Country Iceland Selected song "Je ne sais quoi" | Selected entrant Hera Björk | |
Selection process Söngvakeppni
Sjónvarpsins 2010
100% Televoting Selection date(s) Semi-finals
9 January 2010
16 January 2010
23 January 2010
Final
6 February 2010 Semi-final result Qualified (3rd, 123 points) | ||
Iceland selected its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 through the Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins contest, with the contest held over January and February 2010, organised by Icelandic broadcaster Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV).
Contents
Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2010
Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2010 did contain three semi-finals held in January 2010, each containing 5 songs. 2 songs from every semi-final qualified to the grand final, held on 6 February. The four TV shows were hosted by Eva María Jónsdóttir and Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir.
Rules for the contest were released by RÚV in September 2009. A maximum of three compositions could be submitted by each composer, with all applicants having been Icelandic citizens, or have their official residence in the island, as of 1 October 2009. Submissions were accepted until 5 October 2009 at midnight. A total of 150 compositions were submitted to RÚV, a significant decrease from last year's contest. The fifteen performing songs, their performers and authors were announced by RÚV on 18 December.
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final was held on 9 January 2010. The show featured last year's Icelandic entrant Yohanna, and Ingó, Yohanna's runner-up at Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2009, who performed a number of acoustic duets together.
The two winners of this semi-final were Íris Hólm with the song "The One" and Matthias Matthiasson with "Out of Sight".
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final was held on 16 January 2010. Jógvan Hansen and Hvanndalsbræður qualified to the final by a public televote out of the five competing acts.
Semi-final 3
The third and final semi-final was held on 23 January 2010. Sigurjón Brink and Hera Björk were chosen by a public televote to qualify to the final out of the five competing acts.
Final
The final was held on 6 February, after a recap of the contest was held on 30 January. The six semi-final qualifiers performed again, and the televoters decided the winner. After the top two were revealed it was announced that Hera Björk was the winner of the contest with the song "Je ne sais quoi", beating Jógvan Hansen into second place.
At Eurovision
Iceland competed in the first semi-final of the contest, on 25 May, reaching third place and qualifying to the final, in which they came nineteenth.