Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011

The "Song Interpretation" category of the talent show Performance, developed by CyBC, selected the Cypriot artist for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.[5] The competition, which took place at the CyBC studios in Nicosia, hosted by Marina Maleni and broadcast on RIK 1, RIK Sat as well as online via cybc.cy, commenced on 11 June 2010 and featured 39 contestants aged between 16 and 30.[6] Nine contestants were determined by the combination of votes from a four-member judging panel consisting of Cypriot 1985 Eurovision representative Lia Vissi, musician and music teacher Costas Kakoyiannis, actor Neoclis Neocleous and choreographer Fotis Nikolaou (60%) and televoting (40%) to progress to the final on 10 September 2010.[3][7] Among the finalists was 2006 Cypriot Junior Eurovision entrant Louis Panagiotou. During the final, Christos Mylordou who covered the song "Supreme" by Robbie Williams was selected as the winner exclusively by a public televote.[8][9]

On 26 November 2010, CyBC announced that composers were able to submit their songs to the broadcaster until 31 December 2010.[10] All songwriters were required to have Cypriot nationality, origin or residency as of 2009.[11] At the conclusion of the deadline, 11 songs were received by CyBC and on 20 January 2011, the broadcaster announced that a seven-member selection committee had internally selected "San aggelos s'agapisa" as Christos Mylordos' contest song.[12][13] The song along with its official preview video, directed by Maria Charis, was presented to the public on 28 February 2011 during the CyBC evening news broadcast.[14][15]

Christos Mylordou specifically promoted "San aggelos s'agapisa" as the Cypriot Eurovision entry on 2 March 2011 by performing the song during the Greek Eurovision national final Ellinikós Telikós 2011.[16]

Christos Mylordos took part in technical rehearsals on 3 and 7 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May. This included the jury show on 11 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Cypriot performance featured Christos Mylordos joined on stage by four male backing vocalists and dancers, all dressed in black with silver elements in their belts and accessories. During the performance, Mylordos and the male backing performers leaned over at an approximately 45 degree angle by using boots that were fixed to the floor and accompanied with smoke effects, while a female backing vocalist, dressed in white, was located on the satellite stage and swung a large circular object during parts of the song. The LED screens displayed floating diamonds and crystals as well as large circular objects that leaned over in the same angles as the male performers.[19][20] The choreographer for the performance was Fotis Nicolaou.[3] The male backing performers that joined Christos Mylordos were Aggelos Agathangelou, Antoniou Antonis, Christos Nicolaou and Pavlos Polichrinis, while the female backing vocalist was Chrissie Andreou.[21] 1995 and 2000 Cypriot Eurovision entrant Alex Panayi was previously rumoured by to have been considered by CyBC as one of the backing vocalists, which was denied by the singer who also stated that he was willing to help and support if asked by the broadcaster.[22][23]

At the end of the show, Cyprus was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Cyprus placed eighteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 16 points.[24]

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Cyprus had placed eighteenth with the public televote and seventeenth with the jury vote in the second semi-final. In the public vote, Cyprus scored 23 points, while with the jury vote, Cyprus scored 24 points.[25]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Cyprus and awarded by Cyprus in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Sweden in the semi-final and to Greece in the final of the contest.