Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010

"Apricot Stone" performed by Eva Rivas was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a professional jury and a public televote.

Performing during the show in position 2, "Apricot Stone" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 29 May.

[2] Armenia has used various methods to select the Armenian entry in the past, such as a live televised national final to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision.

Evrotesil 2010 was the national final that selected the Armenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010.

[13] Prior to the contest, Eva Rivas specifically promoted "Apricot Stone" as the Armenian Eurovision entry on 18 April 2010 by performing during the Armenia Tashir Awards which was held in Moscow, Russia.

[8] Rivas also took part in promotional activities in Belgium where she appeared during the TV Limburg talk show Studio TVL and performed during the Pink Nation event which was held in Antwerp on 30 April.

On 7 February 2010, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in.

In Armenia, the two semi-finals and the final were broadcast on Channel 1 with commentary by Hrachuhi Utmazyan and Khoren Levonyan.

The stage lighting displayed orange colours and included smoke and pyrotechnic effects throughout the performance.

[16][17] The backing vocalists that joined Eva Rivas on stage were: Gor Sujyan, Mariam Merabova and Tigran Petrosyan.

[18] At the end of the show, Armenia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final.

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.

Eva Rivas at the Eurovision Opening Party in Oslo