As we reported earlier this week, there has been a bit of witing in Icelandic media about RÚV not making the names of the Söngvakeppnin jurors public, as the rules for Söngvakeppnin 2015 clearly state will be done. Now the names have been released, and they are quite interesting.

The jury leader is Einar Bárðarson, who , among other things, is a well known singer and songwriter, and also the man behind the girl group Nylon (later The Charlies). The other four people in the jury are Sigríður Thorlacius, Stefán Hilmarsson, Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir and Valdimar Guðmundsson.

Stefán Hilmarsson and Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir don’t need much of an introduction; Stefán has represented Iceland in Eurovision Song Contest twice, in 1988 and 1991. Jóhanna is responsible for one of Iceland’s two second places, with “Is It True?” in 2009.

Sigríður Thorlacius is a singer in the band Hjaltalín, an indie band who have enjoyed great success and accolades in Iceland in recent years. Their album ‘Terminal’ was hailed as Album of the Year at the 2010 Icelandic Music Awards.

Valdimar Guðmundsson is another very well known name in the Icelandic music scene.  His indie pop band ‘Valdimar’ have released 4 albums, giving host to a string of top-ten hits.

The jury will account for 50% of the voting in the first stage of the final, during which two songs will progress to a super-final.  They will however have no say in the final decision between those two songs, as televoting alone will ultimately determine the Icelandic representative for Vienna.

You can still give us your vote for the song you would like to represent Iceland in Vienna: