OTI Festival 1978

OTI Festival 1978
Date and venue
Final
  • 2 December 1978 (1978-12-02)
VenueMunicipal Theatre
Santiago, Chile
Organization
OrganizerOrganización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI)
SupervisorCondorcet Da Silva Costa
Production
Host broadcaster
DirectorFernando Leighton
Musical directorJuan Azúa
Presenters
Participants
Number of entries19
Debuting countries Paraguay
Non-returning countries Guatemala
Nicaragua
Portugal
Participation map
  •      Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1978
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 5-1 points to their 5 favourite songs
Winning song Brazil
"El amor... cosa tan rara"

The OTI Festival 1978 (Spanish: Séptimo Gran Premio de la Canción Iberoamericana, Portuguese: Sétimo Grande Prêmio da Canção Ibero-Americana) was the seventh edition of the OTI Festival, held on 2 December 1978 at the Municipal Theatre in Santiago, Chile, and presented by Raúl Matas and Raquel Argandoña. It was organised by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) and host broadcasters Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN), Corporación de Televisión de la Universidad Católica de Chile (UCTV), Corporación de Televisión de la Universidad de Chile (UTV), and Corporación de Televisión de la Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (UCVTV). This was the first edition of the festival in which the winning broadcaster of the previous edition didn't host the following year.

Broadcasters from nineteen countries participated in the festival. The winner was the song "El amor... cosa tan rara" performed by Denisse de Kalafe representing Brazil, with "Ha vuelto ya" by Susy Leman representing the United States placing second, and "Como tú" by Lupita D'Alessio representing Mexico placing third. This year's edition saw several important changes to the festival's format.