Malta competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. The Maltese entry was selected through the

Malta Song for Europe Malta has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 34 times since its debut in . The contest is broadcast in Malta on the PBS channel, TVM. Malta has yet to win the contest, but is the only non-winning country to have achieved four top thr ...

contest, where the winner was

Ira Losco Ira Losco M.Q.R. (born 31 July 1981) is a Maltese pop singer. Her career breakthrough came in 2002, when she represented Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song "7th Wonder". She placed second in the competition, Malta's best ...

with the song "7th Wonder", written by

Philip Vella Philip Vella is a Maltese musical composer. He has won the main national festivals of Malta several times such as the Malta Song for Europe, International Festival of Maltese Song (Malta Song Festival) as well as L-Għanja tal-Poplu festival. He ...

and

Gerard James Borg Gerard James Borg is a Maltese songwriter, author, and concept creator. He is well known for writing multiple songs that competed in the Eurovision Song Contest. Borg has written six of the Maltese entries for the annual Eurovision Song Contest wi ...

Before Eurovision

Malta Song for Europe 2002

Public Broadcasting Services Public Broadcasting Services Limited (PBS) is the public broadcaster of Malta. PBS is funded by government grants and the sale of commercial airtime. Its TVM channel is Malta's most watched television channel, and its radio station Magic Malta ...

(PBS), the Maltese broadcaster, organised a national final to select the 2002 Maltese entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. Malta Song for Europe 2002 was held on 15 and 16 February, where the winner was decided through an expert jury, comprising 5/8 of the overall vote, and public televoting, comprising the remaining 3/8 of the vote. Sixteen songs competed to be the Maltese entry to Eurovision, with the final winner being

with the song "7th Wonder".

At Eurovision

At Eurovision Ira performed "7th Wonder" 20th in the running order, following

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and preceding

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. Malta finished the night with 164 points (maximum 12s from

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

) finishing 2nd of the 24 entries, Malta's best placing to date, with only Romania failing to award the song any points. The Maltese votes were calculated through a 50/50 split in public televote held after all songs had performed and the votes of a professional jury. However this would be the last year that countries could choose the use a 50/50 voting method after allegations of vote swapping were used between the eight countries (including Malta) that used juries for part or all of their votes.

Voting

References

External links

Maltese National Final 2002
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2002

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...