Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Söngvakeppnin 2018 was the national final format developed by RÚV in order to select Iceland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The three shows in the competition were hosted by Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir, Jón Jónsson and Björg Magnúsdóttir and all took place in Reykjavík: the two semi-finals were held at the Háskólabíó venue and the final took place at the Laugardalshöll. The semi-finals and final were broadcast on RÚV and online at the broadcaster's official website ruv.is.[2]

Twelve songs in total competed in Söngvakeppnin 2018 where the winner was determined after two semi-finals and a final. Six songs competed in each semi-final on 10 and 17 February 2018. The top three songs from each semi-final, as determined by public televoting qualified to the final which took place on 3 March 2018. The rules originally stated that a jury was going to select a wildcard act for the final out of the remaining non-qualifying acts from both semi-finals, however, the broadcaster later decided that a wildcard would be unnecessary. 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 Lisbon.[3] In addition to selecting the Icelandic entry for Eurovision, a monetary prize of 3 million Icelandic króna was awarded to the songwriters responsible for the winning entry.[4]

On 6 September 2017, RÚV opened the submission period for interested songwriters to submit their entries until the deadline on 20 October 2017. Songwriters were required to be Icelandic, possess Icelandic citizenship or have permanent residency in Iceland between 1 September 2017 and 13 May 2018. 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.[5] The twelve competing artists and songs were revealed and presented by the broadcaster during the television programme Kynningarþáttur Söngvakeppninnar on 20 January 2018.[6][7] On 5 February 2018, Guðmundur Þórarinsson and Þórir & Gyða swapped semi-finals because of Þórarinsson's involvement in a cup match for IFK Norrköping.[8] Four 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 10 February 2018 where six competing acts presented their entries. The top three entries voted upon solely by public televoting proceeded to the final. "Heim" performed by Ari Ólafsson, "Kúst og fæjó" performed by Heimilistónar and "Aldrei gefast upp" performed by Fókus were the qualifiers.[9]

The show also featured a guest performance by Sigríður Thorlacius and Valdimar Guðmundsson who performed an Icelandic version of the 2017 Eurovision winning entry "Amar pelos dois".[10]

The second semi-final took place on 17 February 2018 where six competing acts presented their entries. The top three entries voted upon solely by public televoting proceeded to the final. "Golddigger" performed by Aron Hannes, "Í stormi" performed by Dagur Sigurðsson and "Hér með þér" performed by Áttan were the qualifiers.

The show also featured a guest performance by Magni Ásgeirsson and 2006 Icelandic Eurovision entrant Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir who performed an Icelandic version of the 2014 Dutch Eurovision entry "Calm After the Storm".[11]

The final took place on 3 March 2018 where the six entries that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals 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. Two entries remained in Icelandic ( "Í stormi" performed by Dagur Sigurðsson and "Kúst og fæjó" performed by Heimilistónar), while the other four 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: "Our Choice" performed by Ari Ólafsson and "Í stormi" performed by Dagur Sigurðsson. Jury voting involved international jurors alongside Icelandic members. The top two entries advanced to a second round of voting, the superfinal, where the winner, "Our Choice" performed by Ari Ólafsson, was determined solely by televoting.[12] In addition to the performances of the competing artists, the interval acts featured guest performances by 2013 Eurovision Song Contest winner Emmelie de Forest, who won for Denmark with the song "Only Teardrops", and 2017 Swedish Eurovision entrant Robin Bengtsson.[2]

The following members comprised the Icelandic jury:[19][20]

• Védís Hervör Árnadóttir (jury chairperson) – singer, songwriter
• Hlynur Benediktsson – singer, songwriter
• Hannes Friðbjarnarson – musician
• Jón Rafnsson – musician
• Erla Jónatansdóttir – singer, music teacher

Detailed voting results from Iceland (Semi-final 1)[17]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		H. Benediktsson	H. Friðbjarnarson	J. Rafnsson	V. Hervör Árnadóttir	E. Jónatansdóttir	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Azerbaijan	15	14	8	17	14	16		10	1
02	Iceland
03	Albania	2	1	7	4	4	1	12	14
04	Belgium	3	12	5	12	13	9	2	12
05	Czech Republic	7	13	1	6	8	6	5	1	12
06	Lithuania	6	15	11	9	17	13		8	3
07	Israel	5	3	3	5	2	2	10	3	8
08	Belarus	18	18	18	15	16	18		15
09	Estonia	10	5	4	2	6	5	6	5	6
10	Bulgaria	13	6	6	14	10	11		11
11	Macedonia	12	17	17	18	18	17		18
12	Croatia	11	16	16	16	7	15		16
13	Austria	9	4	10	1	3	4	7	4	7
14	Greece	16	10	2	13	11	10	1	13
15	Finland	4	7	9	11	5	7	4	2	10
16	Armenia	14	8	15	10	15	14		17
17	Switzerland	1	11	14	7	12	8	3	9	2
18	Ireland	8	2	13	3	1	3	8	7	4
19	Cyprus	17	9	12	8	9	12		6	5

Detailed voting results from Iceland (Final)[18]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		H. Benediktsson	H. Friðbjarnarson	J. Rafnsson	V. Hervör Árnadóttir	E. Jónatansdóttir	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Ukraine	22	22	23	25	22	25		20
02	Spain	8	11	24	13	9	14		23
03	Slovenia	10	4	21	14	24	13		21
04	Lithuania	16	25	17	15	21	22		11
05	Austria	1	2	9	1	3	1	12	6	5
06	Estonia	9	3	6	2	10	4	7	12
07	Norway	17	20	15	19	17	21		7	4
08	Portugal	23	10	18	7	16	15		26
09	United Kingdom	3	12	20	10	11	11		15
10	Serbia	21	24	10	16	12	17		24
11	Germany	4	14	5	11	1	5	6	3	8
12	Albania	2	1	11	5	2	2	10	25
13	France	18	13	4	6	8	8	3	5	6
14	Czech Republic	12	19	1	17	14	10	1	2	10
15	Denmark	20	15	7	22	19	16		1	12
16	Australia	13	18	19	18	18	20		19
17	Finland	6	8	8	20	13	12		8	3
18	Bulgaria	26	23	22	23	23	26		22
19	Moldova	24	26	16	26	25	23		17
20	Sweden	15	6	2	4	7	6	5	9	2
21	Hungary	14	9	25	21	20	18		16
22	Israel	5	5	3	8	4	3	8	4	7
23	Netherlands	19	21	14	12	15	19		14
24	Ireland	11	17	12	3	5	7	4	13
25	Cyprus	7	7	13	9	6	9	2	10	1
26	Italy	25	16	26	24	26	24		18