Cyprus is one of the 18 competing countries at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Tbilisi this coming Saturday. Their artists Rafaella and Christos will perform “Away” in slot number 16 during the show.
Copenhagen 2003
Cyprus was one of the 16 countries lucky enough to secure a place in the inaugural edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, following a draw made by the EBU due to popular demand.
Theodora Rafti was selected from a field of 29 submissions from the island nation and her song “Mia efhi” was sent to Copenhagen. Sadly for a debut, she could only secure 14th place of 16 entries.
Lillehammer 2004
Undeterred by their start in the contest, the following year Cyprus returned to the contest in Norway. A national final was organised and it was determined that Marios Tofi would sing for Cyprus with the entry “Onira”.
This attempt was much more successful for Cyprus, as they secured 8th place of the 18 competitors, a record for Cyprus that has since only been matched but never beaten.
Hasselt 2005
2005 proved a turbulent year for Cyprus at the contest. Despite being confirmed to take part and even organising a selection process which was won by “Tsirko” by Rena Kiriakidi, the country had to withdraw as there were allegations of plagiarism against the winning song.
This brought the field of competitors down from 17 to 16 as no other country wished to use Cyprus’ space in the contest. However, due to the late withdrawal, Cyprus were still granted permission to broadcast and vote in the contest.
Bucharest 2006
After their absence in Belgium, Cyprus swiftly returned the following year for Bucharest. A nail biting selection show saw “Agoria koritsia” performed by Luis Panagiotou and Christina Christofi eventually win the right to represent the country after being in a tie break for first place.
Cyprus managed to match their previous attempt in 2004 at the contest and finished in 8th place overall on the board, a position they haven’t been able to match to this day.
Rotterdam 2007
In 2007, Cyprus was one of three countries that formally submitted a bid to host the contest. Eventually however, they lost this opportunity to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Determined to carry on at the contest, a fourth attendance from Cyprus came in 2007 when Yiorgos Ioannides performed “I mousiki dinei ftera” after winning the selection show. Once more, their entry was entirely in the Greek language.
Cyprus eventually finished in 14th place out of 17 countries on the night. Despite finishing so low, they still secured Greece’s 12 points.
Limassol 2008
Undeterred by last year’s defeat, Cypriot broadcaster CyBC once again found themselves in the bidding process to host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. This time they had competition from the cities of Stockholm, Kyiv and Lisbon, which coincidentally was the timeline of hosts of the adult contest from 2016-2018.
Eventually, Cyprus won the bid to host the contest and despite being the only non-capital in the running, the city of Limassol was given the honours of doing so.
In June of that year, Cyprus got busy selecting the act to represent them on home soil. In the end it was Elena Mannouri and Charis Savva who won the selection with “Gioupi gia!“.
In Limassol, they were drawn to close their own show, where they eventually ended in 10th place of 15.
Kyiv 2009
The following year, the contest moved to Ukraine and Kyiv, a city which Limassol managed to beat in the bidding process the previous year. Rafaella Costa won the right to sing for Cyprus this year with “Thalassa, helios, aeras, fotia“.
In the Ukrainian capital, Rafaella only managed to reach 11th of the 13 competing countries.
Marsa 2014
After a string of lower results and a chance to host the contest, for the first time in 2010, Cyprus decided not to organise a selection and instead take a break from the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. After a failed attempt to come back the year previously, Cyprus finally announced its return to the contest in 2014.
As the contest was evolving at this stage, for the first time Cyprus’ entry was selected internally. In addition, their entry “I pio omorfi mera” sung by Sophia Patsalides, was the first in their history to be performed in Greek and English. In the end they finished in 9th place in Malta.
Valletta 2016
Following a return after four years, Cyprus once more temporarily departed from the contest and was not present for Sofia 2015. The following year, as the contest returned to Malta, so again did Cyprus return to compete.
Image Source: JuniorEurovision.tv/Andres Putting
Once again they opted for an artist through internal selection at CyBC, where “Dance Floor” by George Michaelides was selected. Sadly in this situation, Cyprus scored their lowest placing to date with 16th place of 17 entries.
Tbilisi 2017
Cyprus’ first rehearsal. Image source: Thomas Hanses | EBU
Following on from a disappointing result, CyBC again went for the internally selected song “I Wanna Be a Star” performed by Nicole Nicolaou. Once again, it was a song performed in Greek and English.
In Georgia, it was determined by draw that Cyprus would open the show. Sadly on the night, they finished in last place for the first time in their history at the contest, despite being a favourite among fans going into the show.
In 2018, having just achieved their best ever result at the adult contest, CyBC that they were withdrawing from Junior Eurovision once again. This was rumoured at the time to be because they wanted to focus their resources on securing a first win at the adult contest while they were riding a success with a second place, however this was disputed.
Madrid 2024
Image Source: Corinne Cumming/EBU
While Cyprus took a lengthy absence from the contest, as submissions were closing, they announced a surprise return to the contest for the 2024 edition. Maria Pissarides, a student in the United Kingdom at the time, was internally selected to be the island’s representative with the song “Crystal Waters”.
In Madrid, Maria managed a reasonable 13th place overall in the results. Cyprus hadn’t finished that high since they finished 9th in 2014.
Junior Eurovision 2025
Junior Eurovision 2025 will be held on December 13 in Tbilisi after Andria Putkaradze gave Georgia their record-breaking fourth victory with “To My Mom”. The contest will be held at the Olympic Palace, which previously hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2017.
A total of 18 countries will participate in Junior Eurovision 2025. These countries are:
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Malta: Eliza Borg – “I Believe”
Azerbaijan: Yağmur – “Miau miau”
Croatia: Marino Vrgoč – “Snovi”
San Marino: Martina Crv – “Beyond the Stars”
Armenia: Albert – “Brave Heart”
Ukraine: Sofia Neresesian – “Motanka”
Ireland: Lottie O’Driscoll Murray – “Rúin”
Netherlands: Meadow – “Freeze”
Poland: Marianna Kłos – “Brightest Light”
North Macedonia: Nela Mančeska – “Miracle”
Montenegro: Asja Džogović – “I tužna i srećna priča”
Italy: Leonardo Giovannangeli – “Rockstar”
Portugal: Inês Gonçalves – “Para onde vai o amor?”
Spain: Gonzalo Pinillos – “Érase una vez (Once Upon a Time)”
Georgia: Anita Abgariani – “Shine like a star”
Cyprus: Rafaella Panteli and Christos Georgiou – “Away”
France: Lou Deleuze – “Ce monde”
Albania: Kroni Pula – “Fruta perime”
Image source: Corinne Cumming/EBU
