56 entries have qualified to the next phase of the Malta Eurosong 2009 festival. The songs were chosen out of some 182 songs by an international panel of experts.

The judges were Alon Amir (Israel), Frank Cachia (Malta), Lenoir Francis (France), Alvin Laudi (Malta), Nadienne Sacco (Malta), Vincent Scerri (Malta) and No Yon (South Korea).