It was held in Santiago, Chile, who offered to stage the event after Nicaragua, who won the previous contest, was unable to organize it due the outbreak of the Nicaraguan Revolution.

[2] In this year's edition, in which many changes took place, the winner was the Brazilian entrant Denisse de Kalafe [pt] with the song "El amor... cosa tan rara".

In this case, Nicaragua was the winning country of the previous edition with the song "Quincho Barrilete" performed by Eduardo González, composed by Carlos Mejía Godoy.

As a result of that victory, Televicentro Canal 2, the Nicaraguan participating broadcaster, was going to host the contest in Managua at the Rubén Darío National Theatre, according to an internal committee of the company.

[citation needed] Originally, the Teleton 1978 was to be broadcast on the same day, but TVN and Canal 13 had already made agreements with the OTI, so the event was pushed one week to 8–9 December.

One of the most controversial performers during this year's edition was Chilean Florcita Motuda, known for his satirical songs and strange external appearance.

After José María Napoleón getting zero points the previous year, the Mexican entry was acclaimed after Lupita D'Alessio's victory in the selection.

[5] The Spanish entrant, singer-songwriter Chema Purón [es] with the song "Mi sitio" was also well received by the audience and the juries of the festival.

[6] The Brazilian entrant, Denisse de Kalafe [pt], was also well known in Brazil and her adopted homeland of Mexico due to her participation in many music festivals.

Denise de Kalafe, who was again selected in order to represent her country after last year's disaster with Lolita Rodrigues, also decided to translate her entry "El amor... cosa tan rara" into Spanish.

The Colombian representative Billy Pontoni, with his song "Joven", also got an icy reception in the festival, but this shortcoming would not undermine his strong career in his country.

When the performance round started, both presenters made a brief individual introduction of the participating singers, quoting the name of the entrants, the lyricist and the director of the Orchestra.

Unlike in the previous edition, and to avoid the frequent final ties between the contestants, the participating broadcasters agreed to increase the number of national jurors per country from three to seven.

The national juries of every participating country were contacted directly by telephone by the presenters from the Municipal Theatre of Santiago in order to know the decision of the jurors, except Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Netherlands Antilles, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic, who used alternate jurors located in the theatre due to communication problems.

The winner was the Brazilian entrant Denise de Kalafe with "El amor... cosa tan rara", a song that reached a record of points awarded by an OTI contestant.

The United States repeated its previous year's success with the performer Susy Leman with the song "Ha vuelto ya" who got the second place.

The third place was awarded to Lupita D'Alessio, who was considered by the press, the sentimental winner of the show with her song "Como tú".

Denise de Kalafe saw her already solid career boosted, not only in Brazil, but also in Mexico, where she found a fervorous fanbase.

Her third place in the contest launched her career in all the Spanish speaking world to the point that she has released more than twenty studio albums and hit songs.