Earlier this month, Maltese singer Nicole Azzopardi was in Armenia to participate in the Yerevan is Calling festival, where the former Junior Eurovision contestant sang a song in Armenian, Im Annune Hayastan E (My name is Armenia), for which she was awarded two trophies and three diplomas.

Azzopardi won the prestigious title for the Best Performance of an Armenian Song, which was presented to her by festival director Nadezhda Sargsyan. She also came in second place for the Best Armenian Song, which was awarded by the mayor of Yerevan, Taron Margaryan.

Held under the auspices of the Armenian Ministry of Culture, Yerevan City Hall and EMI-BI, Yerevan is Calling aims to promote Armenian culture and develop cultural relations with artists from different countries. In all, 18 artists from 17 nations took part in this first edition of the festival, which also marked the 2,794th anniversary of Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia.

Among the various artists who took part this year were Hila Ben David, who was also the Grand Prix winner, Evelina Sašenko from Lithuania, Karolina Szczepanik, a former X-Factor finalist in Poland, and Alisher Karimov from Kazakhstan, the Gold winner at the Hollywood World Championship of Performing Arts.