III PANAM Song Contest

Semi-finals
 Final
 Venue
 Executive supervisor
 Executive producer
 Host broadcaster
 Number of entries
 Debuting countries
 Withdrawing countries
 Voting system
 Null points
 Winning song

The **III** **PANAM Song Contest** isthe 3rd edition of the monthly PANAM Song Contest. It took place in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands, following Lauren Daigle's win at the second contest in Vancouver, Canada, with the song "*You Say*". This was the first time the contest had taken place in a caribbean island and a dependency. The contest was held at the Reichold Center for the Arts and consisted of two semi-finals and the final on 6 July 2019.

The winner of the contest was Chile with the song "*Abrázame* ", performed by Camila Gallardo and written by Mario Dominguez; this was Chile's first win after its debut in the previous edition, and the first song in spanish and from a Latin American country to win.

Twenty-six countries participated in the contest. A total of six nations and dependencies of the continent debuted on this edition, including Anguilla, Colombia, El Salvador, Martinique, Turks and Caicos and Venezuela, and for the first time since, no country withdrew from the contest.

To accommodate the increasing number of countries who wished to participate, for the first time two semi-finals were introduced. Twenty-one countries competed in the Grand Final; only one out of the six debuting nations did not qualify from the Semi-Final. In the Final, Bermuda finished second, its best result at the time since its debut; Peru and French Guiana also obtained their best results in the Final on this edition.

Colombia completes the podium obtaining the third place in the Final, their best result, while Canada and Costa Rica obtained the fourth and fifth places respectively. The host country, the U.S. Virgin Islands, obtained the 6th place on the Grand Final.

 Location

### **Host City**

*For more details on the host country, see Charlotte Amalie.*

[[file:Template:Location map Canada|200px|III PANAM Song Contest is located in Template:Location map Canada]]

**Charlotte Amalie**, located on the island of St. Thomas, is the capital and the largest city of the United States Virgin Islands, founded in 1666. It has a deep-water harbor that was once a haven for pirates and is now one of the busiest ports of call for cruise ships in the Caribbean, with about 1.5 million cruise ship passengers landing there in 2004. In 2010 the city had a population of 18,481, which makes it the largest city in the Virgin Islands Archipelago. The city is known for its Danish colonial architecture, building structure and history, and a dozen streets and places throughout the city have Danish names. Charlotte Amalie has buildings of historical importance including St. Thomas Synagogue, the second-oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere.

### **Venue**

*For more details on the Venue, see Reichhold Centre for the Arts.*

The **Reichhold Center for the Arts** is nestled within the lap of a natural valley whose mouth opens to the crystal blue waters of Brewer's Bay on the island of St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. This unique amphitheater of wood, limestone, copper, steel and concrete plays host to a wide range of concerts and performances, from Ray Charles to the Moscow Ballet, catering the mission of enriching the cultural and social life of the people of the Virgin

####  Bidding phase

On 2 June 2019, the United States Virgin Islands Television (WSVI) announced Charlotte Amalie as the host city, with the country's university, the Reichhold Centre for the Arts as the selected venue for the contest.

## Participants

The complete list of participating countries was revealed by the PSC on June 15th 2019, with 27 participating countries and 6 debuting countries. Later Puerto Rico would be disqualified due to the breach of rules by its country delegation.

*\*The country of Puerto Rico was disqualified from the contest due to the breach of rules by its Country Delegation.*

####  **Returning artists**

* Equatorial Guinea: Paloma del Sol, who represented Equatorial Guinea at the two previous contest with the songs '*Atrévete a Ser Feliz*' and '*Jailalai*', returns again to the contest now with a song called '*Ëtulam*'.
* United States: Lizzo, second place of the I edition of the contest, returns to this edition now with the song 'Cuz I Love You', after winning the country's National Final.
* Uruguay: The group Cuarteto de Nos returns to the contest after participating in the previous edition with the song '*Gaucho Power*', and now with a new song called '*Roberto*'.

## Semi-finals

#### **Allocation draw**

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on 16 June 2019. The twenty-six semi-finalists had been allocated into six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official jury and televoting partner. Thirteen countries were supposed to participate in both semi-finals, but the second semi-final was reduced to twelve on 17 June due to the forced withdrawal of Puerto Rico.

Drawing from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in the semi-finals. The only automatic qualifier is the U.S. Virgin Islands.

* Canada
* Cayman Islands
* Costa Rica
* United States
* Falkland Islands
* Mexico
* Peru
* Uruguay
* Chile
* French Guiana
* Portugal
* British Virgin Islands
* Curacao
* Equatorial Guinea
* El Salvador
* Spain
* Venezuela
* Martinique
* ~~Puerto Rico~~
* Turks & Caicos

### **Semi-final 1**

In the first semi-final, thirteen countries participated. The highlighted countries qualified for the final. Colombia won the first semi-final, followed by Chile and the Falkland Islands.

#### **Semi-final 2**

In the second semi-final, thirteen countries also participated. The highlighted countries qualified for the final. Puerto Rico was originally planned to participate on this semi-final, but were disqualified due to the breach of several rules by its country delegation.

Martinique won this semi-final, followed by Bermuda and Spain.

The U.S. Virgin Islands, the host country, was able to vote in both semi-finals.

## Final

The final took place on July 6th, 2019, following the both semi-finals where a total of 20 countries qualified, plus the U.S. Virgin Islands which automatic qualified. Camila Gallardo obtained the victory with a total of 279 points. Bermuda won the jury vote with 132 points, while Chile won the televote with 147 points.

####  12 points

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

## Spokespersons

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

* Turks and Caicos - Correy Forbes
* Argentina - Lali Espósito
* Cayman Islands - Maeve (Caymanian representative in II edition)
* Brazil - IZA
* Spain - Aitana
* Curaçao - Izaline Calister (Curacaoan representative in II edition)
* Belize - Jenelli Fraser
* Anguilla - Omari Banks
* Uruguay - Claudia Fernández
* Bermuda - Malinda Kathleen-Reese
* Mexico - Luis Miguel (Mexican representative in II edition)
* Venezuela - Maite Delgado
* British Virgin Islands - Melanie Amaro
* Portugal - Filomena Cautela
* El Salvador - Francisco Cáceres
* Colombia - Shakira Mebarak
* Chile - Martín Cárcamo
* United States - Normani
* Costa Rica - Maul (Producer of Costa Rican entries of the II and III edition)
* French Guiana - Alicia Aylies
* Falkland Islands - Gemma Collins
* Martinique - Sigrid Agren
* Peru - Leo Rojas (Peruvian representative in I edition)
* U.S. Virgin Islands - R. City