Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000

Prior to the 2000 contest, Spain had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-nine times since its first entry in 1961.^[1] The nation has won the contest on two occasions: in 1968 with the song "La, la, la" performed by Massiel and in 1969 with the song "Vivo cantando" performed by Salomé, the latter having won in a four-way tie with France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Spain has also finished second four times, with Karina in 1971, Mocedades in 1973, Betty Missiego in 1979 and Anabel Conde in 1995. In 1999, Spain placed twenty-third and last with the song "No quiero escuchar" performed by Lydia.

The Spanish national broadcaster, Televisión Española (TVE), broadcasts the event within Spain and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. In 1999, TVE selected both the artist and song that would compete at the Eurovision Song Contest via an internal selection. For their 2000 entry, the broadcaster announced in October 1999 that for the first time in 24 years it would organise a national final featuring a competition among several artists and songs.^[2]

Eurocanción 2000

Eurocanción 2000 was the national final organised by TVE that took place on 8 February 2000 at the Estudios Buñuel in Madrid, hosted by Carlos Lozano and Paloma Lago.^[3] The show was broadcast on La Primera and TVE Internacional.^[4] Fifteen artists and songs competed with the winner being decided upon through a combination of public televoting and regional juries.^[5]

Competing entries

A submission period was open from October 1999 until January 2000. At the conclusion of the submission period, more than 200 entries were received. A six-member committee, which included the director of Eurocanción Antonio Guerrero and music director of TVE Miguel María Delgado, evaluated the entries received and selected fifteen entries for the national final. The fifteen competing acts were announced during a press conference on 6 February 2000.^[2][6] Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest entrants Serafín Zubiri, who represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992, and Anabel Conde, who represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995.^[7]

Final

The televised final took place on 8 February 2000. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, guest performers included Presuntos Implicados, Los Panchos and Jean-Michel Jarre.^[8] The winner, "Colgado de un sueño" performed by Serafín Zubiri, was selected through the combination of the votes of 17 regional juries (70%) and a public televote (30%).^[5]

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom six countries in the 1999 contest competed in the final on 13 May 2000. As a member of the "Big Four", Spain automatically qualified to compete in the contest.^[9] On 21 November 1999, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Spain was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Iceland and before the entry from Denmark.^[10] Spain finished in eighteenth place with 18 points.^[11]

In Spain, the show was broadcast on La Primera with commentary by José Luis Uribarri.^[12][13][14] The Spanish spokesperson, who announced the results of the Spanish televote during the final, was Hugo de Campos. The broadcast of the contest was watched by 4.056 million viewers in Spain with a market share of 34.8%.^[15]

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Spain and awarded by Spain in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Germany in the contest.

Points awarded by Spain^[16]

Score	Country
12 points	Germany
10 points	Denmark
8 points	Austria
7 points	Latvia
6 points	Sweden
5 points	Russia
4 points	Netherlands
3 points	Ireland
2 points	Croatia
1 point	Malta