Portugal was represented at the
Eurovision Song Contest 1968
The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 was the 13th edition of the 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 having won ...
with the song "", composed by Pedro Vaz Osório, with lyrics by José Alberto Diogo, and performed by
Carlos Mendes. The Portuguese participating broadcaster, (RTP), selected its entry at the 1968.
Before Eurovision
1968
(RTP) held the 1968 at its
Lumiar
Lumiar () is a (civil parish) and typical Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter of Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal. Located in northern Lisbon, Lumiar is east of Carnide, north of Alvalade, west of Olivais, Lisbon, Olivais, and south of Santa ...
studios in
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
on 4 March 1968, hosted by Maria Fernanda and
Henrique Mendes
Henrique Mendes (January 2, 1931 – July 8, 2004) was a Portuguese television presenter and actor, best known for hosting several editions of Festival da Canção.
Mendes joint Rádio Renascença in 1950 as a radio announcer and in 1958 he joint ...
. 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
Simone de Macedo e Oliveira (born 11 February 1938), better known as Simone de Oliveira, is a Portuguese singer and actress. She represented Portugal at the and of the Eurovision Song Contest, with the songs "" and "" respectively.
Early ...
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
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. 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
Madalena Iglésias (24 October 1939 – 16 January 2018) was a Portuguese actress and singer. She represented Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966, Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 1966, with the song "Ele e ela".
Biography
Mada ...
(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), 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
Events January–February
* January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously.
* January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968
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 ...