Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest

Malta has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 32 times since its debut in 1971. The contest is broadcast in Malta on the PBS channel, TVM. Malta has yet to win the contest, but is the only non-winning country to have achieved four top three results.

Malta
Member stationTVM
National selection events
Participation summary
Appearances32 (25 finals)
First appearance1971
Best result2nd: 2002, 2005
External links
Malta's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

Malta finished last on its first two attempts in 1971 and 1972, and had a 16-year absence from the contest between 1975 and 1991. Malta's return proved more successful, reaching the top 10 in 12 out of 15 contests from 1991 to 2005, including third-place results for Mary Spiteri (1992) and Chiara (1998) and second-place results for Ira Losco (2002) and Chiara (2005). Since finishing last for the third time in 2006, Malta has struggled to make an impact, with its only top 10 result being Gianluca Bezzina's eighth-place in 2013.

History

Malta first participated at Eurovision in 1971, although the history of National song contests organized in the Maltese islands dates back to 1960 when the first Malta Song Festival took place. Malta has never won the contest, although it has twice finished second and twice finished third. At first, the island state sent songs in its native language, Maltese, but it failed to rank highly, finishing last in its first two attempts in the contest in 1971 and 1972 and withdrew after the 1975 contest.

Malta's return to the contest in 1991, after a 16-year absence, proved to be more successful, with eight consecutive top 10 placings (1991–1998) and finishing in the top 10 in 12 out of 15 contests from 1991 to 2005. These results included third-place finishes in 1992 for Mary Spiteri and in 1998 for Chiara and second-place finishes in 2002 for Ira Losco and in 2005 for Chiara, who in 2009 became the first performer to represent Malta at three contests, finishing 22nd.[1][2] Malta's two seconds and two thirds, make it the most successful country not to win the contest.

In the last 12 contests, Malta has only once reached the top 10, when Gianluca Bezzina finished eighth in 2013. Fabrizio Faniello, who had previously finished ninth in 2001, finished last in the 2006 final, and since then the country has failed to qualify from the semi-final round seven times, in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2018.

Together with France, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, Malta is one of the few countries that has not missed a contest since 1991. All of Malta's entries since 1991 have been sung in its other official language, English, which it was one of the few countries allowed to use in the contest between 1977 and 1999, being a former British colony which (as seen below) has had a close relationship with the UK within the contest. The only use of the Maltese language was three lines in the 2000 entry "Desire", performed by Claudette Pace. The Maltese broadcasters of the show are the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS). All shows are transmitted live on TVM (Malta) and Radio Malta. Also, along with Croatia and Sweden it was the only country never to be relegated, under the previous rules of the contest, that wasn't a part of the Big Four.

Selection process

Malta uses a televised national final to select its entry. From its debut in 1971 through 1976, Malta Song Festival, an existing song festival that had been created in 1960 was used to select the entrant, with the winner going to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest. Malta did not participate in the contest between 1977 and 1990. Since its return in 1991, national finals under various names were held to select the entry, including Malta Song for Europe (Maltese: il-Festival Kanzunetta għall-Ewropa), Malta Eurovision Song Contest, and Malta Eurosong. During this time period, the organization of the event was taken over by the Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS Malta).

A typical national final would consist of: the rules for submissions by composers, authors, and singers being published in October, first elimination rounds in December, and semifinalists announced in January. The semifinal was then held in February, followed two days later by a final to choose Malta's representative at the Eurovision. In 2009, a new format of the contest was introduced, the Malta Eurosong contest, with eight semi-finals held over November 2008 to January 2009, with a final of 20 songs competing in February.[3][4] In 2010 six semi-finals were held over December 2009 and January 2010, and a final was once again held in February 2010.[5] This format was discontinued for the 2019 contest, with PBS instead using X Factor Malta to select the artist.

Contestants
Table key
2
 Second place
3
 Third place
◁
 Last place
X
 Entry selected but did not compete
Year Artist Language Song Final Points Semi Points
1971
 Joe Grech Maltese "Marija l-Maltija" 18 ◁ 52 No semi-finals
1972
 Helen and Joseph Maltese "L-imħabba" 18 ◁ 48
1974
 Enzo Guzman Maltese "Paċi fid-Dinja" Withdrew X
1975
 Renato English "Singing This Song" 12 32 No semi-finals
1976
 Enzo Guzman English "Sing Your Song, Country Boy" Withdrew X
1990
 Mary Rose Mallia English "Our Little World of Yesterday" Never entered X
1991
 Paul Giordimaina and Georgina English "Could It Be" 6 106 No semi-finals
1992
 Mary Spiteri English "Little Child" 3 123
1993
 William Mangion English "This Time" 8 69 Kvalifikacija za Millstreet
1994
 Chris and Moira English "More Than Love" 5 97 No semi-finals
1995
 Mike Spiteri English "Keep Me In Mind" 10 76
1996
 Miriam Christine English "In a Woman's Heart" 10 68 4 138
1997
 Debbie Scerri English "Let Me Fly" 9 66 No semi-finals
1998
 Chiara English "The One That I Love" 3 165[lower-alpha 1]
1999
 Times Three English "Believe 'n Peace" 15 32
2000
 Claudette Pace English, Maltese "Desire" 8 73
2001
 Fabrizio Faniello English "Another Summer Night" 9 48
2002
 Ira Losco English "7th Wonder" 2 164
2003
 Lynn Chircop English "To Dream Again" 25 4
2004
 Julie and Ludwig English "On Again... Off Again" 12 50 8 74
2005
 Chiara English "Angel" 2 192 Top 12 previous year[lower-alpha 2]
2006
 Fabrizio Faniello English "I Do" 24 ◁ 1 Top 11 previous year[lower-alpha 2]
2007
 Olivia Lewis English "Vertigo" Failed to qualify 25 15
2008
 Morena English "Vodka" 14 38
2009
 Chiara English "What If We" 22 31 6 86
2010
 Thea Garrett English "My Dream" Failed to qualify 12 45
2011
 Glen Vella English "One Life" 11 54
2012
 Kurt Calleja English "This Is the Night" 21 41 7 70
2013
 Gianluca Bezzina English "Tomorrow" 8 120 4 118
2014
 Firelight English "Coming Home" 23 32 9 63
2015
 Amber English "Warrior" Failed to qualify 11 43
2016
 Ira Losco English "Walk on Water" 12 153 3 209
2017
 Claudia Faniello English "Breathlessly" Failed to qualify 16 55
2018
 Christabelle Borg English "Taboo" 13 101
2019
 Michela Pace English "Chameleon" 14 107 8 157
2020
 Destiny English "All of My Love" Contest cancelled[lower-alpha 3] X
2021
 Destiny[6]

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards
Further information: Marcel Bezençon Awards
Year Category Song Performer Final Points Host city Ref.
2005 Press Award "Angel" Chiara 2 192 Kiev
[7]

Barbara Dex Award
Further information: Barbara Dex Award
Year Performer Host city Ref.
1997 Debbie Scerri Dublin
[8]

Commentators and spokespersons
Year Commentator Spokesperson Ref.
1971 Victor AquilinaNo spokesperson
1972 Norman Hamilton
1973 Charles SalibaDid not participate
1974
1975 Norman HamiltonUnknown
1976–1990 No broadcastDid not participate
1991 Toni SantDominic Micallef
1992 Anna BonannoAnna Bonanno
1993 Charles SalibaKevin Drake
1994 Charles ArrigoJohn Demanuele
1995 Enzo GusmanStephanie Farrugia
1996 Charles SalibaRuth Amaira
1997 Gino CauchiAnna Bonanno
1998 Stephanie Spiteri
1999 Charlo BonniciNirvana Azzopardi
2000 Valerie Vella
2001 Alfred BorgMarbeck Spiteri
2002 John BundyYvette Portelli
2003 Sharon Borg
2004 Eileen MontesinClaire Agius
2005 Valerie Vella
2006 Moira Delia
2007 Antonia MicallefMireille Bonello
2008 Eileen MontesinMoira Delia
2009 Valerie VellaPauline Agius
2010 Chiara Siracusa
2011 Eileen MontesinKelly Schembri
2012 Ronald Briffa and Elaine SalibaKeith Demicoli
2013 Gordon Bonello and Rodney GauciEmma Hickey
2014 Carlo Borg BonaciValentina Rossi
2015 Corazon MizziJulie Zahra
2016 Arthur CaruanaBen Camille
2017 No commentaryMartha Fenech
2018 Lara Azzopardi
2019 Ben Camille

Notes
  1. Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark - 12 points - instead of being snubbed, as it happened. The mistake was corrected and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway. Israel and Norway both received 2 points less than originally and Croatia, Malta, Portugal, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Turkey all received one point less than indicated during the broadcast.
  2. According to the then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
  3. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Further reading
  • Cremona, George (2018). "The Eurovision Song Contest within Formal Educational Learning Contexts: A Critical Multimodal Interpretation of Possible Inter-Disciplinary Connections (Selected proceedings of the Conference 'Connections', University of Malta Junior College, 18–20 September 2017)" (PDF). Symposia Melitensia (14): 151–160. ISSN 1812-7509.
gollark: *googles TJ08*
gollark: At least TJ0*8*'s not here.
gollark: * two TJ09s
gollark: TJ09 is typing.
gollark: Hey, I could join the IRC, be the only user, and get free giveaways! BRB, installing IRC client.

References
  1. Klier, Marcus (8 February 2009). "Malta: Eurovision entrant chosen". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 9 February 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
  2. Sanz Martin, Jorge (8 February 2009). "Malta: Chiara bids in Eurovision 2009 for third time". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
  3. Klier, Marcus (2 September 2009). "Malta: major changes to the selection process". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 3 September 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  4. Floras, Stella (14 October 2008). "Malta: More developments on 2009 national selection". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  5. Stella, Floras (19 November 2009). "Malta: National final on 20th February". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 21 November 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  6. Granger, Anthony (16 May 2020). "Malta: Destiny Chukunyere Will Compete in Eurovision 2021". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  7. "Marcel Bezençon Awards". eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  8. Adams, William Lee (9 July 2015). "Poll: Who was the worst dressed Barbara Dex Award winner?". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
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