszegi |
| Fiesta | "Gyűlölve szeretni" ' | Tamás Knapik |
| Lola | "Legszebb nap" ' | Eszter Major, Viktor Rakonczai |
| Monika Hoffman | "Légy te az első" ' | Ágnes Szabó, Zoltán Dandó |
| Orsolya Pflum | "Távol" ' | János Bende, Tamás Kelemen |
| Orsolya Szatmári | "Véletlen" ' | László Sárkány, Richárd Révész |
| Zsuzsa Antal & Fishers Company | "Falak között" ' | Charles Fisher, Zsuszsanna Antal |
| Zsuzsa Imre | "Érintés" ' | Gábor Mészáros, Sándor K. Varga |
| Zsuzsi Vágó & Árpád Zsolt Mészáros | "Két szív" ' | Tibor Kocsák, Szillárd Somogyi, Tibor Miklós |
| 21 GRAMM | "Még egy dal" ' | László Müller, 21 GRAMM |
Final
The final was held on 8 February 2008 at the Fortuna Stúdió in Pólus Center in Budapest, hosted by Éva Novodomszky and Levente Harsányi. The winner was chosen by an "expert" jury and televoting. The jury gave 1 to 10 points to the songs, and the televoting also made a rank for the songs, with the first song on each list receiving 15 points. As there was a tie at the end of the voting, the televoting took precedence and led to the victory of Csézy. Three days later the new English version "Candlelight" was published.At Eurovision
In previous years, if a country placed in the top 10 countries in the final they automatically qualified to the final of the next contest. Had this rule remained for the 2008 contest, Hungary would have directly qualified for the final. However, a change in rules due to the large intake of countries participating in the contest meant that only five countries, the host country and the Big 4 countries, would automatically qualify to the final. As such, Hungary were forced to compete in one of the two semi-finals of the 2008 contest in Serbia.She competed in the second semi-final on May 22, performing fifteenth. She placed nineteenth and last with six points, getting four points from Serbia, one from Georgia and one from Denmark.
Commentators and spokespersons
- Commentators - Gábor Gundel Takács
- Spokespersons - Éva Novodomszky
Points Awarded by Hungary[Eurovision [Song Contest 2008]]
Semi-final 2
Final
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |