Awitan

**Awitan**(*Song Competition* in Filipino) is the official national final selection of the Philippines, which determines the country's representative for the PANAM Song Contest, and the PANFA Second Chance Contest. It was also the national final selection of the defunct Eurovision Asia-Pacific Song Contest .

It was the first, and was the only intercontinental national final ever hosted, choosing the representatives of two different contests.

## Editions

### **Awitan 01 Caracas**

After using an internal selection to pick **«*Cebuana*»** by **Karencitta** as their debut entry in Montevideo, and failing to qualify by placing 15th in the 2nd semi final of the V PANAM Song Contest, The Philippines set out to create a national final to pick their next representative, and to solidify their place in the PANAM Song Contest. This led to the creation of Awitan, which eventually became one of the most known national finals for the PANAM Song Contest.

A total of six acts competed in the debut edition of Awitan, choosing the Philippine representative to the VI PANAM Song Contest, which was held in Caracas, Venezuela.

In this edition, 1/2 of the points came from National Vote, which consisted of the votes from three Philippine delegation members, while the other 1/2 of the points came from the International Vote, which consisted of the votes from ten international delegations. They were asked to give out their 10, 7, 5, 3, and 1 points to five out of the six entries.

The entry that received the highest number of points wins Awitan, and gets to represent the Philippines in the PANAM Song Contest.

The winner of Awitan 01 Caracas was **SB19** and their song **«*Go Up*»**. The boyband represented the Philippines in Caracas, Venezuela for the VI PANAM Song Contest, and ended up 13th in the 2nd semi final, failing to qualify for the 2nd time.

The runner up of Awitan 01 Caracas was **KZ Tandingan** and **Shanti Dope** with their song **«*Imposible*»**. While there were no prizes for coming in second that time, they were eventually internally selected by the Philippine delegation to represent the Philippines in the debut edition of the Eurovision Asia-Pacific Song Contest in Perth, Australia. They ended up 13th in the semi final as well, failing to qualify for the Grand Final.

#### Awitan 01 Results

**Table key**

     Winner
     Second place
     Third place
     Last place

### **Awitan 02 Hamilton & Vladivostok**

After failing to qualify to the Grand Final with **«*Go Up*»** and **«*Imposible*»** in VI PANAM Song Contest and I Eurovision Asia-Pacific Song Contest, respectively, The Philippines decided to continue on with the national final with a few tweaks.

For the second edition, a total of ten acts competed in Awitan, four more acts from the last edition, choosing the Philippine representative to the VII PANAM Song Contest, which was held in Hamilton, Bermuda, as well choosing the Philippine representative to the II Eurovision Asia-Pacific Song Contest, which was held in Vladivostok, Russia, making this the first time the national final was used for choosing the representatives for two contests.

In this edition, 1/3 of the points came from National Vote, which consisted of the votes from three Philippine delegation members, while another 1/3 of the points came from the International Vote, which consisted of the votes from eight international delegations from both the Americas and the Asia-Pacifics. They were asked to give out their 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points to eight out of the ten entries. The last 1/3 of the points came from the Song Ranking, where everyone who voted was asked from a scale of 1-10 if they would vote for the said entry in the contest if it was chosen as the Philippine entry to the PANAM Song Contest.

The entry that received the highest number of points wins Awitan, and gets the ticket to represent the Philippines in the PANAM Song Contest. The entry that received the second highest number of points gets the ticket to represent the Philippines in the Eurovision Asia-Pacific Song Contest.

The winner of Awitan 02 Hamilton & Vladivostok was **Gibbs** and their song **«*No Hearts*»**. The sister duo represented the Philippines in Hamilton, Bermuda for the VII PANAM Song Contest, and got 11th in the 1st semi-final, clinching the wildcard spot, and ended up 19th in the final, giving the Philippines their first qualification, and their best result ever in the contest to date.

The runner up of Awitan 02 Hamilton & Vladivostok was **Inigo Pascual** with his song **«*Options*»**. He represent the Philippines in the Vladivostok, Russia for the II Eurovision Asia-Pacific Song Contest. He eventually qualified to the Grand Final, also giving the Philippines their best result ever in the contest.

#### Awitan 02 Results

**Table key**

     Winner
     Second place
     Third place
     Last place