Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

After coming 24th (second last) in the 2008 contest, talks within TVP suggested that Poland may withdraw from the 2009 contest. However, they indicated that their decision on withdrawal would be based on changes, if any, to the current voting system. TVP also suggested to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the contest's organisers, that an international jury should be put into use in the next contest, such as the one used in the Eurovision Dance Contest. TVP's spokeswoman, Aneta Wrona, indicated that Poland's decision would not be affected by the then-ongoing war in South Ossetia. TVP's decision might also have been affected by Poland's win in the Eurovision Dance Contest 2008, and Poland being the possible host of the next edition.[4][5]

After the EBU revealed a new voting system for the final of the 2009 contest, introducing a mixture of televoting and jury voting, TVP officially confirmed their participation in Moscow, with the Piosenka dla Europy contest to select the Polish representative for the 2009 contest.[6][7]

Piosenka dla Europy 2009 was the national final organised by TVP in order to select the Polish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The show took place on 14 February 2009 at the TVP Headquarters in Warsaw, hosted by Radosław Brzózka and Paulina Chylewska.[8] A four-member jury panel and a public telephone vote exclusively selected the winner. The national final was reported to have watched by 3,800,000 viewers in Poland with a market share of 28%, being the most watched show that night.[9]

TVP opened a submission period for interested artists and songwriters to submit their entries between 28 November 2008 and 16 January 2009. Only artists that had either released an album or single with national radio airplays, had competed in at least one professional song contest or music festival at a national level, or that had a valid contract with a record company or a professional concert agency were eligible to compete.[10] The broadcaster received 122 submissions at the closing of the deadline, of which 87 came from within Poland. An eight-member selection committee selected twelve entries from the received submissions to compete in the national final. The selection committee consisted of Zuzanna Łapicka (jury president), Paweł Sztompke (TVP1), Piotr Baron (Radio 3), Tomasz Miara (Radio ZET), Dariusz Maciborek (Radio RMF FM), Tomasz Deszczyński (OGAE Poland), Malgorzata Kosturkiewicz (TVP) and Piotr Klatt (TVP1). The selected entries were announced on 23 January 2009.[11][12][13] The competing artists were required to submit a promotional video for their song to TVP by 9 February 2009.[14]

On 23 January 2009, "Amazing" performed by Katarzyna Skrzynecka was disqualified from the national final as the song had been performed in October 2007 on Taniec z Gwiazdami, the Polish version of Dancing with the Stars.[15] On 28 January 2009, "Kardamon i pieprz" performed by Mikromusic was also disqualified for the same reasons.[16] The running order draw took place on 28 January 2009.[17][18]

The televised final took place on 14 February 2009. Ten entries competed and the winner, "I Don't Wanna Leave" performed by Lidia Kopania, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a professional jury of four members - Robert Chojnacki (composer), Krzysztof Kasowski (singer), Roman Rogowiecki (TVP1) and Marta Turska (OGAE Poland) and a public telephone vote.[1][2][3] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2004 Eurovision winner Ruslana and 2008 Polish Eurovision entrant Isis Gee performed as the interval acts.[19]

After winning Piosenka dla Europy, Kopania visited some of the competing countries at Eurovision to promote her Eurovision entry. Kopania performed "I Don't Wanna Leave" during the Latvian national final on 28 February,[20][21] as well as during the Ukrainian national final on 8 March.[22] She has also been lined up to perform during the UK Eurovision Preview Party on 17 April in London, United Kingdom and the Eurovision Promo Concert in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on 18 April.[23][24]