VI PANAM Song Contest

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

The **VI** **PANAM Song Contest** wasthe 6th edition of the monthly PANAM Song Contest. It took place in Caracas, Venezuela, following Evaluna Montaner's win at the fifth contest in Montevideo, Uruguay, with the song "*Me Liberé*". This was the third time, and in a row, the contest had taken place in a South American country. The contest was held at the Poliedro de Caracas and consisted of two semi-finals and the final on 28 November 2019.
The winner of the contest was Bermuda with the song "*Heal Me*", performed by Grace Carter and written by herself, Fred Cox and Fabienne Holloway; this was Bermuda's first win after two consecutive non-qualifications since the country debut, and the first non-american singer to win the contest, since Carter was born in the United Kingdom.

Forty-two countries participated in the contest. Honduras returned after its absence from the previous contest, while Andorra debuted as a special guest, joining Portugal, Spain, The Philippines and Equatorial Guinea; other four countries and dependencies also debuted in the contest: Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Saint Martin. Four other countries withdrew: Belize, Dominica, Montserrat and Suriname.

Twenty-six countries competed in the Grand Final, being the first in the history of the contest to have this amount of countries thanks to the inclusion of a Wildcard Round on the Semi.final. Puerto Rico and Portugal managed to qualify for the Final for the first time since the introduction of the Semi-finals in the third edition, plus all of the debuting nations, while Uruguay, Guadeloupe, U.S. Virgin Islands, Caribbean Netherlands, French Guiana and Cuba failed to qualify from the semi-finals for the first time ever. In the final, Haiti finished second, its best result so far; Mexico and Honduras also obtained their best results in the Final on this edition.

Mexico completes the podium obtaining the third place in the Final, their best result, while Andorra and Bolivia obtain the fourth and fifth places respectively, all becoming automatic qualifiers for the next edition in Bermuda. It is important to highlight that the top 5 of this edition was composed by three debuting nations.

 Location

### **Host City**

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

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

**Caracas** (*/kəˈrækəs, -ˈrɑːk-/, Spanish: [kaˈɾakas]*), officially **Santiago de León de Caracas**, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and centre of the Greater Caracas Area. Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range (Cordillera de la Costa). Terrain suitable for building lies between 760 and 1,140 m (2,490 and 3,740 ft) above sea level, although there is some settlement above this range. The valley is close to the Caribbean Sea, separated from the coast by a steep 2,200-metre-high (7,200 ft) mountain range, Cerro El Ávila; to the south there are more hills and mountains. The Metropolitan Region of Caracas has an estimated population of 2.923.201.

Caracas has been considered one of the most important cultural, tourist, industrial and economic centers of Latin America. The Museum of Contemporary Art of Caracas is one of the most important in South America. The Museum of Fine Arts and the National Art Gallery of Caracas are also noteworthy. The National Art Gallery is projected to be the largest museum in Latin America, according to its architect Carlos Gómez De Llarena. Caracas is home to two of the tallest skyscrapers in South America: the Parque Central Towers. It has a nominal GDP of 91,988 million dollars, a nominal GDP per capita of 18,992 and a PPP GDP per capita of 32,710 dollars. Being the seventh city in GDP and the seventh metropolitan area in population of Latin America.

### **Venue**

*For more details on the Venue, see Poliedro de Caracas.*

The **Poliedro de Caracas** (*Caracas Polyhedron Arena*) is an indoor sports arena, located on the grounds adjacent to Hipodromo La Rinconada, in Caracas, Venezuela. It was designed by architect Thomas C. Howard of Synergetics, Inc., in Raleigh, NC, in 1971. However, the geodesic dome was not concluded, until 1974, when US firm Charter Industries, along with Synergetics, Inc. designed and manufactured the geodesic dome in Raleigh, NC.

It is housed beneath a geodesic dome, with a capacity of 20,000 people for concerts and 13,500 people for sporting events. The arena is used for concerts, sporting events such as basketball, volleyball, boxing, ice skating shows, and for circuses, and trade expositions, like auto shows, and expomuebles (furniture).

####  Bidding phase

During the week before the Contest, the Corporación Venezolana de Televisión (CVT), made a list of potential cities and venues in Venezuela to host the Contest. The final list was formed by different stadiums and fair centres of four cities of the country.

On 11 October 2019, CVT announced the capital city, Caracas, as the host, with the Poliedro de Caracas as the selected venue for the contest.

 **Maracaibo** | Palacio de Eventos de Venezuela | 7,000
 **Valencia** | Forum de Valencia | 10,000

 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**

* Canada: HANA, writer of the first entry of Canada in the contest, and winner entry of that edition, «*We Appreciate Power*» by Grimes, returns now as the main singer with the song «*Clay*».
* Cayman Islands: Ella Eyre, who represented Suriname at the previous contest with the song «*Comeback*», returns to the contest with the song «*Came Here For Love*», featuring the singer Sigala.
* Ecuador: Dayanara, who represented the country at the previous contest with the song «*Me lo Creí*», returns to the contest with the song «*El Innombrable*», also maintaining the same writer of the song.
* Mexico: Natalia Jiménez, who represented Mexico at the previous contest with the song «*El Destino*», featuring Carlos Rivera, returns to the contest with the song «*Nunca es Tarde*», now featuring Jesús Navarro.

## 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

* Suriname: During the 5th edition of the contest, the Surinamese broadcaster Surinaamse Televisie Stichting (STVS) announced that they would not return to the contest on its 6th edition due to internal problems in the delegation. Also announced that there would be possibilities for the country to return to the contest in the future.
* Montserrat: Montserrat's public broadcaster People's Television (PTV) did announced their intentions to participate in the contest, but announced that because of lack of time, they would withdraw from this edition of the contest.
* Belize
* 'Dominica

 The Contest

### **Semi-finals**

#### Allocation draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on 20 October 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 Venezuela and the previous edition top 5 countries Peru, Chile, United States and Trinidad and Tobago) would broadcast and vote in.

It is the first time that a Wildcard round is celebrated in the history of the contest, this between the eleventh places of each of the Semi-finals. This idea was provided by the ASBU to achieve that, in the Grand Final, a total of 26 entities compete, as in the Eurovision Song Contest, and not 25 as it had been until now.

•  Cayman Islands
•  Falkland Islands
•  Greenland
•  U.S. Virgin Islands
•  The Philippines
•  Canada
•  Costa Rica
•  Curaçao
•  Equatorial Guinea
•  Turks and Caicos
•  Honduras
• Dominican Republic
• El Salvador
• Puerto Rico
• Saint Martin
• Spain
•  Brazil
•  French Guiana
•  Guadeloupe
•  Martinique
•  Portugal
• Aruba
• Ecuador
•  Mexico
•  Paraguay
•  Uruguay
•  Bolivia
•  British Virgin Islands
• Caribbean Netherlands
•  Cuba
•  Haiti

#### Semi-final 1

In the first semi-final, nineteen countries participated. The highlighted countries qualified for the final. Haiti won the first semi-final, followed by Bermuda and Honduras. The Automatic Qualifiers of Venezuela and Chile voted on this Semi-Final.

The country of Uruguay competed in the Wildcard Round since it got the eleventh place on its Semi-final. The country competed against Portugal, but loses the round.

#### Semi-final 2

In the second semi-final, seventeen countries participated; the highlighted countries qualified for the final. Andorra won this semi-final, followed by Bermuda and Argentina. The Automatic Qualifiers of Peru, the United States, and Trinidad and Tobago voted on this Semi-Final.

The country of Portugal competed in the Wildcard Round since it got the eleventh place on its Semi-final. The country competed against Uruguay, obtaining the victory and qualifying to the Grand Final.

### **Final**

The final took place on November 28th, 2019, following the both semi-finals where a total of 21 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:

 Spokespersons

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

* Turks and Caicos - Correy Forbes
* Equatorial Guinea - Paloma del Sol (Equatoguienan representative in several editions)
* Puerto Rico - Joan Smalls
* Spain - Mala Rodríguez (Spanish representative in fourth edition)
* Costa Rica - Maul
* Greenland - Heidi Albertsen
* Aruba - Jeon (Aruban representative in fourth edition)
* Argentina - Lali Espósito
* United States - Plastique Tiara (American representative in second edition)
* Andorra - Famous Oberogo
* Atlantic France - Julien Kang
* Caribbean Netherlands - Shirma Rouse
* Cayman Islands - Selita Ebanks
* Paraguay - Dalí (Paraguayan representatives in fourth edition)
* Colombia - Juanes
* Bermuda - Heather Nova
* Curaçao - Izaline Calister (Curacaoan representative in second edition)
* Bolivia - Leonel Fransezze
* Haiti - Garcelle Beauvais
* Portugal - Filomena Cautela
* The Philippines - Karencitta (Philippine representative in 5th edition)
* Saint Martin - Rhoda Arrindell
* U.S. Virgin Islands - Katelyn Tarver (U.S.V.I. representative in 5th edition)
* Anguilla - Omari Banks
* Trinidad and Tobago - Nicki Minaj
* Peru - Alonso Briceño (Peruvian representative in 4th edition)
* Martinique - Sigrid Agren
* Guadeloupe - Kery James
* French Guiana - Alicia Aylies
* Canada - Alex Trebek
* Brazil - Luciano Huck
* Cuba - Lili Estefan
* Dominican Republic - Nashla Bogaert
* El Salvador - Francisco Cáceres
* Honduras - Satcha Pretto
* Chile - Martín Carcamo
* Falkland Islands - Gemma Collins
* Ecuador - Efraín Ruales
* British Virgin Islands - Melanie Amaro
* Venezuela - Kerly Ruíz

## Gallery

Official artworkImageParticipating countries and Semi-finalsGrand Final running orderSemi-final 1 qualifiersSemi-final 2 qualifiers