Eurovision 2017: Joci Pápai is Hungary’s choice

Joci Pápai has won the Hungarian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, A Dal 2017, with the song Origo and will thus represent Hungary in Kyiv. The sixth edition of the competition saw 30 acts battle for a ticket to Ukraine in May. The winning song was decided by a combination of jury and public votes, Eurovision’s offical site said.

He was both the jury’s and the viewers’ favourite.

The winner

Joci Pápai, is 35 years old and comes from Tata in Hungary. His first public grand debut was in 2005 when he took part of the show Megasztár. He was eliminated in the consolation rounds but was determined to continue in music. His first bigger success was with the song Ne nézz így rám in 2006 and after that he had several hits, both solo and with the rapper Majka.

The competition

A Dal 2017 consisted of three heats, two semi-finals and a grand final. Read more about the Hungarian selection in our live story feature. The following acts competed in tonight’s grand final:

Gigi Radics – See It Through
Joci Pápai – Origo
Gina Kanizsa – Fall Like Rain
Soulwave – Kalandor
Zävodi + Olivér Berkes – #háttérzaj
Leander Kills – Élet
Gabi Tóth – Hosszú idők
Kállay Saunders Band – 17

Eight acts performed tonight, including András Kállay-Saunders who competed in A Dal for the fifth time. In 2014 he won with the song Running and ended up on the fifth place in Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen. Last year and this year he competed in the Hungarian selection with his band.

Begi Lotfi (Behnam Lotfi) was competing this year together with Gabi Tóth and Freddie Shuman. But in 2012 he was part of the band Compact Disco that won the first edition of A Dal and went to the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku where they ended in 24th place in the final. 20-year-old singer Gigi Radics has already competed in A Dal three times now. Her first year was in 2013 when she came