Benidorm Fest 2024 was the third edition of the annual Benidorm Fest, a television song contest held in Benidorm, organised and broadcast by RTVE. The show was held between 30 January and 3 February 2024, and was hosted by Ruth Lorenzo, Marc Calderó and Ana Prada. The winner, Nebulossa with "Zorra", earned the right to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.
Format
The 2024 edition was introduced on 26 July 2023 in the presence of Massiel, the first Spanish representative to win the Eurovision Song Contest in 1968.[1] Further details were announced at a press conference held at the Torrespaña in Madrid on 9 January 2024.[2] An opening gala was held at Benidorm Palace on 28 January 2024, which included performances by Benidorm Fest 2023 winner Blanca Paloma and the Spanish representative at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023, Sandra Valero.[3]
The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 30 January and 1 February 2024, and one final on 3 February 2024.[1] In total, 16 candidate songs competed divided between the two semifinals, that is, eight participated in each one. In each semifinal, the four songs with the most votes among a professional jury (50%), a demoscopic panel (25%) and the televote (25%), qualified to the final. During the final, the eight qualified songs were performed again and the winner was determined following the same voting system as in the semi-finals.[4]
In addition to the televised shows, three Euroclub concerts took place in Benidorm on 30 January, 2 February and 3 February as part of the festival week, featuring performances by previous Benidorm Fest contestants, international artists as well as acts who applied to compete in 2024 but were not selected.[3][5]
Presenters
At the January 2024 press conference, Ruth Lorenzo and Marc Calderó were announced as the main hosts of the competition, alongside Ana Prada as the host of the green room.[6][7] In addition, each show was preceded by an introductory segment, titled Benidorm Calling and hosted by Inés Hernand and Jordi Cruz, and followed by a commentary show, titled La noche del Benidorm and hosted by Hernand and Aitor Albizua.[8][9]
Jury members
The jury consisted of four Spanish members and four international members. The Spanish members are singers Carlos Baute, Ángela Carrasco, Guille Milkyway [es] and chair Beatriz Luengo; the international members were Lee Smithurst (head of the British delegation to the contest and show producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023), David Tserunyan (head of the Armenian delegation to the contest), Marta Piekarska (head of the Polish delegation to the contest) and Nicoline Refsing (artistic director of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014). Piekarska was selected as a replacement for Twan van de Nieuwenhuijzen (head of the Dutch delegation to the contest and head of contest for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 to 2023), who was ultimately unable to attend the festival.[7][10][11]
RTVE published the rules and regulations for Benidorm Fest 2024 on 11 May 2023, opening a submission window lasting from 16 May until 10 October 2023. In addition to the open submission, RTVE reserved the right to invite renowned singers and authors from the current music scene.[4] For the 2024 edition, the broadcaster also organised a songwriting camp in September 2023, open to both local and international composers.[1] Upon closing the submission period, RTVE announced that 825 entries had been received by the online form, 23 of which having been composed at the songwriting camp.[16]
While the presentation date for the selected entries was set for 14 December 2023, all song titles were inadvertently released a week earlier and multiple songs were leaked, which prompted RTVE to consider legal action.[18][20][21][22][23] Regardless, the presentation event took place as scheduled at the RTVE Prado del Rey studios in Madrid, with Eizaguirre and festival directors Ana María Bordas [es] and César Vallejo.[24][25]
On 23 February 2024, the results of the selection procedure were published, as well as the names of the six artists and songs chosen as reserves.[26][27]
Selected entries and their scores in the selection procedure[26][28]
^Borrego Escot, Daniel (14 December 2023). "Escucha todas las canciones en exclusiva" [Exclusively listen to all the songs]. rtve.es (in European Spanish). RTVE. Retrieved 14 December 2023.