Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest

Malta
Member station	TVM
National selection events	National final Malta Song for Europe ; 1971–1972 ; 1975 ; 1991–2011 ; Malta Eurovision ; 2012–2018 ; X Factor Malta ; 2019–2020 ; Internal selection 2021 ;
Participation summary
Appearances	32 (25 finals)
First appearance	1971
Best result	2nd: 2002, 2005
External links
	Malta's page at Eurovision.tv
	For the most recent participation see; Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

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 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	No semi-finals
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	No semi-finals
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	No semi-finals
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"	Failed to qualify		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"	Failed to qualify		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"	Failed to qualify		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

Year	Category	Song	Performer	Final	Points	Host city	Ref.
2005	Press Award	"Angel"	Chiara	2	192	Kiev	[7]

Barbara Dex Award

Year	Performer	Host city	Ref.
1997	Debbie Scerri	Dublin	[8]

Related involvement

Commentators and spokespersons

Year	Commentator	Spokesperson
1971	Victor Aquilina	No spokesperson
1972	Norman Hamilton	No spokesperson
1973	Charles Saliba	Did not participate
1974	Charles Saliba	Did not participate
1975	Norman Hamilton	Unknown
1976–1990	No broadcast	Did not participate
1991	Toni Sant	Dominic Micallef
1992	Anna Bonanno	Anna Bonanno
1993	Charles Saliba	Kevin Drake
1994	Charles Arrigo	John Demanuele
1995	Enzo Gusman	Stephanie Farrugia
1996	Charles Saliba	Ruth Amaira
1997	Gino Cauchi	Anna Bonanno
1998	Gino Cauchi	Stephanie Spiteri
1999	Charlo Bonnici	Nirvana Azzopardi
2000	Charlo Bonnici	Valerie Vella
2001	Alfred Borg	Marbeck Spiteri
2002	John Bundy	Yvette Portelli
2003	John Bundy	Sharon Borg
2004	Eileen Montesin	Claire Agius
2005		Valerie Vella
2006		Moira Delia
2007	Antonia Micallef	Mireille Bonello
2008	Eileen Montesin	Moira Delia
2009	Valerie Vella	Pauline Agius
2010	Valerie Vella	Chiara Siracusa
2011	Eileen Montesin	Kelly Schembri
2012	Ronald Briffa and Elaine Saliba	Keith Demicoli
2013	Gordon Bonello and Rodney Gauci	Emma Hickey
2014	Carlo Borg Bonaci	Valentina Rossi
2015	Corazon Mizzi	Julie Zahra
2016	Arthur Caruana	Ben Camille
2017	No commentary	Martha Fenech
2018		Lara Azzopardi
2019		Ben Camille

Gallery

Julie and Ludwig in Istanbul (2004)
Olivia Lewis in Helsinki (2007)
Morena in Belgrade (2008)
Thea Garrett in Oslo (2010)
Gianluca Bezzina in Malmö (2013)
Firelight in Copenhagen (2014)
Amber in Vienna (2015)
Ira Losco in Stockholm (2016)
Claudia Faniello in Kyiv (2017)
Christabelle in Lisbon (2018)
Michela Pace in Tel Aviv (2019)

Notes

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.
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.
The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

Klier, Marcus (8 February 2009). "Malta: Eurovision entrant chosen". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 9 February 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
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.
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.
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.
Stella, Floras (19 November 2009). "Malta: National final on 20th February". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 21 November 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
Granger, Anthony (16 May 2020). "Malta: Destiny Chukunyere Will Compete in Eurovision 2021". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
"Marcel Bezençon Awards". eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
Adams, William Lee (9 July 2015). "Poll: Who was the worst dressed Barbara Dex Award winner?". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 8 December 2019.

External links

ESCMalta Community website
EurovisionMalta.com
Points to and from Malta eurovisioncovers.co.uk
OGAE Malta - The local branch of the official Eurovision Fans Club

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[6] 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.

[note2-7] 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.

[8] The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[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.

[9] Granger, Anthony (16 May 2020). "Malta: Destiny Chukunyere Will Compete in Eurovision 2021". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 May 2020.

[10] "Marcel Bezençon Awards". eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.

[11] Adams, William Lee (9 July 2015). "Poll: Who was the worst dressed Barbara Dex Award winner?". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 8 December 2019.