Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010
Malta selected its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 on February 2010 in The GO Malta EuroSong 2010 competition, organised by the Public Broadcasting Services, the Maltese broadcaster. At the final of the contest held on 20 February Thea Garrett was chosen by jury and televoting to represent Malta with the song "My Dream", written by Jason Paul Cassar and Sunny Aquilina.
Before Eurovision
The GO Malta Eurosong 2010
In November 2009, it was announced that plans for the competition were paralysed by legal disputes between PBS and Grace Borg, former chairwoman of the Maltese Eurovision selection. Despite this the Maltese Head of Delegation, Joe Dimech, has denied that the whole national selection process was in danger, and that PBS were consulting legal advice.New dates for the national selection were to be made after missing their planned start date of 9 November 2009 for the first stage of the contest. On 18 November 2009, a Maltese court ruled in favour of PBS, in that they could prohibit foreign composers from competing in The GO Malta EuroSong 2010, finally allowing the Maltese selection process to continue.
Format
The competition consisted of thirty-six songs competing over six weekly semi-finals, incorporated into the new talent show L-Isfida between 9 December 2009 and 13 January 2010. A five-member international jury evaluated the songs during the semi-finals and each judge had an equal stake in the final result. The sixth set of votes were the results of the public telephone vote and the seventh set of votes were the results of the public SMS vote. The top twenty entries qualified to compete in the final on 20 February 2010. The winner of the final was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from the international jury and a public televote.The semi-finals were hosted by Claudette Pace at the Audiovision TV Studios in Hamrun. The final was hosted by Keith Demicoli and Pauline Agius at the Malta Fairs & Convention Centre in Ta' Qali.
Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their entries until 30 October 2009. In a change from previous years, eligible artists and songwriters were required to be Maltese nationals. Songwriters were able to submit as many songs as they wished, however, the artist could only perform one song. This change however caused some criticism, especially from Grace Borg. 123 entries were received by the broadcaster, considerably less than last year due to PBS rules allowing only one song per singer and allowing only Maltese songwriters to submit entries. Between 2 and 4 December 2009, all entrants performed their songs live in front of an international jury and 36 were selected to compete in the semi-finals, which were announced on 4 December 2009.Among the selected competing artists were former Maltese Eurovision entrants Mike Spiteri who represented Malta in the 1995 contest and Miriam Christine who represented Malta in the 1996 contest, as well as many names familiar to the Maltese Eurovision selection process. The running order for the semi-finals were announced on 4 December 2009.
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final was held on 9 December 2009. Televoting was open from the end of the show until Saturday 12 December at 16:30 CET.| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter | Result |
| 1 | Raquela | "Here I Am" | Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg | Eliminated |
| 2 | Ally | "Curiosity" | Elton Zarb, Gerard James Borg | Eliminated |
| 3 | Richard Edwards | "Change" | Richard Micallef | Eliminated |
| 4 | Foxy Federation | "Fired Up" | Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg | Finalist |
| 5 | Klinsmann | "Her Name Was Anne" | Jonathan Spiteri & Klinsmann Coleiro, Aldo Spiteri | Finalist |
| 6 | J.Anvil | "Mirage" | Andrew Zahra, Deo Grech | Eliminated |
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final was held on 16 December 2009. Televoting was open from the end of the show until Saturday 19 December at 16:30 CET.| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter | Result |
| 1 | Aldo Busuttil | "Pizzicato" | Philip Vella, Alfred C. Sant | Eliminated |
| 2 | Claudia Faniello | "Samsara" | Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg | Finalist |
| 3 | Claire Galea | "Ole Satchmo Blues" | Claire Galea, Erin Stewart Tanti & Claire Galea | Finalist |
| 4 | Godwin Lucas & Eve Daly | "The Best Years" | Carm Fenech | Eliminated |
| 5 | Josef Tabone | "Who Cares?" | Elton Zarb, Rita Pace | Eliminated |
| 6 | Glen Vella | "Just A Little More Love" | Paul Giordimaina, Fleur Balzan | Finalist |
Semi-final 3
The third semi-final was held on 23 December 2009. Televoting was open from the end of the show until Saturday 26 December at 16:30 CET.| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter | Result |
| 1 | Miriam Christine | "Beautiful Contradiction" | Miriam Christine, Gerard James Borg | Eliminated |
| 2 | Thea Garrett | "My Dream" | Jason Paul Cassar, Sunny Aquilina | Finalist |
| 3 | Tiziana Calleja | "Words are Not Enough" | John David Zammit, Paul Callus | Finalist |
| 4 | Eleanor Spiteri | "Velvet Ocean" | Paul Abela, Joe Julian Farrugia | Finalist |
| 5 | Francesca Borg | "I Surrender" | Dominic Cini, Mario J Caruana | Eliminated |
| 6 | Eleanor Cassar | "Choices" | Paul Giordimaina, Fleur Balzan | Finalist |
Semi-final 4
The fourth semi-final was held on 30 December 2009. Televoting was open from the end of the show until Saturday 2 January 2010 at 16:30 CET.| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter | Result |
| 1 | Audrey Marie Bartolo | "Good Intentions" | Miriam Christine, Rita Pace | Finalist |
| 2 | Wayne Micallef | "Save A Life" | Wayne Micallef | Finalist |
| 3 | Ryan Dale & Duminka | "One For You" | Ryan Dale, Jon Lukas | Finalist |
| 4 | Mike Spiteri | "Twenty Thousand Leagues" | Ray Agius, Alfred C. Sant | Eliminated |
| 5 | Cynthia Attard | "If I Knew" | Miriam Christine, Gerard James Borg | Eliminated |
| 6 | Dario Bezzina | "Grave Dancers" | Chan Vella, Alexia Schembri | Eliminated |
Semi-final 5
The fifth semi-final was held on 6 January 2010. Televoting was open from the end of the show until Saturday 9 January 2010 at 16:30 CET.| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter | Result |
| 1 | Petra Zammit | "All I Need" | Andrew Zammit, Keith Zammit | Finalist |
| 2 | Pamela Bezzina | "Hold On" | Paul Giordimaina, Fleur Balzan | Finalist |
| 3 | Nadine Axisa & Clifford Galea | "Once in a Lifetime" | Jason Paul Cassar, Mario Farrugia | Finalist |
| 4 | Priscilla & Kurt | "Waterfall" | Mark Debono, Rita Pace | Finalist |
| 5 | Baklava | "Euphoria" | Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg | Eliminated |
| 6 | Rosman Pace | "Hypnotized" | Rosman Pace | Eliminated |
Semi-final 6
The sixth semi-final was held on 13 January 2010. Televoting will open from the end of the show until Saturday 16 January 2010 at 16:30 CET.| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter | Result |
| 1 | Ruth Portelli | "Three Little Words" | Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg | Finalist |
| 2 | Roger Tirazona | "Silver Rain" | Paul Abela, Joe Julian Farrugia | Eliminated |
| 3 | Jessica Muscat | "Fake" | Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg | Eliminated |
| 4 | Silver Clash | "Broken" | Robert Parde | Finalist |
| 5 | Lawrence Gray | "Stories" | Ray Agius, Godwin Sant | Finalist |
| 6 | Dorothy Bezzina | "Moments" | Chan Vella, Alexia Schembri | Finalist |
Final
The final took place on 20 February 2010. The twenty qualifiers were revealed on 16 January 2010 and the running order draw took place on 17 January 2010. The twenty entries that qualified from the semi-finals were performed again and a 50/50 combination of votes of a five-member jury panel and public televoting determined the winner. After the votes from the jury panel and televote were combined, "My Dream" performed by Thea Garrett was the winner, gaining nearly double the points of runner-up Glen Vella, with Tiziana Calleja finishing in third place.A number of guests performed during the final: Sirusho, the Armenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008; Mary Spiteri, who came third for Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest 1992; and last year's, Malta EuroSong winner, Chiara.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
| 1 | Dorothy Bezzina | "Moments" | 21 | 6 | 27 | 10 |
| 2 | Foxy Federation | "Fired Up" | 0 | 9 | 9 | 18 |
| 3 | Lawrence Gray | "Stories" | 21 | 12 | 33 | 7 |
| 4 | Eleanor Spiteri | "Velvet Ocean" | 25 | 14 | 39 | 5 |
| 5 | Claudia Faniello | "Samsara" | 3 | 28 | 31 | 8 |
| 6 | Thea Garrett | "My Dream" | 54 | 48 | 102 | 1 |
| 7 | Priscilla & Kurt | "Waterfall" | 6 | 13 | 19 | 12 |
| 8 | Nadine Axisa & Clifford Galea | "Once in a Lifetime" | 7 | 12 | 19 | 12 |
| 9 | Glen Vella | "Just a Little More Love" | 28 | 30 | 58 | 2 |
| 10 | Audrey Marie Bartolo | "Good Intentions" | 7 | 3 | 10 | 17 |
| 11 | Klinsmann | "Her Name Was Anne" | 10 | 16 | 26 | 11 |
| 12 | Claire Galea | "Ole Satchmo Blues" | 3 | 6 | 9 | 18 |
| 13 | Wayne Micallef | "Save a Life" | 27 | 9 | 36 | 6 |
| 14 | Petra Zammit | "All I Need" | 7 | 7 | 14 | 15 |
| 15 | Ryan Dale & Duminka | "One for You" | 7 | 6 | 13 | 16 |
| 16 | Eleanor Cassar | "Choices" | 5 | 11 | 16 | 14 |
| 17 | Silver Clash | "Broken" | 0 | 5 | 5 | 20 |
| 18 | Tiziana Calleja | "Words Are Not Enough" | 13 | 32 | 45 | 3 |
| 19 | Ruth Portelli | "Three Little Words" | 19 | 12 | 31 | 8 |
| 20 | Pamela Bezzina | "Hold On" | 27 | 13 | 40 | 4 |
Promotion
Thea Garrett took part in a wide promotional tour on April, in order to promote her Eurovision entry "My Dream". Her tour will begin on 15 April, where she visited Slovakia, appearing on a national breakfast show and on a state radio station. Afterwards she visited the Netherlands, performing at the "Eurovision in Concert" festival in Zaanstad on 24 April. Afterwards she flew to Belgium, where she performed on the "Studio TVL" show on regional TV channel TV Limburg and at a Eurovision party in Antwerp.Garrett also recorded a Maltese version of "My Dream", entitled "Ħolma".
Meanwhile, as of 24 April, Eurovision commentator Valerie Vella will host "Euromix" on PBS, which will preview the video-clips of the 39 Eurovision entries.
At Eurovision
Malta competed in the first semi-final of the contest, on 25 May, and failed to qualify to the final..Split results
- In the Semi-final 1 Malta came 12th with 45 points: the public awarded Malta 12th place with 40 points and the jury awarded 7th place with 66 points.
Points awarded by Malta[Eurovision Song Contest 2008]
Semi-final 1
Final
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |