Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003


Spain was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "Dime" composed by Jesús María Pérez, with lyrics by Amaya Martínez, and performed by Beth. The Spanish participating broadcaster, Televisión Española, selected its entry through the second series of the reality television music competition Operación Triunfo. Three artists and songs ultimately qualified to compete in the Eurovision selection show of the competition where a public televote exclusively selected "Dime" performed by Beth as the winner, receiving 45% of the votes.
As a member of the "Big Four", Spain automatically qualified to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 12, Spain placed eighth out of the 26 participating countries with 81 points.

Background

Prior to the 2003 contest, Televisión Española had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Spain forty-two times since its first entry in. It has won the contest on two occasions: in with the song "La, la, la" performed by Massiel and in with the song "Vivo cantando" performed by Salomé, the latter having won in a four-way tie with, the, and the. It has also finished second four times, with "En un mundo nuevo" by Karina in, "Eres tú" by Mocedades in, "Su canción" by Betty Missiego in, and "Vuelve conmigo" by Anabel Conde in. In, it placed seventh with the song "Europe's Living a Celebration" performed by Rosa.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, TVE organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. In 2002, TVE used the reality television singing competition Operación Triunfo to select both the artist and song that would represent Spain. The procedure was continued in order to select their 2003 entry.

Before Eurovision

''Operación Triunfo 2002''

The Spanish entry for the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest was selected through Operación Triunfo, a Spanish reality television music competition consisting of training seventeen contestants in a boarding academy in order to find new singing talent. The second series, also known as Operación Triunfo 2002, took place from 7 October 2002 to 24 February 2003 at the Mediapark Studios in Sant Just Desvern, hosted by Carlos Lozano. The competition was broadcast on La Primera and TVE Internacional. The top three contestants competed in the Eurovision selection show, Gala Eurovisión, which consisted of two shows on 10 and 17 February 2003. Each contestant performed three candidate songs, selected by an evaluation committee consisting of representatives of TVE, Gestmusic and Vale Music from more than 200 submitted songs, and the winner was decided exclusively through a public televote. The competing songs and the allocations were announced on 3 February 2003.
Contestant qualified to "Gala Eurovisión"
ContestantAgeResidenceEpisode of eliminationPlace finished
Ainhoa22GaldakaoGala Final1st
Manuel21Isla CristinaGala Final2nd
Beth20SúriaGala Final3rd
Nández24CádizGala Final4th
Hugo24SevilleGala Final5th
Joan25BarcelonaGala Final6th
Tony21TenerifeGala 137th
Nika22Torrejón de ArdozGala 128th
Vega23CórdobaGala 119th
Danni20JaénGala 1010th
Elena19BarcelonaGala 911th
Tessa20ValenciaGala 812th
Marey18CádizGala 713th
Cristie24FuengirolaGala 614th
Enrique27NavarraGala 515th
Miguel25IbizaGala 416th
Mai24MadridGala 317th
Saray18AlicanteGala 0Not selected
Marcos26BarcelonaGala 0Not selected
Jano25Palma de MallorcaGala 0Not selected

Song selection

The song selection round of Gala Eurovisión took place on 10 February 2003 and consisted of two rounds of voting. In the first round, an in-studio jury eliminated one song per contestant. The five members of the in-studio jury were Pilar Tabares, Sergio Dalma, José Luis Uribarri, Joaquín Hurtado and Rafael Fernández. In the second round, a public televote eliminated an additional song per contestant. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the guest performer was jury member Sergio Dalma.
DrawArtistSongSongwriterResult
1Beth"La vida sin ti"Jesús María Pérez, Amaya MartínezEliminated
2Manuel"Viviré, moriré"David Jiménez, Pablo Pinilla, David SantistebanAdvanced
3Ainhoa"Mi razón de vivir"Rafael ArteseroAdvanced
4Manuel"Santa Lucía"Jordi CubinoAdvanced
5Ainhoa"Con la fuerza del corazón"Miguel GallardoAdvanced
6Beth"Dime"Jesús María Pérez, Amaya MartínezAdvanced
7Ainhoa"Viva la noche"Jordi CubinoEliminated
8Beth"Cerrando heridas"José AbrahamAdvanced
9Manuel"Sueña con ese momento"Daniel AmbrojoEliminated

Final

The final of Gala Eurovisión took place on 17 February 2003. The winner, "Dime" performed by Beth, was selected exclusively through a public televote which ran between 10 and 17 February 2003. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, guest performers included two of the Operación Triunfo 2002 finalists Hugo and Miguel Nández.
DrawArtistSongTelevotePlace
1Ainhoa"Mi razón de vivir"31%2
2Manuel"Viviré, moriré"24%3
3Beth"Dime"45%1

At Eurovision

As a member of the "Big Four", Spain automatically qualified to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 on 24 May 2003. During the allocation draw on 29 November 2002, Spain was drawn to perform in position 12, following the entry from and before the entry from. At the conclusion of the final, Spain placed eighth in the final, scoring 81 points.
In Spain, the show was broadcast on La Primera with commentary by José Luis Uribarri.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Spain and awarded by Spain in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Belgium in the contest. TVE appointed Anne Igartiburu as its spokesperson to announce the Spanish televote during the final.
ScoreCountry
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

ScoreCountry
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point