Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Eurovision Song Contest 2023
Country	Iceland
National selection
Selection process	Söngvakeppnin 2023
Selection date(s)	Semi-finals: 18 February 2023 25 February 2023 Final: 4 March 2023
Selected entrant	Diljá
Selected song	"Power"
Selected songwriter(s)	Pálmi Ragnar Ásgeirsson Diljá Pétursdóttir
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Failed to qualify (11th)
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2022 • 2023 • 2024►

Prior to the 2023 contest, Iceland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 34 times since its first entry in 1986.

Söngvakeppnin 2023 was the national final organised by RÚV in order to select Iceland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. It consisted of two semi-finals on 18 and 25 February 2023 and a final on 4 March 2023.[10] The shows took place in the RVK Studios in Gufunes,^[11] hosted by Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir, Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson, and Sigurður Þorri Gunnarsson.^[12]

Format

In each semi-final, five of the ten competing acts performed, and the two entries which were determined solely by the viewing public through telephone voting and the newly introduced RÚV Stjörnur app progressed to the final.^[13] As per the rules of the competition, an additional optional qualifier could be selected by the contest organisers from among the non-qualifying acts, which would also progress to the final. This option was subsequently invoked by the organisers, meaning that a total of five acts qualified for the final.

In the final, two rounds of voting determined the winning song: in the first round, the votes of the viewing public through telephone voting and the votes of a ten-member international jury panel determined two entries which would progress to the second round. The public and jury each accounted for 50% of the result in the first round, with the rankings of each jury member being converted to match the total number of televotes cast by the public. In the second round, a further round of televoting will be held, with the winner determined by aggregating the results of the first round to the votes received in the second round.

Competing entries

Between 29 August and 4 October 2022, RÚV opened the period for interested songwriters to submit their entries. Songwriters did not have any particular requirement to meet, and the process was open to all.^[10] The broadcaster received 132 submissions at the closing of the deadline.^[14] The ten competing entries were revealed on 28 January 2023.^[15]

Semi-finals

Two semi-finals took place on 18 and 25 February 2023.

The final took place on 4 March 2023 and featured the four qualifiers and the wildcard from the semi-finals. 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. Langi Seli og Skuggarnir decided to perform their entry in Icelandic while the other four entries decided to perform their entry in English.^[21] In addition to the competing entries, the 2022 Icelandic representatives Systur and 2022 Norwegian representatives Subwoolfer performed as interval acts.^[22] Gaute Ormåsen, a member of Subwoolfer, was also part of the jury panel.

Promotion

To promote the entry, Diljá performed her song live on numerous Eurovision pre-parties, namely, Barcelona Eurovision Party,^[24] Polish Eurovision Party,^[25] and London Eurovision Party.^[26] She also performed in the Eurovision in Concert held in Amsterdam.^[27]

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "

Once all the competing songs for the 2023 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Iceland was set to perform in position 7, following the entry from Cyprus and before the entry from Greece.^[29]

At the end of the show, Iceland was not among the ten countries announced as qualifiers for the final.

The two semi-finals and the final were televised in Iceland on RÚV with commentary by Gísli Marteinn Baldursson, and on RÚV 2 with Icelandic Sign Language interpretation.^[30][31][32] Audience share in Iceland was the highest across all participating countries, with 98.7% of all Icelandic television viewers reported to have watched some of the Eurovision 2023 grand final.^[33][34]

Voting

Points awarded to Iceland

Points awarded to Iceland (Semi-final)[35] Score Televote 12 points  Denmark 10 points 8 points 7 points  San Marino 6 points  Georgia 5 points  Australia 4 points 3 points Rest of the World  Slovenia 2 points  Estonia  Lithuania 1 point  Albania  Austria  Belgium  United Kingdom Points awarded by Iceland Points awarded by Iceland (Semi-final)[35] Score Televote 12 points  Australia 10 points  Poland 8 points  Austria 7 points  Belgium 6 points  Denmark 5 points  Cyprus 4 points  Lithuania 3 points  Estonia 2 points  Albania 1 point  Slovenia Points awarded by Iceland (Final)[36] Score Televote Jury 12 points  Finland  Australia 10 points  Sweden  Finland 8 points  Norway  Austria 7 points  Poland  Sweden 6 points  Belgium  Czech Republic 5 points  Croatia  Belgium 4 points  France  Norway 3 points  Australia  Spain 2 points  Ukraine  Germany 1 point  Italy  Serbia Detailed voting results The following members comprised the Icelandic jury:[37] Arnar Eggert Thoroddsen - Musician, lecturer, programme director Sigurjón Örn Böðvarsson - Singer Heiða Eiríksdóttir - Singer-songwriter Kristjana Stefánsdóttir - Singer, musical director, arranger, composer Lovísa Rut Kristjánsdóttir - Program producer Detailed voting results from Iceland (Semi-final 2)[35] Draw Country Televote Rank Points 01  Denmark 5 6 02  Armenia 12 03  Romania 14 04  Estonia 8 3 05  Belgium 4 7 06  Cyprus 6 5 07  Iceland 08  Greece 13 09  Poland 2 10 10  Slovenia 10 1 11  Georgia 11 12  San Marino 15 13  Austria 3 8 14  Albania 9 2 15  Lithuania 7 4 16  Australia 1 12 Detailed voting results from Iceland (Final) Draw Country Jury Televote Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points Rank Points 01  Austria 9 1 5 9 3 3 8 12 02  Portugal 14 12 20 23 19 21 25 03   Switzerland 13 20 16 19 15 20 17 04  Poland 26 16 23 24 24 25 4 7 05  Serbia 25 2 19 10 16 10 1 21 06  France 21 13 18 13 25 22 7 4 07  Cyprus 5 24 17 20 10 13 15 08  Spain 12 14 14 6 5 8 3 24 09  Sweden 1 11 4 4 17 4 7 2 10 10  Albania 10 5 8 26 13 11 23 11  Italy 7 23 7 14 22 12 10 1 12  Estonia 11 21 12 18 18 19 19 13  Finland 2 9 1 3 6 2 10 1 12 14  Czech Republic 15 4 3 2 11 5 6 14 15  Australia 3 3 2 1 1 1 12 8 3 16  Belgium 6 6 6 5 4 6 5 5 6 17  Armenia 8 18 13 12 20 17 26 18  Moldova 16 10 24 17 8 16 13 19  Ukraine 19 19 9 8 23 15 9 2 20  Norway 4 17 11 7 9 7 4 3 8 21  Germany 17 15 10 22 2 9 2 18 22  Lithuania 20 8 22 15 12 18 16 23  Israel 18 26 15 21 26 24 11 24  Slovenia 23 25 26 11 14 23 22 25  Croatia 24 7 21 16 7 14 6 5 26  United Kingdom 22 22 25 25 21 26 20 References ^ a b "Iceland Country Profile". 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