Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 with the song "" , composed by Andreas Giorgallis, with lyrics by Rodoula Papalambrianou, and performed by Constantinos. The Cypriot participating broadcaster, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), selected its entry through a national final.
Before Eurovision
Competing entries The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) opened a submission period for Cypriot artists and composers to submit songs until 12 January 1996. The deadline was later postponed to 21 January 1996. By the end of the submission period, 43 entries had been submitted. On 4 February 1996, in radio room one of the CyBC studios, an 8-member jury listened to the received submissions and chose eight songs to compete in the national final.
Final The final was broadcast live at 21:10 (EET) on RIK 1 on 5 March 1996 in a show titled (). The contest was held at the Monte Caputo Nightclub in Limassol, and was hosted by Marina Maleni. The winner was decided by a 20-member jury who each gave out 10 points to their favourite song, 8 to their second favourite, and 6 through to 1 points for their third to eighth placing songs.
+ Final - 5 March 1996 Artist Song Songwriter(s) Points Place 1 Katerina Chartosia "Kai se roto" () Katerina Logothetis-Chartosia 78 5 2 Michalis Hatzigiannis "Trello paidi" () Andros Papapavlou, Leonidas Malenis 139 2 3 Sofi Christofidou "Antecho" () Koralia Schiza, Ilias Antoniadis 109 4 4 Anastasios "Epi gis eirini" () Charis Anastasios 72 6 5 Katerina Chartosia "Erota mou" () Theos Kallias, Giorgos Karavokyris 111 3 6 Kyros Lontos "Chilies seirines" () Kyros Lontos 54 8 7 Constantinos "Mono gia mas" () Andreas Giorgallis, Rodoula Papalambrianou 162 1 8 Giorgos Kalopedis "Kravgi" () Loukas Christou, Antis Oskis 55 7 + Detailed Jury VotesSongJuryTotal1234567891011121314151617181920 1"Kai se roto"10524386611633152314478 2"Trello paidi"46458101086310881045551010139 3"Antecho"84884555585642384638109 4"Epi gis eirini"23316323221105486622172 5"Erota mou"586654348103165648856111 6"Chilies seirines"1112124236442821241354 7"Mono gia mas"610510106810105851061010101085162 8"Kravgi"32103211144221313136255
At Eurovision In 1996, for the only time in Eurovision history, an audio-only pre-qualifying round of the 29 songs entered (excluding hosts who were exempt) was held in March in order for the seven lowest-scoring songs to be eliminated before the final. Cyprus received 42 points, placing joint 15th and thus qualifying for the final in Oslo.
On the night of the final, Constantinos Christoforou (performing mononymously as Constantinos) performed fifth in the running order, following and preceding . At the closing of the voting, "" had received 72 points, placing Cyprus 9th out of 23 competing countries. The Cypriot jury awarded its 12 points to Portugal.
Voting
Qualifying round
+ Points awarded to Cyprus (qualifying round) Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by Cyprus (qualifying round) Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Final
+ Points awarded to Cyprus (final) Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by Cyprus (final) Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
References