Malta’s broadcaster PBS has officially announced that the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2026 final will take place on January 17th. This confirms the return of Malta to the contest for the 2026 season.
MESC Submission Window and dates announced.
PBS CEO, Keith Chetcuti, announced that the MESC semi-final will take place on Thursday 15th January, with the final happening two days later on the 17th.
18 semi-finalists will compete for the coveted 12 places in the final. This will be done with a combination of jury and public votes. The submissions window will run from the 17th-23rd November, with the competing artists will be announced on 1st December.
PBS organised a MESC specific songwriting camp that was held earlier this year between 15 June and 24 June. The attendees included former Eurovision participants Michela Pace and Fabrizio Faniello, MESC 2025 runner up Kristy Spiteri, and foreign songwriters such as Felicia Lu and Melanie Wehbe.
Malta’s Eurovision Journey
Malta made its Eurovision debut in 1971, with Joe Grech performing “Marija I-Maltija” (Maria the Maltese Lass), finishing 18th with 52 points. Malta did not participate in Eurovision from 1975 until 1991, when they returned with the song “Could It Be” by Paul Giordimaina and Georgina, finishing 12th with 32 points. Since then, Malta has been at every Eurovision and finished in the top 10 an impressive 12 times. Their best result is second place, which they’ve achieved twice. The first time was in 2002, when Ira Losco sang “7th Wonder,” and the second time in 2005 with Chiara’s “Angel.”
Miriana Conte represented Malta in 2025 with her song “Serving”, previously known as “Kant”. Competing in the second semi-final, Malta qualified – ending their three-year long non-qualification streak. Miriana would eventually finish in 17th place, earning a total of 91 points. Of these, 83 came from the juries, while just 8 came from televoters.
Who would you like to see in MESC? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2026!
News Source: TVM News
Photo Credit: MESC
Rory Gannon