V PANAM Song Contest

Semi-finals
 Final
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Executive supervisor
 Executive producer
 Host broadcaster
 Number of entries
 Debuting countries
 Voting system
 Null points
 Winning song
 Image

The **V** **PANAM Song Contest** wasthe 5th edition of the monthly PANAM Song Contest. It took place in Montevideo, Uruguay, following Micky Cohen's win at the fourth contest in Viña del Mar, Chile with the song "*Warship*". This was the second time the contest had taken place in a South American country. The contest was held at the Antel Arena and consisted of two semi-finals and the final on 6 October 2019.

The winner of the contest was Venezuela with the song "*Me Liberé* ", written by and performed by Evaluna Montaner; this was Venezuela's first win after two consecutive non-qualifications since the country debut, and the second song in spanish to win. Montaner is also the youngest person to obtain the victory, with 22 years old at the date of the contest.

Forty countries participated in the contest. Belize, the British Virgin Islands, and Portugal returned after absences from recent contests, while The Philippines debuted as a special guest, joining Portugal, Spain and Equatorial Guinea; other six countries and dependencies also debuted in the contest: Atlantic France, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Montserrat and Trinidad and Tobago. Honduras withdrew, largely due to their national broadcaster's insufficient resources to send a song and an artist to the contest.

Twenty-five countries competed in the Grand Final, which was the first to be broadcast on live television in the Asian continent, thanks to The Philippines. Venezuela and Belize managed to qualify for the final for the first time since the introduction of the Semi-Finals in the third edition, plus three out of the seven debuting nations, while Colombia, Costa Rica and El Salvador failed to qualify from the semi-finals for the first time ever. In the final, Peru finished second, its best result at the time since its debut; Turks and Caicos and Suriname also obtained their best results in the Final on this edition.

Chile completes the podium obtaining the third place in the Final, their second best result, while the United States and Trinidad and Tobago obtain the fourth and fifth places respectively, all becoming automatic qualifiers for the next edition in Caracas, Venezuela.

 Location

### **Host City**

*For more details on the host city, see Montevideo.*

[[file:Template:Location map Uruguay|175px|V PANAM Song Contest is located in Template:Location map Uruguay]]

**Montevideo** (*Spanish pronunciation:**[monteβiˈðeo]*) is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of 201 square kilometres (78 sq mi). The southernmost capital city in the Americas, Montevideo is situated on the southern coast of the country, on the northeastern bank of the Río de la Plata. Described as a "vibrant, eclectic place with a rich cultural life", and "a thriving tech center and entrepreneurial culture", Montevideo is the seat of the administrative headquarters of Mercosur and ALADI, Latin America’s leading trade blocs, a position that entailed comparisons to the role of Brussels in Europe

The 2017 Mercer's report on quality of life, rated Montevideo first in Latin America, a rank the city has consistently held since 2005. As of 2010, Montevideo was the 19th largest city economy in the continent and 9th highest income earner among major cities. In 2019, it has a projected GDP of $47.7 billion, with a per capita of $27,542. Montevideo hosted every match during the first FIFA World Cup, in 1930.

### **Venue**

*For more details on the Venue, see Antel Arena.*

The **Antel Arena** is a multipurpose indoor arena that is located in the neighborhood of Villa Española, Montevideo, Uruguay. The arena has a capacity of 15,000 people for concerts, and 10,000 people for basketball games. The arena is owned by ANTEL, after they reached an agreement with the city of Montevideo, which granted them the rights to the arena for 30 years.

####  Bidding phase

During the week before the Contest, the Televisión Nacional de Uruguay, made a list of potential cities and venues in Uruguay to host the Contest. The final list was formed by different stadiums and fair centres of three cities of the country.

On 23 August 2019, TNU announced the capital city, Montevideo, as the host, with the Antel Arena as the selected venue for the contest.

 Estadio Campeón del Siglo | 40,000
 **Punta del Este** | Centro de Convenciones de Punta del Este | 6,000

## Participants

The following countries have expressed their provisional interest in participating in the contest or confirmed that their expected national selection process would take place:

####  **Returning artists**

* Falkland Islands: Marina Diamandis returns to the contest with the song «Hollywood», after her participation in the third contest with the song «Teen Idle».
* Suriname: Rochelle, who represented Suriname at the previous contest with the song «Shotgun», featuring Yellow Claw, returns to the contest with the song «All Night Long».

 The Contest

### **Semi-finals**

#### Allocation draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on 31 August 2019. The thirty-five semi-finalists had been allocated into six pots, based on historical voting patterns. 35 countries participated in both of each semi-finals.

Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined the semi-final that each of the five automatic finalist countries (host country Uruguay and the previous edition top 5 countries Brazil, Cayman Islands, Canada, and the United States) would broadcast and vote in.

•  Belize
•  Costa Rica
•  Equatorial Guinea
•  Greenland
•  Turks and Caicos
•  U.S. Virgin Islands
• Atlantic France
•  British Virgin Islands
•  French Guiana
•  Guadeloupe
•  Martinique
•  Portugal
•  Chile
• Ecuador
•  Mexico
•  Paraguay
•  Peru
•  Venezuela
• ' ***'***Dominica
•  Falkland Islands
•  Montserrat
•  Suriname
•  The Philippines
•  Trinidad & Tobago
Anguilla
**•** Caribbean Netherlands
**•**  Curaçao
**•** Colombia
**•** El Salvador
**•** Puerto Rico
**•** Spain

#### Semi-final 1

In the first semi-final, eighteen countries participated. The highlighted countries qualified for the final. Venezuela won the first semi-final, followed by Chile and Cuba. The Automatic Qualifiers of Brazil and the United States voted on this Semi-Final.

#### Semi-final 2

In the second semi-final, seventeen countries participated; the highlighted countries qualified for the final. Bermuda won this semi-final, followed by Peru and Paraguay. The Automatic Qualifiers of Canada, the Cayman Islands, and the host Uruguay voted on this Semi-Final.

### **Final**

The final took place on Octoberr 6th, 2019, following the both semi-finals where a total of 20 countries qualified, plus the automatic qualifiers.

### **Breakdown**

####  12 points

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points awarded by each country's professional jury in the final:

## Other countries

*Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Americas Song Contest*

Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Americas Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active ASBU membership that will be able to broadcast the contest. The ASBU issued an invitation of participation in the contest to all fifty-one active members.

### Active ASBU members

* Honduras: The Honduran national broadcaster Televisión y Radio Nacional de Honduras (TNH) announced that Honduras would not participate once more in the contest as a result of financial problems and debts.
* Jamaica: After showing interest on debuting during mid August, the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBC), later confirmed that Jamaica would not participate in the contest without giving any further reasons.

## Spokespersons

The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order:

* Turks and Caicos - Emma Blackery (Turks & Caicos Islander representative in 4th edition)
* Puerto Rico - Joan Smalls
* Costa Rica - Édgar Silva
* Colombia - Juanes
* Paraguay - Jaime Zacher
* U.S. Virgin Islands - Pressure
* Spain - Nieves Álvarez
* United States - Halsey
* Caribbean Netherlands - Anouk
* Equatorial Guinea - Paloma del Sol (Equatoguienan representative in several editions)
* The Philippines - Sarah Geronimo
* Venezuela - Kerly Ruíz
* Bermuda - Heather Nova
* Brazil - Luciano Huck
* Peru - Alonso Briceño (Member of We The Lion, peruvian representative in 3rd & 4th editions)
* Curaçao - Izaline Calister (Curacoan representative in 2nd edition)
* Cayman Islands - Fleur East (Cayman Islander representative in 4th edition)
* Anguilla - Omari Banks
* French Guiana - Christiane Taubira
* Martinique - Wendy Renard
* Greenland - Heidi Albertsen
* Portugal - Filomena Cautela
* Aruba - Davina Michelle
* El Salvador - Francisco Cáceres
* Canada - Alex Trebek
* Mexico - Marco Antonio Regil
* Trinidad and Tobago - Heather Headley
* Argentina - Santiago del Moro
* Cuba - Camila Cabello
* Montserrat - Maizie Williams
* Falkland Islands - Frank Turner (Falkland Islander representative in 2nd edition)
* Guadeloupe - Kery James
* Ecuador - Efraín Ruales
* Dominica - Trisha Goddard
* Belize - Joyjah
* British Virgin Islands - Iyaz (B.V. Islander representative in 2nd edition)
* Suriname - Gail Eijk
* Uruguay - El Cuarteto de Nos (Uuguayan representatives in 2nd edition)