Originally, Cyprus was relegated from the contest as it finished in the bottom 7 of the 1993 contest; however, after Italy withdrew from the contest, their place was awarded to Cyprus, who ultimately competed.
On 12 November 1993, after Italy announced their withdrawal, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) announced that they would participate in the 1994 contest.[1] On the same day, a submission period for Cypriot artists and composers to submit songs was opened until 28 January 1994.[1] By the end of the submission period, 93 entries had been submitted.[2] On 20 February 1994, in radio room one in the CyBC buildings, a 12-member jury listened to the received submissions and chose eight songs to compete in the national final.[2]
The final was broadcast live at 21:00 EET on RIK 1 on 18 March 1994 in a show titled Diagonismós Tragoudioú Giourovízion (Διαγωνισμός Τραγουδιού Γιουροβίζιον).[3] The contest was held at the International Conference Centre in Nicosia and was hosted by Achilleas Grammatikopoulos.[4][5] The running order was decided by a random draw which was done in the presence of the songwriters of the competing entries.[6] The winning song was chosen by a 12-member professional jury.[4]
In the summer of 1993 the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) confirmed that the seven lowest-scoring countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 would be barred from entering the 1994 contest, to make way for seven countries which would participate for the first time. As Cyprus had placed in the bottom seven, the country was unable to compete in the 1994 contest. However, later in 1993, RAI –the participating broadcaster from Italy– subsequently announced that it would not participate in the event, leading to Cyprus being readmitted as the relegated country with the best result at the 1993 contest.[7]
On the night of the final, Evridiki performed fourth in the running order, following Ireland and preceding Iceland. At the closing of the voting, "Eimai anthropos ki ego" had received 51 points, placing Cyprus 11th out of 25 competing countries. The Cypriot jury awarded its 12 points to Greece.[8]
^Roxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Four: The 1990s. Prestatyn, United Kingdom: Telos Publishing. pp. 168–170. ISBN978-1-84583-163-9.
Cyprus
