First artist confirmed for the 71st edition! George Perris will represent Cyprus at the Eurovision Song Contest 2027. Public broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) has officially confirmed the internal selection of the artist as the Cypriot representative for the European contest, which will take place in Burgas (Bulgaria) on 11, 13 and 15 May.
For the third consecutive year, Cyprus has become the first country to announce its representative, opening the line-up of artists who will take to the Eurovision stage.
The artist who will fly the flag for Cyprus at the Eurovision Song Contest 2027 was revealed this Wednesday, 4 November during the morning programme ‘Omorfi mera’, broadcast on public channel RIK 1 from 08:30 to 10:00 CET (09:30 to 11:00 local time in Nicosia).
Once again, the Cypriot broadcaster has opted to select its representative internally from the proposals submitted by record labels. The deadline set by the Cypriot broadcaster for interested artists to submit their applications closed on 25 October. A music committee featuring industry experts from both Cyprus and abroad was then responsible for assessing the applicants and making the final selection.
As a new development, George Perris’ entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2027 will be selected through a national final, in which he will perform several songs. Meanwhile, the song submission window has officially opened until 13 December, meaning interested composers can now submit their songs.
Who is George Perris? Meet Cyprus’ representative at Eurovision 2027
George Perris (1983) is an internationally recognised Greek pop singer, born in Greece to a French mother and a Greek father. A multilingual artist who has sung in Greek, English, French and Spanish, and with a distinctive artistic career, he has established himself as one of the most prominent Greek performers of his generation, appearing at prestigious international venues such as Lincoln Center in New York, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens and Place des Arts in Montreal.
Throughout his career, George Perris has collaborated with major names in music, including Michel Legrand, Lara Fabian, Plácido Domingo, Tina Arena and Mario Frangoulis. He has also starred in two television specials for US broadcaster PBS: ‘Live at Jazz at Lincoln Center’ and ‘Live at the Acropolis’, which reached a potential audience of more than 150 million viewers.
In December 2021, George Perris was selected by the Grammy Recording Academy to take part in ‘Global Spin’, a series dedicated to outstanding international artists.
Committed to social causes, he was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, focusing his work on the fight against violence against children. The French Ministry of Culture also awarded him the title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in recognition of his contribution to the promotion of culture and the arts.
How did Cyprus choose its representative for Eurovision 2027?
Broadcaster CyBC opted to approach record labels to receive artist proposals. The submission period closed on Sunday, 25 October, with each company allowed to put forward up to six names from its roster.
A specialist committee from the public broadcaster then reviewed the applications and selected George Perris as Cyprus’ representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2027. The expert panel created specifically for this process therefore assessed the candidates and decided who will fly the Cypriot flag on the Eurovision stage.
The committee overseeing the selection process for Cyprus’ representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2027 decided to expand the selection system introduced last year. As its main new feature, the expert panel included international music industry professionals and people connected to Eurovision, who took part in the final selection alongside the Cypriot representatives. The aim was to ensure a broader, more objective and representative assessment of the artist proposals submitted to the Cypriot public broadcaster by the different record companies.
The new development comes after that initial decision. Confirming reports published by the media, the Cypriot broadcaster will organise a televised national final to choose the song that the selected artist will perform.
The process includes an open call for song submissions, followed by the selection of between three and five finalist songs. George Perris will perform the songs during a show broadcast by the Cypriot broadcaster, after which the public and a professional jury will decide which entry will make it to the Eurovision stage.
George Perris’ song for Cyprus at Eurovision 2027 will be selected in a televised show
The main change to the selection method will be the choice of song. The selected artist will perform several songs in a special programme produced and broadcast by Cyprus’ public broadcaster.
As reported by local media, the final decision will be made through a combination of a professional jury and televoting, giving both experts and the audience a say in choosing the entry that will travel to Eurovision 2027.
Alongside the internal selection of George Perris, broadcaster CyBC has opened the song submission process, inviting composers and lyricists from Cyprus and abroad to submit their original entries through its online platform. They will have until Sunday, 13 December at 22:59 CET (23:59 local time in Cyprus).
Access Cyprus’ Eurovision 2027 song submission call
Once the submission and evaluation period has ended, the shortlisted songs will be revealed during a special live television programme, in which the final entry will be chosen through a voting system split equally between the public (50%) and a professional jury (50%).
This system marks the return of the public to the Cypriot selection process for the first time since 2015, although not through a traditional national final in which viewers can also choose the representative. This time, the performer will enter the show having already been selected internally beforehand.
Cyprus’ initiative marks the return of a national final after more than a decade. The last time the country used a televised process of this kind was for Vienna 2015, coinciding with its return to the Eurovision Song Contest after one year away. On that occasion, John Karayiannis was selected through the Eurovision Song Project with «One Thing I Should Have Done». He later finished 22nd at the contest with just 11 points.
Since 2016, Cyprus has opted to select its representatives internally. Over the years, the Mediterranean island has been represented by artists including Hovig (2017), Tamta (2019), Sandro Nicolas (2020), Elena Tsagrinou (2021), Andromache (2022), Andrew Lambrou (2023), Silia Kapsis (2024), Theo Evan (2025) and Antigoni (2026). During this period, Cyprus’ greatest success at the Eurovision Song Contest came with Eleni Foureira and «Fuego» at Lisbon 2018.