Portugal was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2003 The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the 48th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Riga, Latvia, following the country's victory at the with the song " I Wanna" by Marie N. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) ...

with the song "" written by Paulo Martins and performed by

Rita Guerra Rita Maria de Azevedo Mafra Guerra, commonly known as Rita Guerra (born 22 October 1967) is a Portuguese singer-songwriter. She represented Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest, Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 where she sang "D ...

. The Portuguese participating broadcaster, (RTP), organised the national final 2003 in order to select its entry, after having previously selected the performer internally. RTP returned to the Eurovision Song Contest after a one-year absence following their withdrawal in as one of the bottom six countries in the . The winning song of the national final was selected exclusively by public televoting. "" emerged as the winning song with 75% of the votes. The song competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 24 May 2003. Performed during the show in position 7, it placed twenty-second out of the 26 participating songs from different countries, scoring 13 points.

Background

Prior to the 2003 contest, (RTP) had participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

representing Portugal thirty-six times since its first entry in . Its highest placing in the contest was sixth, achieved in with the song "" performed by

Lúcia Moniz Ana Lúcia Pereira Moniz (born 9 September 1976) is a Portuguese singer and actress. Moniz represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 and has released five music albums She has also acted in several television shows, in theat ...

. Its least successful result has been last place, which it has achieved on three occasions, most recently in with the song "" performed by Célia Lawson. The Portuguese entry has also received ''

nul points The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest is determined by a positional voting system. The most recent version of the system was implemented in the . Each participating country awards two sets of 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points, based on th ...

'' on two occasions; in 1964 and 1997. RTP confirmed its participation in the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest on 29 November 2002. The broadcaster has traditionally selected its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest via the music competition , with an exception in when it selected its entry internally. Despite the initial announcement that the selection of the 2003 Portuguese entry would involve the reality singing competition ''

Operação Triunfo ''Operação Triunfo (OT)'' is the Portuguese version of the original Star Academy (in the original Spanish version of the reality show ''Operación Triunfo'' broadcast by RTP). The first two seasons were hosted by Catarina Furtado, and the oth ...

'', the broadcaster internally selected the artist due to scheduling conflicts and organized a national final in order to select the song.

Before Eurovision

Artist selection

On 9 January 2003, RTP announced that it had internally selected

as its representative in Riga. Guerra previously attempted to represent Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest, placing second in with the song "". RTP also announced that her song for the contest would be chosen through a national final.

2003

Composers were able to submit their songs for the competition between 9 January 2003 and 5 February 2003. Three songs were selected from 500 submissions received and revealed on 18 February 2003. The national final consisted of two shows held during the first season of the reality singing competition ''

'', which took place at the Endemol TV Studios in Mem-Martins, hosted by

Catarina Furtado Catarina Cardoso Garcia da Fonseca Furtado (born 25 August 1972) is a Portuguese television presenter, actress and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador. She is a daughter of RTP journalist Joaquim Furtado. Career Throughout her career on television w ...

and broadcast on

RTP1 RTP1 (''RTP um'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mains ...

and

RTP Internacional RTP Internacional (RTPi) is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's international television service, and is known for broadcas ...

. The first show took place on 23 February 2003 where all three competing songs were performed by Rita Guerra. The winning song was selected solely by a public televote that opened following the first show and closed during the second show on 2 March 2003, when "" was announced as the winning song.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 took place at the

Skonto Hall Skonto Hall (also known as Skonto Arena) is an arena in Riga, Latvia. In the lobby of Skonto there are conference halls, a gym, and an arena with an Artificial turf, artificial football field, which also hosts numerous exhibitions and concerts. Th ...

in Riga, Latvia, on 24 May 2003. According to the Eurovision rules, the participant list for the contest was composed of the winning country from the previous year's contest, any countries which had not participated in the previous year's contest, and those which had obtained the highest placing in the previous contest, up to the maximum 26 participants in total. The draw for running order had previously been held on 29 November 2002 in Riga, with the results being revealed during a delayed broadcast of the proceedings later that day. Portugal was set to perform in position 7, following the entry from

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and before the entry from

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. Portugal finished in twenty-second place with 13 points. RTP broadcast the show on

and

with commentary by Margarida Mercês de Melo.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Portugal and awarded by Portugal in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Spain in the contest. RTP appointed Helena Ramos to announce the top 12-point score awarded by the Portuguese televote.

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2003

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...