Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017


Poland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Flashlight" written by Kasia Moś, Pete Baringger and Rickard Bonde Truumeel. The song was performed by Kasia Moś. The Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska organised the national final Krajowe Eliminacje 2017 in order to select the Polish entry for the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine. The national final took place on 18 February 2017 and featured ten entries. "Flashlight" performed by Kasia Moś was selected as the winner.
Poland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 11, "Flashlight" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 13 May.

Background

Prior to the 2017 Contest, Poland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nineteen 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 and their 2016 entry "Color of Your Life" performed by Michał Szpak.
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 Kiev, Ukraine was selected through a national final like in 2016.

Before Eurovision

''Krajowe Eliminacje 2017''

Krajowe Eliminacje 2017 was the national final organised by TVP in order to select the Polish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The show took place on 18 February 2017 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 18 February 2017. Ten entries competed and the winner, "Flashlight" performed by Kasia Moś, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a professional jury made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote. The national final was hosted by Artur Orzech. In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances by Doda, 2016 Polish Junior Eurovision entrant Olivia Wieczorek and 2016 Polish Eurovision entrant Michał Szpak.

Promotion

Kasia Moś made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Flashlight" as the Polish Eurovision entry. On 25 March, Moś performed during the Eurovision PreParty Riga, which was organised by OGAE Latvia and held at the Cristal Club in Riga, Latvia. On 2 April, she performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French. Between 3 and 6 April, Kasia Moś took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where she performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue. On 8 April, Moś performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir. On 15 April, she performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.

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 31 January 2017, 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 first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2017 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 Greece and before the entry from Moldova.
The two semi-finals and the final will be broadcast in Poland on TVP1 and TVP Polonia with commentary by Artur Orzech. The three shows will be also aired on a one-day delay on TVP Rozrywka. The Polish spokesperson, who will announce the top 12-point score awarded by the Polish jury during the final, will be Anna Popek.

Semi-final

Kasia Moś took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May. This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.
At the end of the show, Poland was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Poland placed ninth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 119 points: 69 points from the televoting and 50 points from the juries.

Final

Shortly after the first semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the reverse order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Poland was drawn to compete in the first half. Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Poland was subsequently placed to perform in position 2, following the entry from Israel and before the entry from Belarus. Poland placed twenty second in the final, scoring 64 points: 41 points from the televoting and 23 points from the juries.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Poland and awarded by Poland in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Poland

Points awarded by Poland

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Polish jury: