The Spanish participating broadcaster, Televisión Española (TVE), selected its entry through the first series of the reality television music competition Operación Triunfo.

It has also finished second four times, with "En un mundo nuevo" by Karina in 1971, "Eres tú" by Mocedades in 1973, "Su canción" by Betty Missiego in 1979, and "Vuelve conmigo" by Anabel Conde in 1995.

For their 2002 entry, TVE announced in July 2001 that they would organise a reality television singing competition titled Operación Triunfo (similar in format to Big Brother and The Bus) to select both the artist and song that would represent Spain.

The first series, also known as Operación Triunfo 2001, took place from 22 October 2001 to 11 February 2002 at the Mediapark Studios in Sant Just Desvern (Barcelona), hosted by Carlos Lozano.

[4] The six members of the in-studio jury were Pilar Tabares (music director of TVE), Narcís Rebollo (CEO of Vale Music), José Luis Uribarri (television presenter and director, commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest for Spain), Marcos Llunas (singer and composer, represented Spain in the 1997 contest), Juan Luis Ayllón Piquero (Eurovision expert) and Daniel Aragay Esteban (Eurovision expert).

The winner, "Europe's Living a Celebration" performed by Rosa, was selected exclusively through a public televote which ran between 4 and 11 March 2002.