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Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest

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Template:Infobox song contest country

Malta has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 34 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, when it returned. Malta has participated every year since. 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, having achieved only two top 10 results in recent years: first being Gianluca Bezzina's eighth-place in 2013, and Destiny Chukunyere's seventh-place finish in 2021.

History

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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 second-places and two third-places make it the most successful country not to win the contest.

In the last 15 contests, Malta has only reached the top 10 twice, with Gianluca Bezzina finishing eighth in 2013, and Destiny Chukunyere finishing seventh in 2021. 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 eight times, in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022.

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 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 was not a part of the "Big Four".

Selection process

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See also: National selections for the Eurovision Song Contest

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 (Template:Lang-mt), 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).

A typical Maltese national final would consist of: the rules for submissions by composers, authors, and singers being published in October, first elimination rounds in December, and semi-finalists announced in January. The semi-final would then be held in February, followed two days later by a final to choose Malta's representative at the contest. 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, and 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 and 2020 contests, with PBS instead using X Factor Malta to select the artist. The national final format returned for the 2022 contest.

Participation overview

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Table key
1
 Winner
2
 Second place
3
 Third place
◁
 Last place
X
 Entry selected but did not compete
†
 Upcoming
Year Entrant Song Language Final Points Semi Points
1971 Joe Grech "Marija l-Maltija" Maltese 18 ◁ 52 No semi-finals
1972 Helen and Joseph "L-imħabba" Maltese 18 ◁ 48
1975 Renato "Singing This Song" English 12 32
1991 Paul Giordimaina and Georgina "Could It Be" English 6 106
1992 Mary Spiteri "Little Child" English 3 123
1993 William Mangion "This Time" English 8 69 Kvalifikacija za Millstreet
1994 Moira Stafrace and Christopher Scicluna "More than Love" English 5 97 No semi-finals
1995 Mike Spiteri "Keep Me in Mind" English 10 76
1996 Miriam Christine "In a Woman's Heart" English 10 68 4 138
1997 Debbie Scerri "Let Me Fly" English 9 66 No semi-finals
1998 Chiara "The One That I Love" English 3 165[lower-alpha 1]
1999 Times Three "Believe 'n Peace" English 15 32
2000 Claudette Pace "Desire" English[lower-alpha 2] 8 73
2001 Fabrizio Faniello "Another Summer Night" English 9 48
2002 Ira Losco "7th Wonder" English 2 164
2003 Lynn Chircop "To Dream Again" English 25 4
2004 Julie and Ludwig "On Again... Off Again" English 12 50 8 74
2005 Chiara "Angel" English 2 192 Top 12 previous year[lower-alpha 3]
2006 Fabrizio Faniello "I Do" English 24 ◁ 1 Top 11 previous year[lower-alpha 3]
2007 Olivia Lewis "Vertigo" English Failed to qualify 25 15
2008 Morena "Vodka" English 14 38
2009 Chiara "What If We" English 22 31 6 86
2010 Thea Garrett "My Dream" English Failed to qualify 12 45
2011 Glen Vella "One Life" English 11 54
2012 Kurt Calleja "This Is the Night" English 21 41 7 70
2013 Gianluca "Tomorrow" English 8 120 4 118
2014 Firelight "Coming Home" English 23 32 9 63
2015 Amber "Warrior" English Failed to qualify 11 43
2016 Ira Losco "Walk on Water" English 12 153 3 209
2017 Claudia Faniello "Breathlessly" English Failed to qualify 16 55
2018 Christabelle "Taboo" English 13 101
2019 Michela "Chameleon" English 14 107 8 157
2020 Destiny "All of My Love" English Contest cancelled[lower-alpha 4] X
2021 Destiny "Je me casse" English[lower-alpha 5] 8 165 To Be Announced
2022 Emma Muscat "I Am What I Am" English Failed to qualify 16 47
2023 The Busker "Dance (Our Own Party)" English TBD Qualified

Awards

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Marcel Bezençon Awards

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Further information: Marcel Bezençon Awards
Year Category Song Performer Final Points Host city Ref.
2005 Press Award "Angel" Chiara 2 192 Ukraine Kyiv
[6]

Winner by OGAE members

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Further information: OGAE
Year Song Performer Final result Points Host city Ref.
2021 "Je me casse" Destiny 7 255 Template:Country data Netherlands Rotterdam [7]

Barbara Dex Award

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Further information: Barbara Dex Award
Year Performer Host city Ref.
1997 Debbie Scerri Template:Country data Ireland Dublin
[8]
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Commentators and spokespersons

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Year Commentator Spokesperson Ref.
1971 Victor Aquilina No spokesperson
1972 Norman Hamilton
1973 Charles Saliba Did not participate
1974
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 Stephanie Spiteri
1999 Charlo Bonnici Nirvana Azzopardi
2000 Valerie Vella
2001 Alfred Borg Marbeck Spiteri
2002 John Bundy Yvette Portelli
2003 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 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
2021 Stephanie Spiteri
2022 Aidan
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Notes

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  1. ^ Klier, Marcus (2009-02-08). Malta: Eurovision entrant chosen. ESCToday.
  2. ^ Sanz Martin, Jorge (2009-02-08). Malta: Chiara bids in Eurovision 2009 for third time. Oikotimes.
  3. ^ Klier, Marcus (2009-09-02). Malta: major changes to the selection process. ESCToday.
  4. ^ Floras, Stella (2008-10-14). Malta: More developments on 2009 national selection. ESCToday.
  5. ^ Stella, Floras (19 November 2009). Malta: National final on 20th February. ESCToday.
  6. ^ Marcel Bezençon Awards (July 2019).
  7. ^ 2021 OGAE Poll (en-US) (2021-04-12).
  8. ^ Adams, William Lee (9 July 2015). Poll: Who was the worst dressed Barbara Dex Award winner?. Wiwibloggs.

Further reading

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  • 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.[permanent dead link]

References

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Template:Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest Template:Eurovision Song Contest


Cite error:
  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. ^ Contains some words in Maltese.
  3. ^ a b 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.
  4. ^ The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  5. ^ Contains one repeated phrase in French.
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