Portugal selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 through the annual Festival da Canção.

Festival da Canção 1996

Festival da Canção 1996 was held on 7 March 1996 and was hosted by Carlos Cruz

Carlos Cruz (television presenter)

Carlos Cruz GCIH is a Portuguese former television presenter who has been convicted on charges of child sexual abuse.-Biography:Carlos Cruz was born in 1942 in Torres Novas...

 and Isabel Angelino. The winner was selected through the votes of 10 regional juries of Portugal.

The winner was Lúcia Moniz

Lúcia Moniz

Ana Lúcia Pereira Moniz is a Portuguese singer and actress. Moniz represented Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 and has released three music albums to date. She has also acted in several films, including Love Actually....

 with the song "O meu coração não tem cor

O Meu Coração Não Tem Cor

"O meu coração não tem cor" was the Portuguese entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, performed in Portuguese by Lúcia Moniz.Composed by Pedro Osório and with lyrics by José Fanha, the song is a moderately up-tempo number...

" (My Heart Has No Colour).

Draw	Singer	Song	Translation	Points	Place
1	Vânia Maroti	"Start Stop"	-	33	10
2	Tó Leal	"Eu mesmo"	Me Myself	42	8
3	Patricia Antunes	"Canto em português"	Singing in Portuguese	91	2
4	Barbara Reis	"A minha ilha"	My Island	43	7
5	Elaisa	"Ai a noite"	Oh the Night	49	6
6	Somseis	"A canção da paz"	The Song of Peace	76	3
7	Cristina Castro Pereira	"Ganhamos o ceu"	We Have Won the Sky	63	4
8	Lúcia Moniz Lúcia Moniz Ana Lúcia Pereira Moniz is a Portuguese singer and actress. Moniz represented Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 and has released three music albums to date. She has also acted in several films, including Love Actually....	"O meu coração não tem cor O Meu Coração Não Tem Cor "O meu coração não tem cor" was the Portuguese entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, performed in Portuguese by Lúcia Moniz.Composed by Pedro Osório and with lyrics by José Fanha, the song is a moderately up-tempo number... "	My Heart Has No Colour	95	1
9	Pedro Miguéis	"Prazer em conhecer"	Pleased to Meet	54	5
10	João Portugal	"Top Model"	-	34	9

At Eurovision

Due to news rules implemented in this year, Moniz's was required to pass through a preliminary round of voting, to bring down the 30 countries that applied to participate to 23 for the contest. Portugal passed through this preliminary round.

On the night of the contest, Moniz performed 4th, following Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and preceding Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

. Despite coming second in the voting at points of the contest, Moniz finished 6th with 92 points. However this was, and still is as of 2010, Portugal's best placing at the contest in its history.

Points Awarded to Portugal

12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
0 points

External links

• Portuguese National Final 1996