Beppe Caruana has won the third season of The Voice Kids Malta and will represent the host country at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2026.
The 11-year-old singer, who competed on Team Gaia Cauchi, claimed victory in Saturday night's final after progressing through a two-stage competition at the end of the Maltese selection process.
Caruana was one of six finalists competing for the opportunity to represent Malta on home soil at Ta' Qali on 24 October. The final was hosted by Maxine Pace, who returned to present the programme for a second consecutive season.
The first round saw all six finalists perform the songs they had originally auditioned with. Each coach then selected one act from their team to advance to the Super Final.
Zeah Aquilina, from Team Destiny Chukunyere, and Maya Galea, from Team Aleandro Spiteri Monsigneur, joined Caruana in the final three.
The other finalists — Alaiya Cini, Annis Joy Buttigieg and Nina Grima Wood — were eliminated after the opening performances.
Beppe takes the title
The three Super Finalists then performed a duet with their respective coaches alongside a solo performance. The final decision was made by a jury.
Caruana ultimately finished ahead of 13-year-old Zeah Aquilina and 12-year-old Maya Galea to secure the ticket to Junior Eurovision.
The victory caps a short but intense journey through the Maltese talent show. Caruana was one of nine singers on Gaia Cauchi's team during the Blind Auditions before surviving the Battles and Sing-Offs to reach the final. He ultimately became the second artist coached by Cauchi to earn a place at Junior Eurovision — and now follows the footsteps of the coach herself, who won the competition for Malta in 2013.
The 2026 edition of The Voice Kids Malta was specifically connected to the country's Junior Eurovision selection. The show's official regulations state that the winner of the final would represent Malta at Junior Eurovision, with the finalists also taking part in a songwriting camp where an original song would be created for them.
Beppe's Junior Eurovision song is still to come
Details of Caruana's Junior Eurovision entry have not yet been released.
Under the selection's format, the winning artist receives an original song for the international contest, meaning Caruana's winning performance on The Voice Kids Malta is not necessarily the song that will be performed in Ta' Qali.
The song will have to comply with Junior Eurovision's rules and may be performed in English or Maltese, Malta's official languages. The regulations also require the entry to be between two minutes and 30 seconds and three minutes in length.
Caruana will therefore become the sixth Maltese representative announced for Junior Eurovision 2026, following the confirmations of performers from Albania, Georgia, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands. A total of 16 countries will compete in this year's contest.
From Eliza Borg to Beppe Caruana
Caruana will take over from Eliza Borg, who represented Malta at Junior Eurovision 2025 with 'I Believe'.
Borg finished 11th with 92 points in last year's contest in Tbilisi, Georgia. She also appeared as a special guest during the 2026 The Voice Kids Malta final, returning to the stage one year after representing her country internationally.
There is another connection between Borg and this year's selection: her former coach Destiny Chukunyere was again part of the coaching line-up in 2026. Destiny finished the season with Zeah Aquilina as her finalist, but it was Gaia Cauchi's act who ultimately took the ticket to Junior Eurovision.
Malta's Junior Eurovision legacy
Malta has a particularly strong connection to Junior Eurovision.
The country made its debut at the inaugural contest in 2003 and has won the competition twice. After a break from the contest between 2004 and 2012, Malta returned in 2013 and immediately secured victory with Gaia Cauchi and 'The Start' in Kyiv.
Two years later, Destiny Chukunyere won the 2015 edition in Sofia with “Not My Soul”, giving Malta its second Junior Eurovision title.
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Both of this year's The Voice Kids Malta coaches therefore have Junior Eurovision victories on their CVs — and both will now see one of their young artists compete in the contest they previously won themselves.
Malta has also hosted Junior Eurovision twice, in 2014 and 2016. With Ta' Qali welcoming the competition again in 2026, Malta will become the first country to host Junior Eurovision three times.
The 2026 contest will take place on Saturday, 24 October, at the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre in Ta' Qali. The edition will be built around Malta's traditional festa celebrations, bringing elements of the country's Mediterranean cultural heritage into the show's production.
For Beppe Caruana, the next step is now the biggest one yet: taking the Maltese flag onto the Junior Eurovision stage in front of a home crowd.
