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 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.

Malta Song for Europe 2008

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 shows and each judge had an equal stake in the final result. In the semi-final, the qualifying entries were the eight 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 the 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, PBS announced a shortlist of 36 entries that had progressed through the selection process. The seventeen songs selected to compete in the semi-final were announced 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. Among the songwriters, Ray Agius, Raymond Mahoney, Gerard James Borg and Philip Vella were all past writers of Maltese Eurovision entries. Paul Giordimaina represented Malta in the 1991 edition.

Semi-final

The semi-final took place on 24 January 2008. Seventeen songs competed for eight qualifying spots in the final. The running order for the semi-final was announced on 9 January 2008. The show was opened with a guest performance by the Boom Band and Ruth Casingena, while the interval act featured further performances by Ruth Casingena together with Chiara.

Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)	Result
1	Glen and Pamela	„Loved By You“	Paul Giordimaina, Fleur Balzan	Eliminated
2	Claudia Faniello	„Caravaggio“	Ray Agius, Godwin Sant	Finalist
3	Eleanor Cassar	„Give Me a Chance“	Paul Giordimaina, Fleur Balzan	Finalist
4	Mary Spiteri	„My Last Encore“	Ray Agius, Godwin Sant	Eliminated
5	Morena	„Casanova“	Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg	Finalist
6	Daniela Vella	„Throw Your Stones“	Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg	Eliminated
7	Rosman Pace	„Love Is Just the Way“	Rosman Pace	Finalist
8	Klinsmann	„Go“	Dominic Galea, Claudette Pace	Finalist
9	Morena	„Vodka“	Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg	Finalist
10	Pamela	„Whispers“	Paul Giordimaina, Fleur Balzan	Eliminated
11	Klinsmann	„Superhero“	Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg	Eliminated
12	Jean Claude Vancell	„Contradiction“	Jean Claude Vancell	Eliminated
13	Chris and Moira	„All Right Now“	Chris Scicluna, Moira Stafrace	Eliminated
14	Jessica Muscat	„Tangled“	Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg	Eliminated
15	Mary Spiteri	„If You Believe“	Paul Abela, Raymond Mahoney	Eliminated
16	Petra Zammit	„Street Car of Desire“	Elton Zarb, Rita Pace	Finalist
17	Claudia Faniello	„Sunrise“	Ray Agius	Finalist

Final

The final took place on 26 January 2008. The eight entries that qualified from the semi-final were performed again and the votes of a seven-member jury panel (20%) and the results of public televoting (80%) determined the winner. The show was opened with a guest performance of „Vertigo“ and „Heaven“ by the 2007 Maltese Eurovision entrant Olivia Lewis, while the interval act featured performances by Chiara, 1995 Maltese Eurovision entrant Mike Spiteri and Australian Idol 2007 winner Natalie Gauci. After the votes from the jury panel and televote were combined, „Vodka“ performed by Morena was the winner.

Draw	Artist	Song	Jury	Jury	Televote	Televote	Total	Place
			Votes	Points	Votes	Points
1	Eleanor Cassar	„Give Me a Chance“	49	10	3,821	40	50	4
2	Claudia Faniello	„Caravaggio“	49	12	12,714	56	68	2
3	Petra Zammit	„Street Car of Desire“	39	4	3,421	24	28	6
4	Morena	„Casanova“	40	6	3,607	32	38	5
5	Klinsmann	„Go“	43	8	3,299	16	24	7
6	Claudia Faniello	„Sunrise“	71	16	4,518	48	64	3
7	Rosman Pace	„Love Is Just the Way“	36	2	3,253	8	10	8
8	Morena	„Vodka“	49	14	16,979	64	78	1

Mary Spiteri represented Malta in ESC 1992. Chris & Moira represented Malta in ESC 1994. They were also backing singers for Malta in ESC 1993 & 1999. Morena previously came 9th in the 2006 Maltese Final. At the 2nd ESC Semi-Final she was 14th. One of her backing singers was Annabelle Debono who took part in the 2006 Maltese Final & the 2007 Maltese Semi-Final.