Maria Olafsdottir is to represent Iceland in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna after winning the country’s national selection competition, Songvakeppnin.
Following two semi-finals, each featuring six acts, and a tense final, voters plumped for the talented young singer, 21, who is now to perform her song Unbroken at the annual event in May.
This year, in a change from Songvakeppnin editions in the past, there were two rounds of voting in the final. The first round of voting involved a jury and the public, who voted by telephone, to determine the two best songs.
After the voting, Maria and Fridrik Dor, who was signing Once Again, advanced to a one-on-one grand finale with the winner being decided only by the public’s vote. Ultimately, it was the singer from Blonduos who earned the right to represent her country at the prestigious event.
Iceland has entered the Eurovision Song Contest on 27 occasions, only failing to qualify for the 1998 and 2002 editions. Its best ever finishes came in 1999 and 2009 when it came second with Selma’s All Out of Luck and Yohanna’s Is It True? respectively. It remains the only northern European nation not to win the contest.