Malta placed fifth in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday evening, as Georgia stormed to first place for the fourth time in the competition’s history.
Ramires Sciberras, 12, obtained 153 points in total with his song Stilla ċkejkna and came behind France, Ukraine, Portugal and winners Georgia.
The event was held in Madrid, Spain and was the 22nd edition of the annual song contest. There were 17 contestants.
It was a historic night for Malta irrespective of the final result, as it was the first time that Malta competed with a song entirely in Maltese.
Written by Ion Kirkop, Stilla ċkejkna tells the story of how Ramires’ parents travelled to Cambodia and adopted him as an infant.
Ramires has said he was inspired to perform as a singer by Destiny Chukunyere, who won the Junior Eurovision for Malta in 2015.
During the Saturday night finale, Ramires and his song proved to be especially popular with audiences – he obtained 79 points (3rd overall) from online voting.
In the end, Georgia’s representative Andria Putkaradze took home the winning prize with his song To My Mom.