OTI Festival 1983

The OTI Festival 1983 (Spanish: Decimosegundo Gran Premio de la Canción Iberoamericana, Portuguese: Décimo Segundo Grande Prêmio da Canção Ibero-Americana) was the 12th edition of the OTI Festival, held on 29 October 1983 at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., United States, and presented by Rafael Pineda and Ana Carlota. It was organised by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) and host broadcaster the Spanish International Network (SIN).

Broadcasters from twenty-one countries participated in the festival. The winner was the song "Estrela de papel" performed by Jessé representing Brazil; with "Olvidar, olvidar" by Taty Salas representing the Dominican Republic placing second; and "Tu pueblo, mi pueblo" by Jaime Mora representing Colombia placing third.

The Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) designated the Spanish International Network (SIN) as the host broadcaster for the 12th edition of the OTI Festival. SIN staged the event in Washington, D.C.. The venue selected was the DAR Constitution Hall, a building designed by John Russell Pope and opened in 1929 by the Daughters of the American Revolution to house its annual convention. It has been a major cultural center of the city since its construction, and houses its largest auditorium.

Broadcasters from twenty-one countries participated in this edition of the OTI festival. The OTI members, public or private broadcasters from Spain and twenty Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Ibero-America signed up for the festival. From the countries that participated in the previous edition, Bolivia did not return; with Paraguay returning after missing that festival.^[1]

Some of the participating broadcasters, such as those representing Chile, Colombia, Mexico, the Netherlands Antilles, Paraguay, and the United States, selected their entries through their regular national televised competitions. Other broadcasters decided to select their entry internally.

The festival was held on Saturday 29 October 1983, beginning at 19:00 EDT (23:00 UTC). It was directed by Joshua White, and presented by Rafael Pineda and Ana Carlota. The musical director was Héctor Garrido, who conducted the orchestra when required. The draw to determine the running order (R/O) was held at the SIN offices in New York City a few days before the festival.

The opening act featured a recorded welcoming greeting from the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, who spoke about the contributions of the Latino community in the US and how he greatly improved the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Week, in which he would later make it into what's now Hispanic Heritage Month, and a guest performance by Rubén Blades. After the awards ceremony and the reprise of the winning song, Plácido Domingo made a guest performance.^[2]

After the performances of the competing songs, the countries that had finished in the top-5 were announced, without specifying their position. Six entries finished in the top-5, since there was a tie for fifth place. Only the ranking of the top three songs were revealed. The winner was the song "Estrela de papel" performed by Jessé representing Brazil; with "Olvidar, olvidar" by Taty Salas representing the Dominican Republic placing second; and "Tu pueblo, mi pueblo" by Jaime Mora representing Colombia placing third. Each of the performers of these entries received a trophy while their songwriters received a medallion. The first prize trophy was delivered by Guillermo Cañedo, president of OTI; the second prize trophy by Nicanor González, vice-president of OTI; and the third prize trophy by Rosita Perú, representative of SIN.

Each participating broadcaster^[a] appointed a juror, and all jurors were present in the hall. Each of them scored each entry in a scale of 5–1 points, except for the entry representing its own country. They voted immediately after each performance using an electronic terminal on their desk, and the points were recorded by a computer and stored in a database. In the event of a tie for first place, they would have vote again. If the tie had persisted, the chairperson would have decided the winner. The 21 jurors were:^[3]

The festival was broadcast in the 21 participating countries, where the corresponding OTI member broadcasters relayed the contest through their networks after receiving it live via satellite.

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.