Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020
| Eurovision Song Contest 2020 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Poland | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Szansa na Sukces. Eurowizja 2020 | |||
| Selection date(s) | Semi-finals: 2 February 2020 9 February 2020 16 February 2020 Final: 23 February 2020 | |||
| Selected entrant | Alicja | |||
| Selected song | "Empires" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | Contest cancelled | |||
| Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Poland was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2020. However, the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background
Prior to the 2020 Contest, Poland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-two times since its first entry in
The Polish national broadcaster,
Before Eurovision
Szansa na Sukces. Eurowizja 2020
Szansa na Sukces. Eurowizja 2020 (transl. A Chance of Success. Eurovision 2020) was the national final organised by TVP in order to select the Polish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. The competition consisted of four shows which concluded with a winning artist and song on 23 February 2020. All shows was broadcast on TVP2 as well as streamed online at the broadcaster's website tvp.pl.[4] The national final was watched by an average of 1.9 million viewers in Poland with a peak of 2.3 million viewers for the first semi-final.[5]
Format
TVP opened a submission period for interested artists and songwriters to submit their entries between 2 January 2020 and 13 January 2020. Only Polish artists were eligible to compete.[6] From all submissions received at the closing of the deadline, a selection committee selected twenty-one entries from the received submissions to compete in the national final. The selected competing artists were announced on 19 January 2020. Among the competing artists was Albert Černý, who represented Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019 as member of the band Lake Malawi.[7] The format of the national final consisted of four shows: three pre-recorded semi-finals with seven contestants each on 2, 9 and 16 February 2020, respectively, and a final broadcast live on 23 February 2020.[3] In each semi-final, the contestant performed cover versions of songs that relate to the theme of the show and a three-member professional jury consisting of Cleo (2014 Polish Eurovision entrant), Michał Szpak (2016 Polish Eurovision entrant) and Gromee (2018 Polish Eurovision entrant) selected one contestant to qualify for the final from each semi-final. TVP also reserved the right to select a wildcard for the final out of the remaining non-qualifying contestants, but ultimately decided that a wildcard would be unnecessary.[6] The final featured the remaining three contestants performing their candidate Eurovision songs in contention to represent Poland in addition to cover versions of former winning Eurovision songs. The winner was selected via the 50/50 combination of votes from a six-member professional jury and a public vote.[8]
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final was filmed on 19 January 2020 and aired on 2 February 2020. The seven contestants performed cover versions of songs from ABBA's discography and Kasia Dereń was selected by a three-member professional jury to qualify for the final, with Patryk Skoczyński receiving an honourable mention.
| Draw | Artist | Song (Original artists) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Patryk Skoczyński | "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" | Honourable mention |
| 2 | Emilia Sanecka | " Waterloo "
|
Eliminated |
| 3 | Julia and Wiktoria Szlachta | "Dancing Queen" | Eliminated |
| 4 | Kasia Dereń | "Mamma Mia" | Advanced |
| 5 | Amelia Andryszczyk | "SOS" | Eliminated |
| 6 | Sargis Davtyan | "Voulez-Vous" | Eliminated |
| 7 | Maja Hyży | "Knowing Me, Knowing You" | Eliminated |
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final was filmed on 20 January 2020 and aired on 9 February 2020. The seven contestants performed cover versions of former Eurovision songs and Alicja Szemplińska was selected by a three-member professional jury to qualify for the final, with Paulina Czapla and Weronika Curyło receiving honourable mentions.
| Draw | Artist | Song (Original artists) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Damian Kulej | "Heroes" (Måns Zelmerlöw) | Eliminated |
| 2 | Paulina Czapla | "Amar pelos dois" (Salvador Sobral) | Honourable mention |
| 3 | Weronika Curyło | "Dschinghis Khan" (Dschinghis Khan) | Honourable mention |
| 4 | Stashka | "If I Were Sorry" (Frans) | Eliminated |
| 5 | Saszan | "Congratulations" (Cliff Richard) | Eliminated |
| 6 | Alicja Szemplińska | "To nie ja!" (Edyta Górniak) | Advanced |
| 7 | Aleksandra Nykiel | "Save Your Kisses for Me" (Brotherhood of Man) | Eliminated |
Semi-final 3
The third semi-final was filmed on 20 January 2020 and aired on 16 February 2020. The seven contestants performed cover versions of songs from The Beatles's discography and Albert Černý was selected by a three-member professional jury to qualify for the final, with Nick Sinckler and Basia Gąsienica Giewont receiving honourable mentions.
| Draw | Artist | Song (Original artists) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marek Kaliszuk | "Help!" | Eliminated |
| 2 | Nick Sinckler | "Can't Buy Me Love" | Honourable mention |
| 3 | Basia Gąsienica Giewont | "Love Me Do" | Honourable mention |
| 4 | Albert Černý | "Please Please Me" | Advanced |
| 4 | Norbert Legieć | "She Loves You" | Eliminated |
| 5 | Marzena Ryt | "Twist and Shout" | Eliminated |
| 7 | Adrian Makar | "A Hard Day's Night" | Eliminated |
Final
The final took place live on 23 February 2020 where the three contestants that qualified from the preceding three semi-finals competed. In the first part of the show the finalists performed cover versions of former winning Eurovision songs: Kasia Dereń performed "Satellite", Alicja Szemplińska performed "Euphoria", and Albert Černý performed "Fairytale". In the second part the candidate Eurovision songs entered by the finalists were performed and the winner, "Empires" performed by Alicja Szemplińska, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a six-member professional jury and a public vote.[9] The jury consisted of Cleo (2014 Polish Eurovision entrant), Michał Szpak (2016 Polish Eurovision entrant), Gromee (2018 Polish Eurovision entrant), Anna Cyzowska (director of the TVP Entertainment Agency), Konrad Smuga (director of Polish performances at the Eurovision and Junior Eurovision) and Grzegorz Urban (music director of Szansa na Sukces).[10]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Albert Černý | "Lucy" | Alasdair Bouch, Albert Černý, Cesár Sampson, Joakim With Steen, Lasse Piirainen | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
| 2 | Alicja Szemplińska | "Empires" | Dominik Buczkowski-Wojtaszek, Patrik Kumór, Laurell Barker, Frazer Mac | 5 | 5 | 10 | 1 |
| 3 | Kasia Dereń | "Count On Me" | Mateusz Krautwurst, Marcin Januszkiewicz, Kasia Dereń, Piotr Walicki | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "
During the Eurovision Song Celebration YouTube broadcast in place of the semi-finals, it was revealed that Poland was set to perform in position 8, following the entry from Serbia and before the entry from Iceland.[12]
References
- ^ "Poland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ Sychowiec, Maciej (1 October 2019). "Eurovision 2020: Poland confirms participation!". eurowizja.org. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ a b Farren, Neil (2 January 2020). "Poland: Szansa na Sukces to Select Eurovision 2020 Entrant". Eurovoix. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (23 February 2020). "Today: Szansa na Sukces 2020 Grand Final in Poland". Esctoday. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
- ^ Brown, Alistair (24 February 2020). "Poland: 2 Million Viewers For Szansa na Sukces". Eurovoix. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ a b "ESC 2020 - Alicja Szemplińska (Poland)". ESCKAZ. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
- ^ "Szansa na Sukces: Lake Malawi's Albert Cerný among the acts confirmed for Poland's Eurovision 2020 selection". Wiwibloggs. 19 January 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
- ^ Christou, Costa. "Poland: More details of Szansa na Sukces 2020 have been revealed". ESCxtra. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
- ^ "Poland goes with Alicja Szemplińska for Eurovision 2020". eurovision.tv. 23 February 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ "Znamy reprezentanta Polski na Eurowizji 2020! Ma ogromne szanse". kozaczek.pl (in Polish). 23 February 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ Groot, Evert (28 January 2020). "Which country performs in which Eurovision 2020 Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- ^ Eurovision Song Contest (14 May 2020). "Part two of Eurovision Song Celebration". Retrieved 3 June 2020.