Twelve songs ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 16 February 2013 where two rounds of voting by a public televote and a nine-member jury panel selected "Here We Go" performed by PeR as the winner.

Between 2009 and 2012, the nation had failed to qualify to the final for four consecutive years including with their 2012 entry "Beautiful Song" performed by Anmary.

In a response to the nation's failure to qualify to the final at Eurovision since 2008, the broadcaster announced that the national final would be rebranded and retooled as Dziesma in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2013 contest, organised in cooperation with the Ventspils City Council and Ventspils Development Agency.

The two semi-finals, held on 8 and 9 February 2013, each featured twelve competing entries from which six advanced to the final from each show.

[12] The jury panel consisted of Aija Strazdiņa (director and producer), Ģirts Lūsis (musician, composer and manager of the groups Labvēlīgais tips and 2007 Latvian Eurovision entrant Bonaparti.lv), Kārlis Auzāns (producer and composer), Vineta Elksne (singer, vocal coach, conductor and songwriter), Aija Vītoliņa (singer), Valters Frīdenbergs (2005 Latvian Eurovision entrant as part of Walters and Kazha), Ott Lepland (2012 Estonian Eurovision entrant) and Adam Klein (British music manager).

In each semi-final twelve acts competed and six entries qualified to the final based on the combination of votes from a jury panel and the Latvian public.

[5] The twelve entries that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals competed and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting.

[17] The jury panel that voted in the final consisted of Aija Strazdina (director and producer), Vineta Elksne (singer, vocal coach, conductor and songwriter), Ieva Rozentāle (Head of the LTV Culture Broadcasts Editorial Office), Ģirts Lūsis (musician, composer and manager of the groups Labvēlīgais tips and 2007 Latvian Eurovision entrant Bonaparti.lv), Sandris Vanzovičs (music journalist), Kārlis Auzāns (producer and composer), Jānis Stībelis (musician), Valters Pūce (musician) and Ott Lepland (2012 Estonian Eurovision entrant).

[20] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final.

On 17 January 2013, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in.

[27] At the end of the show, Latvia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.

The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency.

This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.

In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.