Many changes will be made to the Maltese selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest. The newly appointed PBS Eurosong Team has announced that the choice will be made over three stages, while the second and third phase will be televised. The new system is supposed to give more promotion to the local artists, songwriters and authors.
1st phase
Songs may be submitted by composers and lyricists of Maltese nationality or songwriters from countries, where Maltese songrwriters would also have the opportunity to compete. Up to two songs may be submitted per singer, although only one song per singer is allowed in the final stage. Submissions will be accepted on 13th and 14th October at the PBS offices inG’Mangia. Between 23rd and 26th October and on 1st and 2nd November, 80 songs will be chosen internally for the second phase.
- You can download the rules from pbs.com here.
2nd phase
80 songs will be presented in ten weekly televised shows to be held between 8th November and 9th January. A jury will choose 15 entries to move forward to the national final. Another five entries will be given a wildcard by the televoters. The shows will be aired on Saturdays on TVM.
3rd phase – national final
20 songs will compete in the national final. A jury will choose three songs to go forward to the "super-final", where a televoting will be held. However, the votes given by the juries will be kept and included in the voting. The eventual winner will represent Malta in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow.
It will be Malta's 22nd participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Being one of the smallest competing countries, it has been very succesful in the 1990s, when it achieved eight top 10 placingsin a rowand in 2002 and 2005 with two second places, the best results so far. However, the last three years were not successful at all: Malta finished last in 2006 and was eliminated in the semi finals in 2007 and 2008.
