Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011

Festival da Canção 2011 was the 47th edition of Festival da Canção, the music competition that selects Portugal's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The format of the competition consisted of the final on 5 March 2011, which took place at the Teatro Camões in Lisbon. The competition featured twelve competing songs selected from an online vote between 20 and 27 January 2011. Results were determined by the votes from regional jury panels and a public voting.

RTP opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries between 19 November 2010 and 16 January 2011.[1] Composers of any nationality were allowed to submit entries, however artists were required to have Portuguese citizenship and songs were required to be performed in Portuguese.[2][3] From all entries received at the conclusion of the submission period, a selection committee shortlisted 24 entries for the online vote. The selection committee consisted of Tozé Brito, Fernando Martins and Ramón Galarza. The shortlisted entries were announced during a press conference on 19 January 2011.

90-second clips of the twenty-four shortlisted entries were made available via RTP's official website on 20 January 2011, and local and international users were able to vote by distribute three votes to their favourite entries until 27 January 2011 at 23:59 GMT.[4] On 22 January 2010, "Amor cruzado" performed by Miguel Gizzas, "Por ti" performed by António José Silva and "Um sinal" performed by Bettershell were disqualified from the competition due to their songs having been released or performed prior to 1 October 2010.[5]

222,764 valid votes were received at the conclusion of the voting period and the twelve entries with the most votes advanced to the final, with "A luta é alegria" performed by Homens da Luta winning the voting with 17,374 votes.

The final took place at the Teatro Camões in Lisbon on 5 March 2011, hosted by Sílvia Alberto and Joana Teles (green room host). In the final twelve entries participated, and the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from regional juries and a public telephone vote. In the case of a tie, the public telephone vote prevailed.[6][7]

The results of the Portuguese selection competition caused much controversy. After the victory of Homens da Luta was announced, several fans of the Eurovision Song Contest left the venue in protest. At the end of the show, the members of the band were interviewed by the press, including oikotimes.com. In a statement in English, the lead member Jel presented the band as “the struggling people of Portugal. We represent the people that don’t like the way things are in Portugal and in Europe and we are going to be in Düsseldorf to tell the world”. Talking about the entry “A luta é alegria”, Jel stated that “this song is our weapon!” After leaving the venue, to attend a previously scheduled concert, the singer added, “People are joining the struggle, every time you hear someone singing the song in the streets, it is someone else that is joining the struggle”.[8] At the venue, the members of Homens da Luta appealed to everybody to join the struggle.

• In the Semi-final 1 Portugal came 18th with 22 points: the public awarded Portugal 15th place with 39 points and the jury awarded 19th place with 6 points.