Cyprus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "Stronger Every Minute" performed by Lisa Andreas. The song was written by Mike Connaris, who had twice written a runner up in Eurovision selection process for the United Kingdom. The Cypriot entry for the 2004 contest in Istanbul, Turkey was decided on 17 February 2004, through a 10-song national final organised by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC). To promote the entry, the song was released as a CD single and Andreas performed the song alongside other Eurovision entrants of the year at a show in London. Cyprus was drawn to compete 14th in the contest's semi-final, held on 12 May 2004 and placed fifth, qualifying for the 15 May final. At the final, the nation's entry was performed 21st on the night and placed fifth out of the 24 competing entries with 170 points. Background Prior to the , Cyprus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 20 times since its first entry in 1981. It then participated yearly, only missing the 1988 contest when its selected song "Thimame" by was disqualified for being previously released, and the 2001 contest when it was relegated. To this point, the country's best placing was fifth, which it achieved twice: in 1982 with the song "Mono i agapi" performed by Anna Vissi and in with "Mana mou" performed by Hara and Andreas Constantinou. Cyprus' least successful result was in when it placed last with the song "Tora zo" by Elpida, receiving only four points in total. Before Eurovision National final The Cypriot broadcaster opted to hold a national final to select the nation's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 15 October 2003 and 2 January 2004. All artists and composers were required to have Cypriot nationality. At the conclusion of the deadline, 62 entries were received by CyBC. Ten entries were then selected by a five-member selection committee and announced on 7 February 2004. All competing entries were English-language songs. The national final took place on 17 February 2004 at the Pavilion Night Club in Nicosia, hosted by Loukas Hamatsos. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show featured guest performances by 2004 Israeli Eurovision entrant David D'Or and 2004 Lithuanian Eurovision entrants Linas and Simona. "Stronger Every Minute", a power ballad performed by Lisa