The Spanish participating broadcaster, Televisión Española (TVE), selected its entry through the second 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.

In 2002, TVE used the reality television singing competition Operación Triunfo (the Spanish version of Star Academy) to select both the artist and song that would represent Spain.

[3] The second series, also known as Operación Triunfo 2002, took place from 7 October 2002 to 24 February 2003 at the Mediapark Studios in Sant Just Desvern (Barcelona), hosted by Carlos Lozano.

The five members of the in-studio jury were Pilar Tabares (music director of TVE), Sergio Dalma (singer, represented Spain in the 1991 contest), José Luis Uribarri (television presenter and director, commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest for Spain), Joaquín Hurtado (program coordinator at Cadena Dial) and Rafael Fernández (webmaster of eurofestival.net).

The winner, "Dime" performed by Beth, was selected exclusively through a public televote which ran between 10 and 17 February 2003.