Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the national final format developed by PBS to select the Maltese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The competition took place on 18 February 2017 at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali, hosted by Daniel Azzopardi and Charlene Mercieca and broadcast on Television Malta (TVM) as well on the broadcaster's website tvm.com.mt.

The competition consisted of sixteen songs competing in the final on 18 February 2017. The winner was determined solely by a public televote.[2] On 28 December 2016, John Bundy, the chief executive of PBS, confirmed that the winning song would be the country’s official Eurovision song for the contest in Kyiv, and it wouldn't be replaced with another song as in 2016.[3]

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries on 30 November 2016 to the PBS Creativity Hub in Gwardamanġa. Songwriters from any nationality were able to submit songs as long as the artist were Maltese or possessed Maltese citizenship. Artists were able to submit as many songs as they wished, however, they could only compete with a maximum of one in the final, so there wasn't a repeat of Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2016 where 2016 national final winner Ira Losco entered with two songs.[4] Losco was also unable to compete due to a rule that prevented the previous winner from competing in the following competition. 156 entries were received by the broadcaster. On 12 December 2016, PBS announced a shortlist of 60 entries that had progressed through the selection process. A jury consisting of eleven members assessed the songs and the sixteen songs selected to compete in the final were announced on 21 December 2016.[5]

The final took place on 18 February 2017. The winner was determined solely by a public televote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show also featured guest performances by 2016 Junior Eurovision entrant Christina Magrin and 2016 Eurovision entrant Ira Losco.[6] After the results of the public televote were announced, "Breathlessly" performed by Claudia Faniello was the winner with 26% of the votes.[7]

Claudia Faniello made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Breathlessly" as the Maltese Eurovision entry. On 2 April, she performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French. Between 3 and 6 April, Faniello took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where she performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.[8][9] On 8 April, Claudia Faniello performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.[10]

The Maltese performance featured Claudia Faniello wearing a glittery silver full-length tight-fitting formal dress, taking inspiration from her music video of the song "Breathlessly". The LED backdrops were mostly dark blue. Claudia appeared on the LED backdrop, sometimes with just a close-up of her face and sometimes with a full body shot. The chandelier was prominent, which was also taking inspiration from the setting of the music video.

The following five members comprised the Maltese jury: [15]

• Kevin Abela – Chairperson – principal of the Trumpet Malta Philharmonic Orchestra
• Whitney Cremona - singer
• Karl Bonaci – TV director
• Chiara Siracusa – singer, represented Malta in the 1998, 2005 and 2009 contests
• Mark Spiteri Lucas – teacher, musician, band leader, songwriter, arranger

Split voting results from Malta (Semi-final 2)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		K. Abela	W. Cremona	K. Bonaci	C. Siracusa	M. Spiteri Lucas	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Serbia	13	6	9	12	11	9	2	15
02	Austria	16	13	13	5	13	13		10	1
03	Macedonia	4	3	3	1	4	3	8	12
04	Malta
05	Romania	10	12	7	6	6	7	4	4	7
06	Netherlands	7	10	6	4	7	5	6	8	3
07	Hungary	17	15	12	13	14	17		5	6
08	Denmark	6	5	8	8	12	6	5	13
09	Ireland	15	11	15	7	5	10	1	7	4
10	San Marino	14	17	4	16	16	15		14
11	Croatia	5	16	16	14	9	12		3	8
12	Norway	8	8	17	17	10	14		11
13	Switzerland	12	9	14	9	15	11		6	5
14	Belarus	1	2	5	11	2	4	7	16
15	Bulgaria	3	1	2	2	1	1	12	1	12
16	Lithuania	11	14	11	15	17	16		17
17	Estonia	9	7	10	10	8	8	3	9	2
18	Israel	2	4	1	3	3	2	10	2	10

Split voting results from Malta (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		K. Abela	W. Cremona	K. Bonaci	C. Siracusa	M. Spiteri Lucas	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Israel	9	2	3	4	11	4	7	17
02	Poland	14	21	10	21	25	18		15
03	Belarus	6	6	9	19	6	9	2	24
04	Austria	10	15	16	9	12	12		11
05	Armenia	4	13	17	8	9	10	1	25
06	Netherlands	12	14	22	12	10	15		12
07	Moldova	15	7	8	5	21	11		10	1
08	Hungary	11	11	11	2	8	8	3	9	2
09	Italy	1	1	1	6	1	1	12	1	12
10	Denmark	16	9	12	16	15	14		19
11	Portugal	5	10	4	3	2	2	10	3	8
12	Azerbaijan	17	23	26	22	26	25		21
13	Croatia	2	12	2	10	3	5	6	8	3
14	Australia	25	20	21	23	20	22		16
15	Greece	26	22	18	13	23	21		18
16	Spain	23	26	20	20	24	24		26
17	Norway	22	16	23	24	14	20		14
18	United Kingdom	20	18	19	17	19	19		7	4
19	Cyprus	21	17	7	14	16	17		20
20	Romania	8	3	6	11	7	6	5	5	6
21	Germany	13	19	13	15	13	16		23
22	Ukraine	18	25	24	26	18	23		22
23	Belgium	24	24	25	25	22	26		6	5
24	Sweden	19	8	14	7	17	13		4	7
25	Bulgaria	3	4	15	1	4	3	8	2	10
26	France	7	5	5	18	5	7	4	13