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.
Format
The competition featured twenty-four songs. All twenty-four songs first faced an online vote held between 20 and 27 January 2011 where the top twelve songs advanced to the final. In the final, held on 5 March 2011, the winner was determined by a combination of the votes from 20 regional juries and televoting.
Competing entries
Artists and songwriters were able to submit their song entries until 16 January 2011. Songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit entries, but songs were required to be performed by citizens of Portugal and in the Portuguese language. From all submissions received, a selection committee chose twenty-four entries for the online voting.
Online voting
After the twenty-four competing entries were announced, an online public vote ran from 20 January 2011 until 27 January 2011, enabling users to vote for their favorite entries each day. The twelve entries with the most votes advanced to the final of Festival da Canção 2011.
Final
The final was held on 5 March 2011 at the Teatro Camões in Lisbon, hosted by Sílvia Alberto and Joana Teles. The 12 qualifying artists from the online voting held in January 2011 competed during the show, and the winner was determined by a combination of the votes from 20 regional juries and televoting.
Controversy
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”. At the venue, the members of Homens da Luta appealed to everybody to join the struggle.
At Eurovision
Portugal entered in sixteenth position in the first semi-final on 10 May, but didn't qualify for the final with an eighteenth place with 22 points, marking the first time since 2007 that Portugal failed to advance to the final.
Split results
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.
