RTP, the Portuguese national broadcaster, has revealed the jury that chose the Prova de Acesso artists for Festival da Canção 2026.
RTP has revealed the jury that chose the artists for Prova de Acesso (Entrance Exam), a contest for a place in Festival da Canção 2026. RTP contacted two music schools; Escola de Tecnologias Inovação e Criação (ETIC) in Lisbon and Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo (ESMAE) in Porto, to nominate five artists/groups per school with a song that has already been released. A jury then chose five artists for the Prova de Acesso.
The Prova de Acesso jury members are:
Capital da Bulgária (Festival da Canção 2025 participant)
João Lourenço Gomes (pianist for Napa, represented Portugal at Eurovision 2025)
Luís “Twins” Pereira (producer, composer of “Ai coração” (Portugal Eurovision 2023))
Nuno Galopim (Portuguese Eurovision commentator since 2016)
Voting for Prova de Acesso is open for Portuguese citizens until September 30. Only one vote per IP address is allowed daily. The Prova de Acesso artists will present one of their original songs, but the winner will have to compose a new song for Festival da Canção 2026.
The artists competing in Prova de Acesso are:
1poucodeso
Dinis Mota
Diogo Catanho
Polar Opposites
Tilde
A total of 16 songs will compete in Festival da Canção 2026, including one of the winner of Prova de Acesso. Of the remaining songs, 8 will be composed by composers who have been directly invited by RTP. A further 6 will be selected through an open submission, which is open until October 31. Residents of Portugal and Portuguese citizens living abroad may submit entries. NAPA, the winners of Festival da Canção 2025, will select one artist to participate in the contest.
NAPA represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song “Deslocado”. They finished in 21st place with 50 points.
Image source: Sarah Louise Bennett/ EBU | Source: RTP
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
Portugal debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964 represented by António Calvário. The country finished last, scoring nul points. Before 2017, Portugal’s best result was 6th place, which came in 1996 when Lúcia Moniz performed “O meu coração não tem cor” in Oslo. In 2017, Salvador Sobral took home the crystal microphone with his song “Amar pelos dois”, ending a 53-year wait for a Portuguese win. The 2018 contest was held in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon for the first time.
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Posted by:Neil Farren
Neil is from Ireland but has lived in several countries around Europe. He has has been an editor for Eurovoix since May 2017. He has been following the Eurovision Song Contest since 2005 and attended every contest as press since 2019. He also follows other Eurovision contests, such as the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which he has watched since the very first edition in 2003.