Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Poland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with a song "Light Me Up" written by Andrzej Gromala, Lukas Meijer, Mahan Moin and Christian Rabb. The song was performed by Gromee and Lukas Meijer. The Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) organised the national final Krajowe Eliminacje 2018 in order to select the Polish entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal. The national final took place on 3 March 2018 and featured ten entries. "Light Me Up" performed by Gromee and Lukas Meijer was selected as the winner.
| Eurovision Song Contest 2018 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Poland | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Krajowe Eliminacje 2018 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 3 March 2018 | |||
| Selected entrant | Gromee feat. Lukas Meijer | |||
| Selected song | "Light Me Up" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) | Andrzej Gromala Lukas Meijer Mahan Moin Christian Rabb | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Semi-final result | Failed to qualify (14th, 81 points) | |||
| Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Background
Prior to the 2018 Contest, Poland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty times since its first entry in 1994.[1] Poland's highest placement in the contest, to this point, has been second place, which the nation achieved with its debut entry in 1994 with the song "To nie ja!" performed by Edyta Górniak. Poland has only, thus far, reached the top ten on two other occasions, when Ich Troje performing the song "Keine Grenzen – Żadnych granic" finished seventh in 2003 and when Michał Szpak performing the song "Color of Your Life" finished eighth in 2016. Between 2005 and 2011, Poland failed to qualify from the semi-final round six out of seven years with only their 2008 entry, "For Life" performed by Isis Gee, managing to take the nation to the final during that period. After once again failing to qualify to the final in 2011, the country withdrew from the contest during 2012 and 2013. Since returning to the contest in 2014, Poland managed to qualify to the final with both their 2014 entry, "My Słowianie - We Are Slavic" performed by Donatan and Cleo, their 2015 entry "In the Name of Love" performed by Monika Kuszyńska, their 2016 entry "Color of Your Life" performed by Michał Szpak and their 2017 entry "Flashlight" performed by Kasia Moś.
The Polish national broadcaster, Telewizja Polska (TVP), broadcasts the event within Poland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Between 2006 and 2011, TVP organised televised national finals that featured a competition among several artists and songs in order to select the Polish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. After returning to the contest in 2014 following their two-year absence, the broadcaster opted to internally select both the 2014 and 2015 entries. The entry for this year's contest in Lisboa, Portugal will be selected through a national final like in 2016 and 2017.
Before Eurovision
Krajowe Eliminacje 2018
Krajowe Eliminacje 2018 was the national final organised by TVP in order to select the Polish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The show took place on 3 March 2018 at the TVP Headquarters in Warsaw, hosted by Artur Orzech. A five-member jury panel and public televoting selected the winner. The show was broadcast on TVP1 and TVP Polonia as well as streamed online at the broadcaster's website eurowizja.tvp.pl.
Competing entries
TVP opened a submission period for interested artists and songwriters to submit their entries between 22 December 2017 and 1 February 2018. The broadcaster received a record 250 submissions at the closing of the deadline.[2] A selection committee selected ten entries from the received submissions to compete in the national final. The selected entries were announced on 8 February 2018.[3]
Final
The televised final took place on 3 March 2018. Ten entries competed and the winner, "Light Me Up" performed by Gromee feat. Lukas Meijer, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a professional jury made up of five music professionals and a public telephone vote. The jury consisted of Maryla Rodowicz (singer), Tabb (music producer), Jan Borysewicz (guitarist and leader of Lady Pank), Kasia Moś (2017 Polish Eurovision entrant) and Stefano Terrazzino (dancer, singer and choreographer). In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Kasia Moś, 2004 Polish Eurovision entrants Blue Café and 2015 Eurovision Song Contest winner Måns Zelmerlöw performed as the interval acts.
| Final – 3 March 2018 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song (English translation) | Composer(s) | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
| 1 | Pablosson | "Sunflower" | Paweł Stasiak, Jens Bjerelius | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | Marta Gałuszewska | "Why Don't We Go" | Marta Gałuszewska, Dominic Buczkowski-Wojtaszek, Sarah Reeve, Steven Manovski | 6 | 8 | 14 | 5 |
| 3 | Maja Hyży | "Błysk" (Flash) | Lanberry, Jakub Krupski, Krzysztof Morange, Michał Głuszczuk, Piotr Siejka | 4 | 3 | 7 | 7 |
| 4 | Future Folk | "Krakowiacy i górale" (Cracovians and highlanders) | Matt Kowalsky | 2 | 5 | 7 | 8 |
| 5 | Isabell Otrębus | "Delirium" | Elize Ryd, Jonas Thander | 3 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| 6 | Gromee feat. Lukas Meijer | "Light Me Up" | Andrzej Gromala, Lukas Meijer, Mahan Moin, Christian Rabb | 8 | 12 | 20 | 1 |
| 7 | Happy Prince | "Don't Let Go" | Jakub Prachowski | 12 | 7 | 19 | 2 |
| 8 | Saszan | "Nie chcę ciebie mniej" (I don't want less of you) | Saszan, Lanberry, Piotr Siejka | 5 | 4 | 9 | 6 |
| 9 | Ifi Ude | "Love Is Stronger" | Ifi Ude, Polly Scattergood, Glenn Kerrigan, Paweł Dziemski | 10 | 6 | 16 | 4 |
| 10 | Monika Urlik | "Momentum" | Ylva Persson, Linda Persson, Niklas Bergqvist, Simon Johansson | 7 | 10 | 17 | 3 |
| Detailed Jury Votes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Song | M. Rodowicz | Tabb | J. Borysewicz | K. Moś | S. Terrazzino | Total |
| 1 | "Sunflower" | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2 | "Why Don't We Go" | 5 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 25 |
| 3 | "Błysk" | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 20 |
| 4 | "Krakowiacy i górale" | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 16 |
| 5 | "Delirium" | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 19 |
| 6 | "Light Me Up" | 12 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 42 |
| 7 | "Don't Let Go" | 10 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 52 |
| 8 | "Nie chcę ciebie mniej" | 6 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 23 |
| 9 | "Love Is Stronger" | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 46 |
| 10 | "Momentum" | 7 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 41 |
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 29 January 2018, 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. Poland was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[4]
Once all the competing songs for the 2018 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Poland was set to perform in position 11, following the entry from Georgia and preceding the entry from Malta.[5]
Semi-final
At the end of the show, Poland was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Poland placed fourteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 81 points: 60 points from the televoting and 21 points from the juries.
Voting
Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry 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 was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the Polish jury:[6]
- Dorota Szpetkowska – Chairperson – TV director
- Michał Szpak – singer, represented Poland in the 2016 Contest
- Natalia Szroeder – singer
- Sławomir Uniatowski – singer
- Michał Grott – musician, composer, producer
Points awarded to Poland
| Points awarded to Poland (Semi-final 2) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Televote | ||||
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
| Jury | ||||
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
Points awarded by Poland
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| Split voting results from Poland (Semi-final 2) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
| D. Szpetkowska | M. Szpak | N. Szroeder | S. Uniatowski | M. Grott | Average Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  Norway | 8 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 7 |
| 02 |  Romania | 7 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 16 | |
| 03 |  Serbia | 14 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 7 | 13 | 14 | ||
| 04 |  San Marino | 10 | 17 | 7 | 14 | 17 | 11 | 17 | ||
| 05 |  Denmark | 13 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 3 | 8 | |
| 06 |  Russia | 12 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 11 | ||
| 07 |  Moldova | 17 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 9 | 2 | |
| 08 |  Netherlands | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 09 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 3 |
| 10 |  Georgia | 15 | 15 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 12 | ||
| 11 | Poland | |||||||||
| 12 |  Malta | 11 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 13 | |
| 13 |  Hungary | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 10 |
| 14 |  Latvia | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 4 |
| 15 |  Sweden | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 5 |
| 16 |  Montenegro | 16 | 11 | 14 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 15 | ||
| 17 |  Slovenia | 4 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| 18 |  Ukraine | 9 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| Split voting results from Poland (final) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
| D. Szpetkowska | M. Szpak | N. Szroeder | S. Uniatowski | M. Grott | Average Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 | Ukraine | 16 | 19 | 14 | 16 | 12 | 16 | 1 | 12 | |
| 02 |  Spain | 8 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 24 | ||
| 03 | Slovenia | 13 | 15 | 19 | 12 | 24 | 17 | 16 | ||
| 04 |  Lithuania | 4 | 16 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 14 | |
| 05 |  Austria | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 15 | |
| 06 |  Estonia | 15 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 23 | 14 | 12 | ||
| 07 | Norway | 11 | 22 | 16 | 17 | 6 | 12 | 11 | ||
| 08 |  Portugal | 17 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 19 | 15 | 26 | ||
| 09 |  United Kingdom | 23 | 21 | 22 | 24 | 21 | 25 | 21 | ||
| 10 | Serbia | 25 | 20 | 25 | 25 | 18 | 24 | 23 | ||
| 11 |  Germany | 1 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 12 |  Albania | 2 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 25 | |
| 13 |  France | 22 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 14 | 20 | 8 | 3 | |
| 14 |  Czech Republic | 14 | 23 | 18 | 23 | 16 | 18 | 7 | 4 | |
| 15 | Denmark | 21 | 25 | 23 | 21 | 17 | 23 | 5 | 6 | |
| 16 | Australia | 9 | 5 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 19 | |
| 17 |  Finland | 20 | 24 | 21 | 19 | 20 | 22 | 22 | ||
| 18 |  Bulgaria | 10 | 6 | 8 | 18 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 18 | |
| 19 | Moldova | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 17 | ||
| 20 | Sweden | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 13 | |
| 21 | Hungary | 12 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 22 |  Israel | 19 | 12 | 24 | 20 | 25 | 19 | 2 | 10 | |
| 23 | Netherlands | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 20 | |
| 24 |  Ireland | 7 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 2 |
| 25 |  Cyprus | 18 | 8 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 3 | 8 | |
| 26 |  Italy | 24 | 18 | 17 | 15 | 22 | 21 | 6 | 5 | |
References
- "Poland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- Królak, Sergiusz (2 February 2018). "Eurowizja 2018. znamy dziesięciu finalistów krajowych eliminacji! Kto wygra?". plejada.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 17 January 2021.
- Prętnicka, Beata. "The finalists of Krajowe Eliminacje 2018 revealed!". eurowizja.org. eurowizja.org. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
- Jordan, Paul (29 January 2018). "Which countries will perform in which Semi-Final at Eurovision 2018?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- "Running order for Eurovision 2018 Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. |
| Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest | |||||||||||||
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(Note: Entries scored out are when Poland did not compete) | |||||||||||||