Mexico in the OTI Festival 1979

Mexico was represented at the OTI Festival 1979 with the song "Vivir sin ti", written by Roberto Robles and Eduardo Magallanes, and performed by Estela Núñez. The Mexican participating broadcaster, Televisa, selected its entry through a national selection with several phases. The song, that was performed in position 13, placed eighth out of 21 competing entries, with 18 points.

Televisa held a national selection with four televised qualifying rounds and a final to select its entry for the 8th edition of the OTI Festival. This eight edition of the National OTI Festival featured 32 songs, of which ten reached the final. In addition to the general competition, awards were given for Best Male Performer, Best Female Performer, Best Musical Arrangement, and Breakout Artist, among all the competing artist.

The shows were held at Teatro de la Ciudad in Mexico City, were presented by Raúl Velasco, and were broadcast on Canal 2. The musical director was Chucho Ferrrer, who conducted the Single Union of Music Workers of Mexico orchestra when required. Hermanos Zavala, the single mixed backing choir of four voices, were credited on the songs they accompanied.

The four qualifying rounds were held on Saturdays 21 and 28 July, and 4 and 11 August 1979. There were eight entries in each round, of which the ten highest-scoring entries among the 32 competing advanced to the final. Ten expert jurors present in the hall and five remote provincial juries scored all the entries.

The jurors present in the hall were: Tina Galindo, Gustavo Rivera, Guillermo Acosta, Manú Dornbierer, Tino Martin, Ernesto Juárez, Consuelo Chávez, Rogelio Brambila Pelayo, Elías Cervantes, and Alfredo Gil, who was the chairperson.

The final opened with a medley of the seven previous winners of the national festival performed by the orchestra conducted by Guillermo Méndez Guiú and the backing choir. Following each of the competing entries, each of the performers received on stage a finalist diploma delivered by a celebrity such as: Héctor Meneses, Lolita de la Colina, Silvia Pinal, and Sergio Corona. The interval act featured a performance of the cast of La Carabina de Ambrosio.

The same jurors present in the hall for the semi-finals were also present for the final, with the exception of Acosta who was replaced by Peter Ulrich. For the final competition, five international members were added: Tomás Fundora, Omar Marchant, Joaquín Blaya, Pilar Candel, and Rafael Martínez Amador. They were joined by five remote provincial juries of five members each located in Guadalajara, Nuevo Laredo, Mérida, Veracruz, and Monterrey. Each of the ten present jurors and the five remote juries scored between 1 to 10 points each of the finalists. After all the competing entries had been performed, the spokesperson of each remote jury announced their points in the order of performance via telephone; while the jurors in the hall showed their scores, that had already been previously counted, on boards all at once for each of the songs.

The winner was "Vivir sin ti", written by Roberto Robles and Eduardo Magallanes, and performed by Estela Núñez; with "Un tipo como yo", written and performed by Sergio Esquivel, placing second; and "Al final", written by Roberto Cantoral and performed by Emmanuel, placing third. The final results were met with loud booing from some of the audience. The festival ended with a reprise of the winning entry.

In the final, the nine jurors who where present in all the semi-finals voted aloud for the Best Male and Female Performer Awards and Breakout Artist Award among the three shortlisted artist in each category. The members of the orchestra voted for the Best Musical Arrangement Award among the three entries shortlisted.

Yoshio received the Best Male Performer Award; Estela Núñez the Best Female Performer Award; Eduardo Magallanes the Best Musical Arrangement Award for "Vivir sin ti"; and Yuri the Breakout Artist Award. The four winners of the merit awards received both a gold and a silver medal.

Las 10 finalistas del Festival OTI 79 is the official compilation album of the eight edition of the Mexican National OTI Festival, released by Productos Especiales CBS in 1979. The vinyl LP features the studio version of the ten songs qualified for the national final.^[6]

On 8 December 1979, the OTI Festival was held at the Theatre of the Military Academy in Caracas, Venezuela, hosted by Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), Venevisión, Televisora Nacional (TVN), and Venezolana de Televisión (VTN), and broadcast live throughout Ibero-America. Estela Núñez performed "Vivir sin ti" in position 13, with Eduardo Magallanes conducting the event's orchestra, and placing eighth out of 21 competing entries, with 18 points.^[7]

Each participating broadcaster assembled a jury who awarded 5–1 points to their five favourite songs in order of preference.