Portugal was represented by
Carlos Mendes, with the song "Verão", at the
1968 Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 was the 13th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's first victory at the with the song " Puppet on a String" by Sandie Shaw. Despite hav ...
, which took place on 6 April in
London. "Verão" was chosen as the Portuguese entry at the Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa on 4 March.
Before Eurovision
Festival da Canção 1968
The Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa 1968 was held at the
Lumiar studios of the
Radio and Television of Portugal
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, hosted by Maria Fernanda and
Henrique Mendes. Unlike the previous year, no semi-finals where held, returning to the single-night model. Ten songs took part in the final. During the interpretation of her second theme,
Simone de Oliveira felt sick and was unable to complete it, being removed from the stage to receive medical attention. Joaquim Luís Gomes conducted all the songs. The results were determined by a
distrital jury, composed of three members which each had 5 votes to be distributed among the songs it intended to award, making a total of 15 votes per district.
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Mendes performed 1st in the running order, preceding
Netherlands. At the close of the voting the song had received 5 points, coming 11th in the field of 17 competing countries. The orchestra during the Portuguese entry was conducted by Joaqium Luis Gomes.
The national jury which awarded the points from Portugal comprised Maria Helena Oliveira Simões (housewife),
Madalena Iglésias (singer), Maria João Aguiar (TV and radio presenter), Isabel Maria Spencer Vieira Martins (college student), António Reis (publishing director), José Joaquim Machado Leite (office secretary), António Moniz Pereira (member of the group
Quarteto 1111
Quarteto 1111 was a Portugal, Portuguese progressive rock and psychedelic rock band founded in Estoril in 1967. Originally it was formed by Miguel Artur da Silveira (drums), José Cid (vocals and keyboard), António Moniz Pereira (guitar) and Jorg ...
), Bernardo Manuel Palma Mira Delgado (mechanical engineer), Luís Fernando Cardoso Nandim de Carvalho (university student), and Pedro Manuel Mota Vaz do Castelo (radio presenter).
Voting
References
{{Eurovision Song Contest 1968
1968
The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide.
Events January–February
* January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
* Januar ...
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968
Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...