Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Söngvakeppnin 2017 was the national final format developed by RÚV in order to select Iceland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The three shows in the competition were hosted by Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir and all took place in Reykjavík: the two semi-finals were held at the Háskólabíó venue and the final took place at the Laugardalshöll.[2] The semi-finals and final were broadcast on RÚV and online at the broadcaster's official website ruv.is.[3]

Twelve songs in total competed in Söngvakeppnin 2016 where the winner was determined after two semi-finals and a final. Six songs competed in each semi-final on 25 February and 4 March 2017. The top three songs from each semi-final, as determined by public televoting qualified to the final which took place on 11 March 2017. The rules also stated that a jury would select a wildcard act for the final out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from both semi-finals. The winning entry in the final was determined over two rounds of voting: the first to select the top two via 50/50 public televoting and jury voting and the second to determine the winner with 100% televoting. All songs were required to be performed in Icelandic during the semi-final portion of the competition. In the final, the song was required to be performed in the language that the artist intended to perform in at the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv.[4] In addition to selecting the Icelandic entry for Eurovision, a monetary prize of 1 million Icelandic króna was awarded to the songwriters responsible for the winning entry.[5]

On 20 September 2016, RÚV opened the submission period for interested songwriters to submit their entries until the deadline on 28 October 2016. Songwriters were required to be Icelandic, possess Icelandic citizenship or have permanent residency in Iceland between 1 September 2016 and 14 May 2017. However, exceptions would be made for minor collaborations with foreign songwriters as long as two-thirds of the composition and half of the lyrics are by Icelandic composers/lyricists. Composers had the right to submit up to two entries, while lyricists could contribute to an unlimited amount of entries. At the close of the submission deadline, over 200 entries were received. A seven-member selection committee was formed under consultation with the Association of Composers (FTT) and the Icelandic Musicians' Union (FÍH) in order to select the top twelve entries. The twelve competing artists and songs were revealed and presented by the broadcaster during the television programme Kynningarþáttur Söngvakeppninnar on 20 January 2017.[4] All of the competing entries that later qualified to the final entered English versions of their songs for the competition.

The first semi-final took place on 25 February 2017 where six competing acts presented their entries. The top three entries voted upon solely by public televoting proceeded to the final. "Til mín" performed by Arnar Jónsson & Rakel Pálsdótir, "Mér við hlið" performed by Rúnar Eff Rúnarsson and "Nótt" performed by Aron Hannes Emilsson were the qualifiers.[6] The jury wildcard was awarded to an entry from the first semi-final: "Bammbaramm" performed by Hildur Kristin Stefánsdóttir.

The show also featured a guest performance by Emmsjé Gauti who performed a remix version of the 1997 Icelandic Eurovision entry "Min hinsti dans".[7]

The second semi-final took place on 4 March 2017 where six competing acts presented their entries. The top three entries voted upon solely by public televoting proceeded to the final. "Hvað með það?" performed by Daði Freyr Pétursson, "Ég veit það" performed by Svala Björgvinsdóttir and "Þú hefur dáleitt mig" performed by Aron Brink were the qualifiers.[6]

The show also featured a guest performance by the group Sycamore Tree (which included 2006 Icelandic Eurovision entrant Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir) who performed the 1976 Eurovision winning entry "Save Your Kisses for Me".[8]

The final took place on 11 March 2017 where the six entries that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals and the jury wildcard competed. In the semi-finals, all competing entries were required to be performed in Icelandic; however, entries competing in the final were required to be presented in the language they would compete with in the Eurovision Song Contest. All seven entries competed in English. In the first round of voting, votes from a jury panel (50%) and public televoting (50%) determined the top two entries: "Paper" performed by Svala Björgvinsdóttir and "Is This Love?" performed by Daði Freyr Pétursson. For the first time, jury voting involved international jurors alongside Icelandic members.[9] The top two entries advanced to a second round of voting, the superfinal, where the winner, "Paper" performed by Svala Björgvinsdóttir, was determined solely by televoting.[10] In addition to the performances of the competing artists, the interval acts featured guest performances by 2009 Eurovision Song Contest winner Alexander Rybak, who won for Norway with the song "Fairytale", and 2015 Eurovision Song Contest winner Måns Zelmerlöw, who won for Sweden with the song "Heroes".[11]

The following members comprised the Icelandic jury:[17]

• Hildur Guðný (jury chairperson) – musician, music teacher
• Helga Möller – singer, represented Iceland in the 1986 contest as part of ICY
• Kristján Viðar Haraldsson (Viddi) – musician
• Pétur Örn – musician
• Stefanía Svavarsdóttir (Stefanía) – musician

Detailed voting results from Iceland (Semi-final 1)[15]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		H. Möller	H. Guðný	Viddi	P. Örn	Stefanía	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Sweden	5	3	4	8	5	3	8	2	10
02	Georgia	3	4	5	10	6	4	7	16
03	Australia	7	5	2	3	2	2	10	5	6
04	Albania	13	8	15	11	16	14		15
05	Belgium	6	9	12	4	12	9	2	4	7
06	Montenegro	16	16	17	17	13	16		9	2
07	Finland	8	11	11	2	11	8	3	8	3
08	Azerbaijan	2	6	10	5	10	5	6	14
09	Portugal	1	1	1	1	1	1	12	1	12
10	Greece	9	13	8	7	8	10	1	11
11	Poland	11	14	9	14	3	12		6	5
12	Moldova	12	10	6	13	9	11		3	8
13	Iceland
14	Czech Republic	4	2	3	12	14	6	5	13
15	Cyprus	10	7	7	6	7	7	4	7	4
16	Armenia	14	15	14	9	4	13		12
17	Slovenia	15	12	13	15	17	15		17
18	Latvia	17	17	16	16	15	17		10	1

Detailed voting results from Iceland (Final)[16]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		H. Möller	H. Guðný	Viddi	P. Örn	Stefanía	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Israel	20	21	10	24	5	18		21
02	Poland	16	16	12	11	15	13		8	3
03	Belarus	17	12	11	19	19	17		15
04	Austria	9	9	19	7	16	11		18
05	Armenia	14	23	20	14	10	19		22
06	Netherlands	8	11	21	17	17	16		17
07	Moldova	19	13	7	12	13	12		5	6
08	Hungary	11	7	5	18	4	7	4	9	2
09	Italy	4	2	8	3	14	6	5	4	7
10	Denmark	3	15	9	16	7	8	3	12
11	Portugal	1	1	1	1	1	1	12	1	12
12	Azerbaijan	12	14	22	15	11	15		20
13	Croatia	26	26	17	26	23	25		19
14	Australia	6	4	2	4	3	2	10	11
15	Greece	18	19	15	13	18	20		24
16	Spain	22	17	25	22	26	23		23
17	Norway	7	18	14	9	12	10	1	10	1
18	United Kingdom	10	5	3	2	6	4	7	16
19	Cyprus	21	8	16	6	20	14		13
20	Romania	15	24	13	25	21	21		6	5
21	Germany	24	20	23	21	24	22		25
22	Ukraine	25	22	26	23	25	26		26
23	Belgium	13	10	18	8	9	9	2	2	10
24	Sweden	5	3	4	10	2	3	8	3	8
25	Bulgaria	2	6	6	5	8	5	6	7	4
26	France	23	25	24	20	22	24		14