Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest

Cyprus has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 39 times since making its debut in 1981. Cyprus' first entry was the group Island, who finished sixth. The country's best result in the contest is a second-place finish with Eleni Foureira in 2018.

Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest
Cyprus
Participating broadcasterCyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC)
Participation summary
Appearances39 (32 finals)
First appearance1981
Highest placement2nd: 2018
External links
Cyprus's page at Eurovision.tv Edit this at Wikidata
For the most recent participation see
Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Between 2006 and 2013, Cyprus failed to qualify from the semi-final round six times, before withdrawing in 2014. On 14 July 2014, CyBC officially confirmed Cyprus' return to the contest for 2015, with the country then qualifying for the final every year since, a streak that lasted until its non-qualification in 2022. Cyprus once again returned to the final in 2023.

History

Since its first entry, Cyprus has participated every year except 1988, 2001 and 2014. In 1988, Cyprus withdrew its entry after broadcaster CyBC determined that the intended entry was ineligible; the song had been presented to jurors (but not selected) in the 1984 internal selection process, which was a violation of the Cypriot selection rules. In 2001, the country did not qualify for the contest due to insufficiently high average scores in previous contests, according to the qualification process at the time. In 2014, the broadcaster decided to not participate in the contest and cited public indifference, public opinion regarding the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis, and related budget restrictions as factors for not taking part.[1] On 14 July 2014, CyBC officially confirmed their return to the contest in 2015.[2][3] Cyprus hosted the Eurovision Song Project, which included 2 semi-finals, 1 second chance round and a final.[4][5]

Since its return in 2015, Cyprus has only failed to qualify once, and even reached its best result with Eleni Foureira coming second in 2018. Cyprus holds the record for the most times competing in the Eurovision Song Contest without a single win to date. Most of the Cypriot entries have been sung in Greek or English; the exceptions are in 2000, in which the song "Nomiza" included both Greek and Italian, and in the 2007 contest, in which Evridiki performed "Comme ci, comme ça" entirely in French. Additionally, in both the 2018 contest and the 2021 contest, the songs had some phrases in Spanish.

Voting

Cyprus' exchange of the maximum 12 points with Greece has occurred regularly in the contest, which is often met with derision from the audience.[6] In the 31 instances (1981–2022) of Cyprus being able to vote for Greece in a final, it has voted Greece as having the best song on 26 of them (the exceptions being 1981, 1985, 1990, 1991 and 2015). Since the introduction of televoting in 1998, the two countries have consistently given each other the maximum 12 points until 2015, when neither country gave their 12 points to the other, but both gave their maximum points to Italy.

Cyprus and Turkey never exchanged votes until 2003, a taboo attributed to the Cyprus dispute.

Popularity of the contest

Since its first entry in 1981, Cyprus has had a mixture of varied results. The best result achieved so far is a second place, reached by Eleni Foureira at the 2018 contest.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Cyprus managed to reach the top 10 a number of times, something which made the Contest popular with the Cypriot public. Since 2004, Cyprus' performance has dropped notably. From 2006 to 2009 and again in 2011 and 2013, the country failed to reach the final.

At the same time when Cyprus' performance in the contest dropped vertically, Greece's performance improved very fast by one win and seven top ten results in one decade. This created a shift of interest, with the Cypriot public being more interested in the success of the Greek entry. This is probably because Greece, since 2004, seems to send very popular singers that have a well established fan-club in Cyprus, while Cyprus usually elects their contestants through an open talent contest, which often results in somewhat unknown artists representing the country.

Participation overview
Table key
2 Second place
◁ Last place
X Entry selected but did not compete
† Upcoming event
Year Entrant Song Language Final Points Semi Points
1981 Island "Monika" (Μόνικα) Greek 6 69 No semi-finals
1982 Anna Vissi "Mono i agapi" (Μόνο η αγάπη) Greek 5 85
1983 Stavros and Constantina "I agapi akoma zi" (Η αγάπη ακόμα ζει) Greek 16 26
1984 Andy Paul "Anna Mari-Elena" (Άννα Μαρί-Έλενα) Greek 15 31
1985 Lia Vissi "To katalava arga" (Το κατάλαβα αργά) Greek 16 15
1986 Elpida "Tora zo" (Τώρα ζω) Greek 20 ◁ 4
1987 Alexia "Aspro mavro" (Άσπρο μαύρο) Greek 7 80
1988 Yiannis Dimitrou "Thimame" (Θυμάμαι) Greek Disqualified X
1989 Fanny Polymeri and Yiannis Savvidakis "Apopse as vrethoume" (Απόψε ας βρεθούμε) Greek 11 51
1990 Anastasiou "Milas poli" (Μιλάς πολύ) Greek 14 36
1991 Elena Patroklou "S.O.S." Greek 9 60
1992 Evridiki "Teriazoume" (Ταιριάζουμε) Greek 11 57
1993 Zymboulakis and Van Beke "Mi stamatas" (Μη σταματάς) Greek 19 17 Kvalifikacija za Millstreet
1994 Evridiki "Ime anthropos ki ego" (Είμαι άνθρωπος κι εγώ) Greek 11 51 No semi-finals
1995 Alexandros Panayi "Sti fotia" (Στη φωτιά) Greek 9 79
1996 Constantinos "Mono gia mas" (Μόνο για μας) Greek 9 72 15 42
1997 Hara and Andreas Konstantinou "Mana mou" (Μάνα μου) Greek 5 98 No semi-finals
1998 Michael Hajiyanni "Genesis" (Γένεσις) Greek 11 37
1999 Marlain "Tha'ne erotas" (Θα'ναι έρωτας) Greek 22 2
2000 Voice "Nomiza" (Νόμιζα) Greek, Italian 21 8
2002 One "Gimme" English 6 85
2003 Stelios Constantas "Feeling Alive" English 20 15
2004 Lisa Andreas "Stronger Every Minute" English 5 170 5 149
2005 Constantinos Christoforou "Ela Ela" English 18 46 Top 12 in 2004 final[lower-alpha 1]
2006 Annet Artani "Why Angels Cry" English Failed to qualify 15 57
2007 Evridiki "Comme ci, comme ça" French 15 65
2008 Evdokia Kadi "Femme Fatale" Greek 15 36
2009 Christina Metaxa "Firefly" English 14 32
2010 Jon Lilygreen and the Islanders "Life Looks Better in Spring" English 21 27 10 67
2011 Christos Mylordos "San aggelos s'agapisa" (Σαν άγγελος σ'αγάπησα) Greek Failed to qualify 18 16
2012 Ivi Adamou "La La Love" English 16 65 7 91
2013 Despina Olympiou "An me thimasai" (Aν με θυμάσαι) Greek Failed to qualify 15 11
2015 John Karayiannis "One Thing I Should Have Done" English 22 11 6 87
2016 Minus One "Alter Ego" English 21 96 8 164
2017 Hovig "Gravity" English 21 68 5 164
2018 Eleni Foureira "Fuego" English[lower-alpha 2] 2 436 2 262
2019 Tamta "Replay" English 13 109 9 149
2020 Sandro "Running" English Contest cancelled[lower-alpha 3] X
2021 Elena Tsagrinou "El Diablo" English[lower-alpha 4] 16 94 6 170
2022 Andromache "Ela" (Έλα) English, Greek Failed to qualify 12 63
2023 Andrew Lambrou "Break a Broken Heart" English 12 126 7 94
2024 Silia Kapsis[7] TBA † Upcoming †

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards
Further information: Marcel Bezençon Awards
Year Category Song Composer(s)
lyrics (l) / music (m)		 Performer Final Points Host city Ref.
2004 Composer Award "Stronger Every Minute" Mike Konnaris (m & l) Lisa Andreas 5 170 Turkey Istanbul
[8]
2018 Artistic Award[lower-alpha 5] "Fuego" Alex Papaconstantinou, Geraldo Sandell,
Viktor Svensson, Anderz Wrethov Didrick		 Eleni Foureira 2 436 Portugal Lisbon
[9]

Conductors
Year Conductor[lower-alpha 6] Notes Ref.
1981 Greece Michael Rozakis [10]
1982 United Kingdom Martyn Ford
1983 Greece Michael Rozakis
1984 Luxembourg Pierre Cao [lower-alpha 7]
1985 Greece Charis Andreadis [lower-alpha 8]
1986 United Kingdom Martyn Ford
1987 Belgium Jo Carlier [lower-alpha 9]
1988 Australia John Themis [lower-alpha 10]
1989 Greece Charis Andreadis
1990 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Stanko Selak [lower-alpha 11] [11]
1991 Bulgaria Alexander Kirov Zografov
1992 George Theophanous
1993
1994
1995
1996 Stavros Lantsias
1997
1998 Costas Cacogiannis

Heads of delegation

The public broadcaster of each participating country in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the contestants, songwriters, composers and backing vocalists, among others.[12]

Year Head of delegation Ref.
1999 Marios Skordis
[13]
2003 Marios Skordis
[14]
2007–present Evi Papamichael
[15][16][17][18]

Commentators and spokespersons
Year Commentator Radio commentator Spokesperson Ref.
1974 UnknownDid not participate[19]
1975 – 1980 No broadcast
1981 Fryni PapadopoulouNeophytos TaliotisAnna Partelidou
1982
1983
1984 Pavlos Pavlou
1985 Themis Themistokleous
1986 Neophytos TaliotisPavlos Pavlou
1987 Fryni Papadopoulou
1988 Daphne Bokota (for ERT and RIK)No radio broadcastDid not participate
1989 Neophytos TaliotisPavlos PavlouAnna Partelidou
1990
1991 Evi Papamichael[18]
1992
1993
1994
1995 Andreas Iakovidis
1996 Marios Skordis
1997
1998 Marina Maleni
1999
2000 Loukas Hamatsos
2001 No radio broadcastDid not participate
2002 Pavlos PavlouMelani Steliou
2003 Loukas Hamatsos
2004 No radio broadcast
2005 Melani Steliou
2006 Constantinos Christoforou
2007 Vaso KomninouGiannis Haralambous
2008 Melina KarageorgiouHristina Marouhou
2009 Nathan MorleySophia Paraskeva
2010 Christina Metaxa
2011 No radio broadcastLoukas Hamatsos
2012
2013 Melina Karageorgiou
2014 No radio broadcastDid not participate
2015 Melina KarageorgiouLoukas Hamatsos
2016
2017 Tasos Tryfonos and Christiana ArtemiouTasos Tryfonos and Christiana ArtemiouJohn Karayiannis
2018 Costas Constantinou and Vaso KomninouNo radio broadcastHovig
[20][21]
2019 Evridiki and Tasos Trifonos
[22][23]
2021 Louis PatsalidesLoukas Hamatsos
[24]
2022 Melina Karageorgiou and Alexandros Taramountas
[25]
2023
[26]

Photogallery

See also

Notes
  1. According to the then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
  2. Although the lyrics are in English, the Spanish title "Fuego" is repeated throughout the song.
  3. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  4. Contains repeated words in Spanish
  5. Voted by previous winners.
  6. All conductors are of Greek-Cypriot nationality unless otherwise noted.
  7. Host conductor; according to performer Andy Paul, he originally intended to have co-arranger Les Vandyke conduct the entry, only for CyBC to refuse to pay his fee.
  8. Also conducted the Greek entry.
  9. Host conductor
  10. Prior to "Thimame"'s disqualification, the intention was to have Themis conduct and, additionally, play the guitar solo.
  11. Host conductor; several television commentators erroneously stated that the song's composer and co-arranger, John Vickers, was the conductor. He was one of the backing musicians at the Eurovision final.

References
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  4. Xifaras, Billy (14 July 2014). "Cyprus confirms participation, takes cues from Melodifestivalen". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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  9. "Here are the winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards 2018!". eurovision.tv. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  10. Roxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84583-118-9.
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