Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest

Cyprus
Cyprus
Member station CyBC
National selection events
Participation summary
Appearances 35 (29 finals)
First appearance 1981
Best result 2nd: 2018
Worst result Last: 1986
External links
CyBC page
Cyprus's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see
Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

Cyprus has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 35 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.

Since 2004, Cyprus failed to qualify from the semi-final round for six out of eight years (2006–2013), before withdrawing from the 2014 contest. On 14 July 2014, CyBC officially confirmed Cyprus' return to the contest, with the country reaching the final four times in a row in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

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 entered (but not selected) in the 1984 national 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 withdraw from the contest and cited public indifference and the economic difficulties for not taking part.[1] As of 2018, Cyprus now holds the record for the most times competing in the Eurovision Song Contest without a single win with 35 entries into the contest.

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.

Withdrawal

On 3 October 2013, the Cypriot broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) withdrew from the 2014 contest. Reasons that were cited are public opinion regarding the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis and budget restrictions as factors that influenced this decision.[1]

Voting

Cyprus is famous for always exchanging 12 points with Greece in the Semi Final and Final, though there have been exceptions. The last time Cyprus gave Greece less than 12 points was in 2015 (8 points). Since the advent of televoting in 1998, the two countries have consistently given each other the maximum 12 points until the 2015 Contest, where neither country gave their 12 to the other, but instead both gave them to Italy.

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

Popularity of the Contest

Since its first entry in 1981, Cyprus has had a mixture of good and bad 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 had managed to reach the top 10 a number of times, something which made the Contest become popular in the Cypriot public. Since 2004, Cyprus' performance has dropped notably. From 2006 to 2009 and again in 2011 & 2013, the country didn't manage 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 contest, which often results in young and somewhat unknown artists representing the country.

2015 return

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 their return in 2015 the country has never failed to qualify, and even made their best result with Eleni Foureira coming second in 2018.

Contestants

Table key
  Winner
  Second place
  Third place
  Last place
Year Artist Language Title Final Points Semi Points
1981 Island Greek "Monika" (Μόνικα) 6 69 No semi-finals
1982 Anna Vissi Greek "Mono i agapi" (Μόνο η αγάπη) 5 85
1983 Stavros & Constantina Greek "I agapi akoma zi" (Η αγάπη ακόμα ζει) 16 26
1984 Andy Paul Greek "Anna Maria Lena" (Άννα Μαρία Λένα) 15 31
1985 Lia Vissi Greek "To katalava arga" (Το κατάλαβα αργά) 16 15
1986 Elpida Greek "Tora zo" (Τώρα ζω) 20 4
1987 Alexia Greek "Aspro mavro" (Άσπρο-μαύρο) 7 80
1988 Yiannis Dimitrou & Scott Adams Greek "Thimame" (Θυμάμαι) Withdrawn
1989 Yiannis Savvidakis & Fani Polymeri Greek "Apopse as vrethoume" (Απόψε ας βρεθούμε) 11 51
1990 Haris Anastazio Greek "Milas poli" (Μιλάς πολύ) 14 36
1991 Elena Patroklou Greek "SOS" 9 60
1992 Evridiki Greek "Teriazoume" (Ταιριάζουμε) 11 57
1993 Kyriakos Zympoulakis & Dimos Van Beke Greek "Mi stamatas" (Μη σταματάς) 19 17 Kvalifikacija za Millstreet
1994 Evridiki Greek "Eimai anthropos ki ego" (Είμαι άνθρωπος κι εγώ) 11 51 No semi-finals
1995 Alex Panayi Greek "Sti fotia" (Στη φωτιά) 9 79
1996 Constantinos Greek "Mono gia mas" (Μόνο για μας) 9 72 15 42
1997 Hara & Andreas Constantinou Greek "Mana mou" (Μάνα μου) 5 98 No semi-finals
1998 Michalis Hatzigiannis Greek "Genesis" (Γένεσις) 11 37
1999 Marlain Greek "Tha 'nai erotas" (Θα 'ναι έρωτας) 22 2
2000 Voice Greek, Italian "Nomiza" (Νόμιζα) 21 8
2001 Did not participate
2002 One English "Gimme" 6 85
2003 Stelios Constantas English "Feeling Alive" 20 15
2004 Lisa Andreas English "Stronger Every Minute" 5 170 5 149
2005 Constantinos Christoforou English "Ela Ela (Come Baby)" (Ελα Ελα) 18 46 Top 12 Previous Yearb
2006 Annet Artani English "Why Angels Cry" Failed to qualify 15 57
2007 Evridiki French "Comme ci, comme ça" 15 65
2008 Evdokia Kadí Greek "Femme Fatale" 15 36
2009 Christina Metaxa English "Firefly" 14 32
2010 Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders English "Life Looks Better in Spring" 21 27 10 67
2011 Christos Mylordos Greek "San aggelos s'agapisa" (Σαν άγγελος σ'αγάπησα) Failed to qualify 18 16
2012 Ivi Adamou English "La La Love" 16a 65 7 91
2013 Despina Olympiou Greek "An me thimasai" (Aν με θυμάσαι) Failed to qualify 15 11
2014 Did not participate
2015 Giannis Karagiannis English "One Thing I Should Have Done" 22 11 6 87
2016 Minus One English "Alter Ego" 21 96 8 164
2017 Hovig English "Gravity" 21 68 5 164
2018 Eleni Foureira English c "Fuego" 2 436 2 262
2019

NOTES
a. ^ In 2012, Cyprus and Ukraine were both awarded with 65 points each in the final, however, according to tie-break procedures, Ukraine finished 15th overall and Cyprus 16th because Ukraine received points from a greater amount of countries between the two.
b. ^ If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition, back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten with Spain and the United Kingdom finishing after 15th place, the countries who placed 11th and 12th were advanced to the following year's grand final along with the rest of the top ten countries.
c. ^ Although the lyrics are in English, the Spanish title 'Fuego' (fire) is repeated throughout the song.

Voting history

As of 2018, Cyprus' voting history is as follows:

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Composer Award
Year Song Composer(s)
Lyrics (l) / Music (m)		 Performer Final
Result		 Points Host city
2004 "Stronger Every Minute" Mike Konnaris (m & l) Lisa Andreas 5th 170 Istanbul
Artistic Award
Year Song Performer Final
Result		 Points Host city
2018 "Fuego" Eleni Foureira 2nd 436 Lisbon

Commentators and spokespersons

Year(s) Commentator Spokesperson Radio commentator
1981Fryni PapadopoulouAnna PartelidouNeophytos Taliotis
1982
1983
1984Pavlos Pavlou
1985Themis Themistokleous
1986Neophytos TaliotisPavlos Pavlou
1987Fryni Papadopoulou
1988Daphne Bokota (for ERT and RIK)Cyprus did not participateNo radio broadcast
1989Neophytos TaliotisAnna PartelidouPavlos Pavlou
1990
1991Evi Papamichail
1992
1993
1994
1995Neophytos TaliotisAndreas Iakovidis
1996Evi PapamichailMarios Skordis
1997
1998Marina Maleni
1999
2000Loukas Hamatsos
2001Cyprus did not participateNo radio broadcast
2002Melani SteliouPavlos Pavlou
2003Loukas Hamatsos
2004No radio broadcast
2005Melani Steliou
2006Constantinos Christoforou
2007Vaso KomninouGiannis Haralambous
2008Melina KarageorgiouHristina Marouhou
2009Sophia ParaskevaNathan Morley
2010Christina Metaxa
2011Loukas HamatsosNo radio broadcast
2012
2013Melina Karageorgiou
2014Cyprus did not participateNo radio broadcast
2015Loukas HamatsosMelina Karageorgiou
2016
2017Tasos Tryfonos and Christiana ArtemiouJohn KarayiannisTasos Tryfonos and Christiana Artemiou
2018Costas Constantinou and Vaso KomninouHovigTBA

Conductors

All conductors are Cypriot except those with a flag.

  • Greece Michael Rozakis (1981, 1983)
  • United Kingdom Martyn Ford (1982, 1986)
  • Luxembourg Pierre Cao (1984)
  • Greece Charis Andreadis (1985, 1989)
  • Belgium Jo Carlier (1987)
  • Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Stanko Selak (1990)
  • Bulgaria Alexander Kirov Zografov (1991)
  • George Theophanous (1992–95)
  • Stavros Lantsias (1996–97)
  • Costas Cacogiannis (1998)[6]

Photogallery

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Jiandani, Sanjay (3 October 2013). "Eurovision 2014: Cyprus will not participate in Copenhagen". ESCtoday. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "Cyprus to make Eurovision come back in 2015". eurovision.tv. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  3. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (14 July 2014). "Cyprus: CyBC confirms participation in Eurovision 2015". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  4. ↑ http://wiwibloggs.com/2014/07/14/cyprus-confirms-participation/55346/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ http://www.cybc.com.cy/pdf/eurovision/eurovision-participation.pdf
  6. ↑ http://andtheconductoris.eu/
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