Söngvakeppnin; voting and language in the final
In recent years, RÚV, the Icelandic national broadcaster, has made quite a few changes to the voting system, and also to the language rules for Söngvakeppni sjónvarpsins.
This year the the rules are as follows;
In the smifinals all songs have to be performed in Icelandic.
The six direct qualifiers (three from each semi) will be decided by 100% televoting. A jury will choose one of the non-qualifiers which will get a wildcard to the final.
In the final the songs have to be performed in the language in which it will be performed in Vienna, should it win. So if a song is performed in Icelandic in Saturday’s final, it will also be performed in Icelandic on the Eurovision stage in May.
There will be two rounds of voting in the final. First, a 50/50 mix of televoting and jury votes will decide which two songs will go on to the next step; a superfinal/duel. Then the superfinal will be decided by 100% televote.
In the official rules of Söngvakeppnin 2015, rule number 22 clearly states that the names of the five jurors are to be made public one week before the final at the latest. This has not happened yet, and Hera Ólafsdóttir, project manager of Söngvakeppnin, says that the names will be announced later today.
Hera also says that this jury will not be the same as the one who picked the wildcard, or the one that selected which of the submitted songs made it through to the semifinal stage. The names of the wildcard jury will not be revealed.
Which of the seven finalists would you prefer to see as the Icelandic entry to Eoruvision Song Contest in Vienna? Vote in our poll!