Malta participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Vodka" written by Philip Vella and Gerard James Borg. The song was performed by Morena. The Maltese entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia was selected through the national final The GO Malta Song for Europe 2008, organised by the Maltese broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services (PBS). The competition consisted of a semi-final round and a final, held on 24 and 26 January 2008, respectively, where "Vodka" performed by Morena eventually emerged as the winning entry after scoring the most points from a seven-member jury and a public televote.
Malta was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 22 May 2008. Performing during the show in position 16, "Vodka" was not announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final on 24 May. It was later revealed that Malta placed fourteenth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 38 points.
Background
Prior to the 2008 Contest, Malta had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty times since its first entry in 1971. Malta briefly competed in the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1970s before withdrawing for sixteen years. The country had, to this point, competed in every contest since returning in 1991. Malta's best placing in the contest thus far was second, which it achieved on two occasions: in 2002 with the song "7th Wonder" performed by Ira Losco and in the 2005 contest with the song "Angel" performed by Chiara. In the 2007 edition, Malta failed to qualify to the final with the song "Vertigo" performed by Olivia Lewis.
For the 2008 Contest, the Maltese national broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), broadcast the event within Malta and organised the selection process for the nation's entry. PBS confirmed their intentions to participate at it on 19 June 2007. Malta selected their entry consistently through a national final procedure, a method that was continued for their 2008 participation.
Before Eurovision
The GO Malta Song for Europe 2008
The GO Malta Song for Europe 2008 was the national final format developed by PBS to select the Maltese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. The competition consisted of a semi-final and final held on 24 and 26 January 2008, respectively, at the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali. Both shows were hosted by former Maltese Eurovision entrant Chiara who represented Malta in the 1998 and 2005, John Demanuele and Ruth Casingena and broadcast on Television Malta (TVM) as well on the website di-ve.com.
Format
The competition consisted of seventeen songs competing in the semi-final on 24 January 2008 where the top eight entries qualified to compete in the final on 26 January 2008. Seven judges evaluated the songs during the semi-final and each judge had an equal stake in the final result. The eight qualifying entries were the songs that received the highest scores from the judges. In the final, the results were based on the results of the public televote and the votes of five judges.
Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their entries between 12 and 13 November 2007. Both artists and songwriters were required to be Maltese or possess Maltese citizenship. Songwriters were able to submit as many songs as they wished, however, artists were only able to submit a maximum of two songs. 225 entries were received by the broadcaster. On 24 November 2007, a shortlist of 36 entries that had progressed through the selection process were announced on the TVM programme Il-Weekend Jibda Hawn. The seventeen songs selected to compete in the semi-final were announced in a press conference held at the Salesians Hall in Sliema on 9 January 2008. Among the selected competing artists were former Maltese Eurovision entrants Mary Spiteri who represented Malta in the 1992 contest, and Chris and Moira who represented Malta in the 1994 contest. The jury panel that selected the seventeen semi-finalists consisted of David Heffernan (Ireland), Anjelina Kirilova (Bulgaria), Viktoria Branimirova (Bulgaria), Wolfgang Weyand (Germany), Michal Dvořák (Czech Republic) and Gerry Keane (United Kingdom).