Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013

Dziesma 2013 was organised in a cooperation with Ventspils City Council and Ventspils Development Agency.[4] Mārtiņš Meiers, Madara Botmane and Anta Aizupe hosted both the semi-finals and the final.[5]

The format for the selection consisted of two 12 song semifinals held on 8 and 9 February 2013, with six qualifiers from each semifinal proceeding to the final on 16 February 2013.[6] A 50/50 combination of public televoting and the votes from a jury panel decided the results of each show. In the final, there were two rounds of voting - the first to determine the three superfinalists and a second to determine the winner.

On 19 October 2012, LTV officially announced their selection procedures and opened the submission period, which lasted from 19 October 2012 until 30 November 2012.[6] Both national and international composers were invited to submit songs, however the competing artists had to have Latvian citizenship. On 30 November 2012, LTV received a record of 122 submissions of which 24 were selected by a professional jury on 11 December 2012.[7][8] The shortlisted songs were also available to listen to online in their demo versions with songwriters having until 14 January 2013 to nominate the artists who would ultimately perform their songs.[8] On 15 January 2013, LTV revealed which artists would perform the songs as well as the allocation of the semifinals.[9]

The first semifinal of Dziesma 2013 took place on 8 February 2013 at the Palladium Concert Hall in Riga.[10] The six qualifiers were determined by a 50/50 mix of public televoting and a nine-member jury panel.[10] Liene Candy, Antra Stafecka, Headline, Samanta Tīna, Sabīne Berezina and PeR qualified for the final.[10] The jury panel for the first semifinal consisted of Aija Strazdiņa, Aija Vītoliņa, Ieva Rozentāle, Lara Bellerose (Belgium), Ģirts Lūsis, Valters Pūce, Jegors Jerohomovičs, Kārlis Auzāns and Jānis Palkavnieks.[4]

The jury vote was calculated by having each member of the jury rank each song from first to twelfth. The song that came in first place would get one point, while the song that came in last place would get twelve points. These results were combined with the public vote which ranked the songs based on the number of televotes each entry received. Therefore, the song with the fewest points would achieve first place.[4]

The second semifinal of Dziesma 2013 took place on 9 February 2013 at the Palladium Concert Hall in Riga.[11] The six qualifiers were determined by a 50/50 mix of public televoting and a nine-member jury panel.[11] Ieva Sutugova, Marta Ritova, PeR, Dāvids Kalandija & Dināra, Pieneņu Vīns and Niko qualified for the final.[11] The jury panel for the second semifinal consisted of Aija Strazdiņa, Aija Vītoliņa, Lara Bellerose (Belgium), Vineta Elksne, Ģirts Lūsis, Valters Frīdenbergs, Anmary, Valters Pūce and Jegors Jerohomovičs.[4]

The jury vote was calculated by having each member of the jury rank each song from first to twelfth. The song that came in first place would get one point, while the song that came in last place would get twelve points. These results were combined with the public vote which ranked the songs based on the number of televotes each entry received. Therefore, the song with the fewest points would achieve first place.[4]

The final took place on 16 February 2013 at the Juras Varti Theatre House in Ventspils.[5] Six qualifiers from each semi-final competed and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a nine-member jury (50%) and public televote (50%) determined the top three entries to proceed to the superfinal. In the superfinal, the winner was selected by the public and jury vote.[1][5] The jury panel for the final consisted of Aija Strazdiņa (music video producer), Vineta Elksne (singer and vocal teacher), Ieva Rozentāle (producer of music and culture programs at LTV), Ģirts Lūsis ("Labvēlīgais tips" producer and composer), Sandris Vanzovičs (journalist), Kārlis Auzāns (musician), Jānis Stībelis (musician), Valters Pūce (musician) and Ott Lepland (musician).[4]

The jury vote was calculated by having each member of the jury rank each song from first to twelfth. The song that came in first place would get one point, while the song that came in last place would get twelve points. These results were combined with the public vote which ranked the songs based on the number of televotes each entry received. Therefore, the song with the fewest points would achieve first place.[4]

Interval acts in the final included 2012 Latvian representative Anmary, 2012 Estonian representative Ott Lepland, Labvēlīgais Tips, DaGamba, Vineta Elksne, Dons and Jānis Stībelis.[1]