Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025

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Malta in the
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025
Participating broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS)
CountryFlag of Malta.svg  Malta
Selection process The Voice Kids 2
Selection date19 October 2025
Competing entry
Song"I Believe"
ArtistEliza Borg
Songwriters
Participation chronology
◄2024 •2025

Malta will be represented at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "I Believe", written by Destiny Chukunyere, Elton Zarb and Matthew Mercieca, and performed by Eliza Borg. The Maltese participating broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), used the second season of The Voice Kids in order to select its entry for the contest.

Contents

Background

Prior to the 2025 contest, Malta had participated in the contest twenty times since its first entry in the inaugural 2003 contest. Since then, Malta has won the contest on two occasions: in 2013 with "The Start" performed by Gaia Cauchi, and in 2015 with "Not My Soul" performed by Destiny Chukunyere. The nation opted not to take part in the contest in 2011 and 2012. [1] In 2024, Ramires Sciberras competed for Malta with the song "Stilla ċkejkna", which ended up in 5th place out of 17 entries with 153 points. [2]

Before Junior Eurovision

The Voice Kids 2

PBS confirmed its intention to participate in the 2025 contest on 23 June 2025, also revealing that it would use the second season of the talent show The Voice Kids, co-produced with Greatt Company Limited and hosted by Maxine Pace, to select its entry, and opened the submission process for interested artists aged between eight and fourteen. [3] [4] All submissions also required participants to enter an original song, which would be used as their Junior Eurovision entry. [3] The coaches were Destiny, Gianluca Bezzina and Sarah Bonnici, all past Eurovision representatives for Malta. [5] [6] [7]

Final

The final took place on 18 October 2025. The winner was selected through two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, three artists were selected to proceed to the second round by their respective coaches, i.e. one from each team. In the second round, the public vote selected Eliza Borg of team Destiny as the winner. The titles of the original songs performed in the second round were not disclosed. [8] [9]

Key:   Winner

Final –First round –18 October 2025
DrawArtistSongResult
1Eliza Borg"Clown"Advanced
2Mia Lanzon"You Don't Own Me"Eliminated
3Rachele Maria Nistica"My Way"Advanced
4Marie Emeh Camilleri"Listen"Eliminated
5Carly Cachia Arpa"Creep"Advanced
6Oliver Zammit Attard"Fought & Lost"Eliminated
Final –Second round –18 October 2025
ArtistDrawSongDrawSong
Rachele Maria Nistica1"A Million Dreams"4N/A
Carly Cachia Arpa2"Slipping Through My Fingers"5
Eliza Borg3"When You Believe"6"I Believe"

Music video controversy

The music video of "I Believe" was met with criticism from fans and local creatives due to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in its production. More than 220 artists and organisations signed an open letter accusing PBS of "sidelining local talent and disregarding earlier warnings about the unregulated use of AI in cultural production" amid concerns previously raised by Solidarjetà and the Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association, [10] with its signatories claiming the broadcaster had ignored their invitation to engage in a discussion about the issue. [11] PBS responded that it had commissioned Hamrun-based agency Space Studios to produce the video, noting that AI models had become "an integral part of modern creative and production workflows" and expressing support for "responsible use of AI as an emerging creative tool". [12]

At Junior Eurovision

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 will take place at the Gymnastic Hall of Olympic City in Tbilisi, Georgia on 13 December 2025. On 4 November 2025, an allocation draw was held to determine the running order of the contest, ahead of which each song was classified into a different category based on its musical style and tempo. Malta was drawn to open the event in position 1, preceding the entry from the Azerbaijan. [13]

Voting

The same voting system that was introduced in the 2017 edition will be used, where the results will be determined by 50% online voting and 50% jury voting. Every participating broadcaster assembles a national jury that consists of three music industry professionals and two children aged between 10 and 15 who are citizens of the country they represent. The rankings of those jurors are combined to make an overall top ten. [14]

The online voting consists of two phases. The first phase of the online voting will begin on 12 December 2025 when a recap of all the rehearsal performances is shown on the contest's website Junioreurovision.tv before the viewers can vote. After this, voters will also have the option to watch longer one-minute clips from each participant's rehearsal. This first round of voting will end on 13 December at 16:59 CET. The second phase of the online voting will take place during the live show and begin right after the last performance and will be open for 15 minutes. International viewers will be able to vote for three songs. [15] They will also be able to vote for their own country's song. These votes will then be turned into points which will be determined by the percentage of votes received. For example, if a song receives 10% of the votes, it will receive 10% of the available points.

References

  1. ↑ "Malta". Junioreurovision.tv. EBU. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  2. ↑ "Final of Madrid 2024 –Eurovision Song Contest". Junioreurovision.tv. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
  3. 1 2 Farren, Neil (23 June 2025). "🇲🇹 Malta: The Voice Kids Malta to Select Junior Eurovision 2025 Representative". Eurovoix. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  4. ↑ "The Voice Kids Is Back! Apply Now". Public Broadcasting Services . Retrieved 3 October 2025. This year's winner will represent Malta at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest!
  5. ↑ Granger, Anthony (8 September 2025). "🇲🇹 Malta: Destiny Announced as Coach for The Voice Kids Malta". Eurovoix. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  6. ↑ Granger, Anthony (9 September 2025). "🇲🇹 Malta: Gianluca Bezzina Joins The Voice Kids Malta as Coach". Eurovoix. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  7. ↑ Granger, Anthony (10 September 2025). "🇲🇹 Malta: Sarah Bonnici Revealed as The Voice Kids Malta Coach". Eurovoix. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  8. ↑ Farren, Neil (18 October 2025). "🇲🇹 Malta: Eliza Borg to Junior Eurovision 2025". Eurovoix. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  9. ↑ Conte, Davide (11 November 2025). "🇲🇹 Malta: Eliza Borg Releases "I Believe"". Eurovoix. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  10. ↑ "Creatives condemn PBS for AI-produced Junior Eurovision video". The Malta Independent. 18 November 2025. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  11. ↑ Azzopardi, Karl (18 November 2025). "Junior Eurovision AI music video 'a slap in the face' by PBS, creatives say in open letter". Malta Today . Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  12. ↑ Borg, Emma (14 November 2025). "Watch: PBS slammed for 'AI slop' Junior Eurovision video". Times of Malta . Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  13. ↑ "Junior Eurovision 2025 running order announced". Junioreurovision.tv. EBU. 4 November 2025. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  14. ↑ Granger, Anthony (15 November 2018). "Junior Eurovision 2018 – How Does The Voting Work?". Eurovoix.
  15. ↑ "How to vote". Junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union.
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