The competition consisted of a semi-final round and a final, held on 22 and 23 January 2016, respectively, where "Chameleon" performed by Losco eventually emerged as the winning entry after scoring the most points from a five-member jury and a public televote.

The competition consisted of a semi-final and final held on 22 and 23 January 2016, respectively, at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in the nation's capital city of Valletta.

The fourteen entries that qualified from the semi-final were performed again and the votes of a six-member jury panel (5/6) and the results of public televoting (1/6) determined the winner.

The national final rules set by PBS allowed for the winning song to be partially modified or completely changed.

[18][19] "Walk on Water" was written by Lisa Desmond, Tim Larsson, Tobias Lundgren, Molly Pettersson Hammar and Ira Losco herself.

[21][22] Losco appeared as a guest during a special edition of the TVM programme Xarabank on 18 March to discuss and present the song.

[18] Ira Losco made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Walk on Water" as the Maltese Eurovision entry.

[23] On 3 April, she performed during the Eurovision Pre-Party, which was held at the Izvestia Hall in Moscow, Russia and hosted by Dmitry Guberniev.

[25] On 9 April, Ira Losco performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Hera Björk.

[26] On 16 April, Losco performed "Walk on Water" live during the ČT1 televised broadcast of the charity show Pomozte dětem, which was held at the La Fabrika theatre in Prague, Czech Republic.

[28] In addition to her international appearances, Ira Losco also completed promotional activities in Malta where she appeared during the TVM talk show programme Xarabank on 22 April and performed during the Malta Eurovision Party at the Aria Complex in San Ġwann on 23 April.

[29] The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 took place at the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden and consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, and the final of 14 May 2016.

[44] Ira Losco was joined by four off-stage backing vocalists: Pamela Bezzina, Anna Azzopardi, Lars Säfsund and Molly Pettersson Hammar.

[52][53] Voting during the three shows was conducted under a new system that involved each country now awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting.

Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency.

This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.

[54] In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.

The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

"[58] She received praise from her manager Howard Keith Debono, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and the Leader of the Opposition Simon Busuttil.

[59] Two days later, Losco urged fellow Maltese musicians not to be pretentious over the contest, citing its relevance to competition within the music industry and its growing quality.

However, she stated she would not commit to representing Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest for a third time, "The industry is cut-throat, as every artist knows.