Hungary was represented by boyband V.I.P., with the song "Miért kell, hogy elmenj?", at the Eurovision Song Contest 1997, which took place on 3 May in

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. "Miért kell, hogy elmenj?" was chosen as the Hungarian entry at the national final on 28 February.

Before Eurovision

National final

The national final was organised by broadcaster

Magyar Televízió Magyar Televízió (''Hungarian Television'') or MTV is a nationwide public television broadcasting organization in Hungary. Headquartered in Budapest, it is the oldest television broadcaster in Hungary and today airs five channels: M1 HD, M ...

(MTV) and was held at their studios in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, hosted by

István Vágó István Vágó (14 February 1949 in Budapest, Hungary) is a Hungarian television host and political activist, best known as the host of "Legyen ön is Milliomos!" the Hungarian version of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. Life Vágó was born ...

. 19 songs took part with the winner being chosen by voting from five regional juries, who each awarded 10-7-5-3-1 to their top five songs.

At Eurovision

Heading into the final of the contest, RTÉ reported that bookmakers ranked the entry 8th out of the 25 entries. On the night of the final V.I.P. performed 19th in the running order, following

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and preceding

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. At the close of voting "Miért kell, hogy elmenj?" had picked up 39 points, placing Hungary joint 12th (with

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

) of the 25 entries. The Hungarian jury awarded its 12 points to contest winners the United Kingdom.ESC History - Hungary 1997
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Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1997

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 Eurovision