Malta participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 on 26 November 2017 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Maltese entrant for the 2017 contest was selected through a national final, organised by the Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) on 1 July 2017, while their song was selected internally. Each of the ten participants performed covers of non-Eurovision candidate songs during the national final. Gianluca Cilia was declared winner with his cover of Perdere l'amore.[1]
See main article: Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Prior to the 2017 contest, Malta had participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest twelve times since its first entry in 2003 only opting not to participate at the 2011 and 2012 contests. Malta has won on two occasions: in 2013 when Gaia Cauchi won with the song "The Start", and again in 2015 when Destiny Chukunyere came first with "Not My Soul" when it won the contest with 185 points, breaking the previous record held by Spain for the most points ever given to a winner.[2]
The national final took place on 1 July 2017.[3] The national final consisted of ten competing acts participating in a televised production. Each of the 10 participants sang a song of their own choice. After all of them had performed, the results were decided through televoting, and 9-year-old Gianluca Cilia was announced as the winner of the national final.[4] [5]
| Draw | Artist | Song[6] | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thea Aquilina | "It's Man's Man's World" | — | |
| 2 | Jahel Cardona | "One Night Only" | — | |
| 3 | Gianluca Cilia | "Perdere l'amore" | 1 | |
| 4 | Kira Copperstone | "The Voice Within" | — | |
| 5 | Riona Degiorgio | "True Colors" | — | |
| 6 | Rianne Demicoli | "Satellite" | 3 | |
| 7 | Aidan Jay Drakard | "Mad World" | — | |
| 8 | Demi Galea | "Breathing Underwater" | — | |
| 9 | Kylie Meilak | "I Believe" | — | |
| 10 | Veronica Rotin | "And I Am Telling You" | 2 |
On 30 September 2017 the Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) announced that Gianluca Cilia will sing "Maltese: Dawra Tond|i=unset" (en|Round in a Circle) at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017.[7]
During the opening ceremony and the running order draw which took place on 20 November 2017, Malta was drawn to perform twelfth on 26 November 2017, following Ukraine and preceding Russia.[8]
| + | |||||||||
| Draw | Country | Juror A | Juror B | Juror C | Juror D | Juror E | Average Rank | Points Awarded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 13 | |||
| 02 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 6 | ||
| 03 | 6 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 11 | |||
| 04 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 7 | ||
| 05 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | ||
| 06 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 14 | |||
| 07 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 12 | 15 | |||
| 08 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 5 | ||
| 09 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 10 | 13 | 7 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 12 | |||
| 11 | 4 | 6 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 4 | ||
| 12 | |||||||||
| 13 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | ||
| 14 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 9 | 2 | ||
| 15 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 8 | 3 | ||
| 16 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 14 | 6 | 10 | 1 |