Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the national final format developed by PBS to select the Maltese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The competition took place on 3 February 2018 at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali, hosted by radio presenter Colin Fitz 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 3 February 2018. The winner was determined by the votes of an international jury consisting of representatives from five countries and a public televote. The five members of the jury that evaluated the entries during the final consisted of:

• Regína Ósk (Iceland) – Former Eurovision entrant having represented Iceland in the 2008 contest as part of Euroband
• Jan Bors (Czech Republic) – Head of Delegation for Czech Republic at the Eurovision Song Contest
• Kleart Duraj (Albania) – Head of Delegation for Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest
• Meri Popova (Macedonia) – Head of Delegation for Macedonia at the Eurovision Song Contest
• Bruno Santori (Italy) – Conductor

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries between 30 June and 1 September 2017. 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. 2017 national final winner Claudia Faniello was unable to compete due to a rule that prevented the previous winner from competing in the following competition. 129 entries were received by the broadcaster. On 15 September 2017, PBS announced a shortlist of 30 entries that had progressed through the selection process. An international jury consisting of seven members assessed the songs behind closed doors on 27, 29 and 30 September 2017 and the sixteen songs selected to compete in the final were announced on 11 October 2017.[2][3]

On 19 January 2018, a new version of "Dai Laga" was released, replacing the previous edition which was said to have breached EBU regulations due to it including some instrumental music that may have been bought via the internet by the composer. PBS asked the composer to remove the stem or provide a revised instrumentation.[4]

The final took place on 3 February 2018. The winner was determined by the votes of a five-member jury panel (50%) and the results of public televoting (50%). After the votes from the jury panel and televote were combined, "Taboo" performed by Christabelle Borg was the winner.[5] Each point given during the televoting results equated to approximately 37 votes.

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

The following five members comprised the Maltese jury:[8]

• Elton Zarb – Chairperson – composer, musician, producer
• Dorian Cassar – radio and TV presenter, business owner
• Olwyn Jo Saliba – producer, video editor
• Alexander Kitcher – event coordinator, technical director at Valletta 2018 Foundation
• Amber Bondin – music artist, represented Malta in the 2015 Contest

Split voting results from Malta (Semi-final 2)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		D. Cassar	O. Jo Saliba	A. Kitcher	A. Bondin	E. Zarb	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Norway	1	1	2	2	4	1	12	5	6
02	Romania	8	11	7	8	13	9	2	14
03	Serbia	14	15	9	7	17	10	1	15
04	San Marino	13	7	10	5	7	8	3	1	12
05	Denmark	2	2	5	4	6	3	8	3	8
06	Russia	17	17	8	13	11	16		8	3
07	Moldova	6	16	6	14	3	7	4	7	4
08	Netherlands	9	13	12	16	10	11		6	5
09	Australia	7	4	3	6	1	4	7	2	10
10	Georgia	16	8	11	15	14	14		17
11	Poland	10	14	17	10	12	15		10	1
12	Malta
13	Hungary	11	12	15	17	8	13		11
14	Latvia	12	10	14	9	16	12		13
15	Sweden	3	6	1	3	2	2	10	4	7
16	Montenegro	4	3	4	11	9	6	5	16
17	Slovenia	15	9	16	12	15	17		12
18	Ukraine	5	5	13	1	5	5	6	9	2

Split voting results from Malta (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		D. Cassar	O. Jo Saliba	A. Kitcher	A. Bondin	E. Zarb	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Ukraine	13	22	16	11	26	17		21
02	Spain	21	24	14	19	18	21		25
03	Slovenia	23	23	18	20	19	23		24
04	Lithuania	12	13	11	12	11	13		6	5
05	Austria	18	9	12	9	8	10	1	15
06	Estonia	19	21	19	15	25	22		14
07	Norway	6	8	7	6	7	7	4	17
08	Portugal	26	25	17	22	20	24		26
09	United Kingdom	22	16	9	18	16	16		10	1
10	Serbia	25	19	20	26	23	26		19
11	Germany	10	11	15	10	15	12		7	4
12	Albania	24	18	4	21	22	11		18
13	France	3	3	3	3	3	3	8	13
14	Czech Republic	4	7	5	7	6	6	5	8	3
15	Denmark	11	12	26	13	24	15		9	2
16	Australia	9	10	10	8	9	8	3	5	6
17	Finland	14	17	21	25	13	18		16
18	Bulgaria	20	4	23	14	10	9	2	4	7
19	Moldova	15	15	24	24	17	20		22
20	Sweden	5	5	6	5	5	4	7	12
21	Hungary	17	26	25	23	21	25		23
22	Israel	7	6	8	4	4	5	6	3	8
23	Netherlands	16	20	22	16	14	19		20
24	Ireland	8	14	13	17	12	14		11
25	Cyprus	2	1	2	1	1	1	12	2	10
26	Italy	1	2	1	2	2	2	10	1	12