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 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.

Background

Prior to the 2018 Contest, Poland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty times since its first entry in. 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, 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. Finalists for 2018 edition of Krajowe Eliminacje were announced on 8 February 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 a public telephone vote exclusively 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.

Final

The televised final took place on 3 March 2018. The winner was selected by professional jury of five members - Kasia Moś, Maryla Rodowicz, , Stefano Terrazzino and Jan Borysewicz and public televote. The national final was hosted by Artur Orzech. In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances, including Polish representatives from the past - Kasia Moś and Blue Café - and the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna - Måns Zelmerlöw.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" 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 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.
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.

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:

Points awarded by Poland