Chile was represented at the OTI Festival 1981 with the song "", written and performed by Florcita Motuda. The Chilean participating broadcasters, (TVN), (UCTV), and (UTV), jointly selected their entry through a televised national final. The song, that was performed in position 21, placed fifth out of 21 competing entries, tied with the entry from Colombia with 18 points. Florcita Motuda had already represented Chile in 1978.
National stage (TVN), (UCTV), and (UTV), held a national final jointly to select their entry for the 10th edition of the OTI Festival. Twelve songs were shortlisted for the televised final.
+ Competing entries on the national final – Chile 1981 Song Artist Songwriter(s) "" Florcita Motuda Raúl Florcita Alarcón Rojas "" Gabriela "" Gloria Simonetti Buddy Richard "" Patricio Renán "" Patricia Maldonado Fernando Pávez "" Mónica de Calixto and Jorge Rebel Reynaldo Tomás Martínez "Barcelona" Osvaldo Díaz Willy Bascuñán "" Óscar Andrade "" María Angélica Ramírez "" Luis "Poncho" Venegas "" Sergio Cerda "" Cristina
National final The national final was held on Saturday 31 October 1981, beginning at 21:30 CLST (00:30+1 UTC), at the Holiday Inn Cordillera Hotel in Santiago, and was presented by . The show featured a guest performance by Coco Legrand. It was staged by UTV, and broadcast on TVN's , UCTV's , and UTV's .
The members of the jury were: Luis Benko, Héctor de Aguirre, Raquel Argandoña, , Reinaldo Tomás Martínez, and Miguel Zabaleta.
The winner was "", written and performed by Florcita Motuda; with "", written and performed by , placing second; and "", written by Buddy Richard and performed by Gloria Simonetti, placing third. The first prize was endowed with a monetary amount of US$5,000, the second prize of US$3,000, and the third prize of US$2,000.
+ Result of the national final – Chile 1981 Song Artist Result 1 "" Florcita Motuda 1 2 "" Gabriela 3 "" Gloria Simonetti 3 4 "" Patricio Renán 5 "" Patricia Maldonado 6 "" Mónica de Calixto and Jorge Rebel 7 "Barcelona" Osvaldo Díaz 8 "" 2 9 "" 10 "" 11 "" Sergio Cerda 12 "" Cristina
At the OTI Festival On 5 December 1981, the OTI Festival was held at the National Auditorium in Mexico City, Mexico, hosted by Televisa, and broadcast live throughout Ibero-America. Florcita Motuda performed "" in last position of the 21 competing entries. At the end of the voting, the song placed 5th, with 18 points, tying with the song from Colombia.
The festival was broadcast on TVN's , UTV's , and UCTV's on delay at 21:30 CLST (00:30+1 UTC) with presenting the local opt-out.
Voting Each participating broadcaster, or group of broadcasters that jointly participated representing a country, assembled a jury who awarded 5–1 points to their five favourite songs in order of preference.
, , , Homero Zamorano, and Patricio Pérez were the five members of the Chilean jury, with the latter acting as the president of the jury. However, due a communication failure with the studios in Chile during the voting, the Chilean stand-in delegate present at the festival venue, , voted instead.
+ Points awarded to Chile Score Country 5 points Costa Rica 4 points 3 points Colombia 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by Chile Score Country 5 points Ecuador 4 points Peru 3 points Honduras 2 points Brazil 1 point Netherlands Antilles
References