Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 and selected their entry through a national final, organised by Cypriot broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC). After an open call to performers to submit proposals, ten entries were shortlisted for the 7 February national final. Deep Zone and their song "Play" were disqualified after the song was found to have been unofficially released before the final, breaching the contest's rules and leaving nine to compete in the final. Welsh singer Jon Lilygreen and The Islanders were chosen as the Cypriot entry on 7 February with their song "Life Looks Better in Spring" and competed in the second half of the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010.
Eurovision 2010: Epilogi tis kypriakis symmetochis[]
Eurovision 2010: Epilogi tis kypriakis symmetochis (Eurovision 2010: Selection of the Cypriot participation) was the national final format developed by CyBC in order to select Cyprus' entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010.[1] The competition took place on 7 February 2010 at the CyBC studios in Nicosia, hosted by Andreas Georgiou. The show was broadcast on RIK 1, RIK Sat as well as online via the broadcaster's website cybc.cy. The show was also broadcast in Greece via the channel ERT1.[2]
Competing entries[]
Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 5 October 2009 and 27 November 2009. All artists were required to have Cypriot nationality or have residency in Cyprus as of 2008. At the conclusion of the deadline, 70 entries were received by CyBC.[1] Ten entries were selected by a seven-member selection committee and announced on 12 December 2009.[1] The running order for the ten entries was announced on 24 December 2008.[3]
Among the competing artists was former Cypriot Eurovision representative Constantinos Christoforou (1996, 2002, 2005) and former Bulgarian Eurovision representatives Deep Zone (2008). Among the songwriters, Mike Connaris composed the Cypriot Eurovision entry in 2004. On 29 January 2010, "Nothing Is Real", composed by Nasos Lambrianides and Melis Konstantinou, was withdrawn from the competition (in order to avoid splitting votes with their other selected song) and replaced by "Waiting" performed by Andreas Economides.[4] On 3 February 2010, "Play" performed by Deep Zone was disqualified as the song was released on YouTube and other websites before the broadcast of the final.[5]
The final took place on 7 February 2010. Nine entries competed and the winner, "Life Looks Better in Spring" performed by Jon Lilygreen and The Islanders, was selected by a 50/50 combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and public televoting.
Jon Lilygreen and The Islanders performed "Life Looks Better in Spring" in the second semi-final on 27 May. Cyprus was amongst the ten qualifiers in the semi-final evening proceeding to the final on 29 May, making it the first appearance of Cyprus in the final since 2005, placing 10th with 67 points.[6] The public awarded Cyprus 10th place with 53 points and the jury awarded 9th place with 79 points.[7] In the Final Cyprus came 21st with 27 points, with the public awarding Cyprus 23rd place with 16 points and the jury awarding 18th place with 57 points.[7][8]
Cyprus
