Poland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

Poland has entered the Junior Eurovision Song Contest nine times, competing in the first contest in 2003. The Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) decided to withdraw from the contest after coming last in both 2003 and in 2004, despite TVP signing a 3-year contract with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). In 2016, it was announced that Poland would return after an 11-year break. Poland is the first country in the history of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest to win twice in a row: in 2018 with Roksana Węgiel and her song "Anyone I Want to Be" and then in 2019 with Viki Gabor and her song "Superhero".

Poland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Participating broadcaster	Telewizja Polska (TVP)
Participation summary
Appearances	10
First appearance	2003
Highest placement	1st: 2018, 2019
Host	2019, 2020
Related articles
Szansa na Sukces
External links
Poland's page at JuniorEurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Poland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023

There was some debate on whether Poland could return to Junior Eurovision in 2008. TVP stated that the contestant could be chosen through the existing program Mini szansa, and would be broadcast on the secondary channel TVP2. This however did not materialise, and Poland remained out of the contest. On 14 June 2016, the Head of Music at TVP announced that Poland was considering a return to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2016, after an 11-year absence from the contest. He stated that an invitation was issued to potential participants to submit songs to the broadcaster, but reaffirmed that they had not made a complete decision on whether they would actually be participating. On 30 August 2016, TVP officially confirmed that Poland would return and launched its national selection.^[1]

History

 

Olivia Wieczorek performing at the 2016 Polish National Final.

Poland made their debut at the inaugural Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2003. The Polish broadcaster, Telewizja Polska (TVP), were in charge of organising their entrants into the contest. Thirteen participants took part in the first national selection which was held on 28 September 2003. The winner who went on to represent Poland at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was Katarzyna Żurawik with her song "Coś mnie nosi".^[2] Żurawik performed in position 7 at the contest. She finished in last place scoring 3 points. In 2004, girl group Kwadro represented country with song "Łap życie"; however, Poland again came last scoring 3 points.^[2] Despite TVP signing a 3-year contract with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), they later decided to withdraw from the contest.^[3]

Poland had considered returning to Junior Eurovision in 2008, as TVP stated that the contestant could be chosen through the existing program Mini szansa, and would be broadcast on the secondary channel TVP2.^[4] However, Poland decided to remain absent from the contest.^[5] On 14 June 2016, the Head of Music at TVP announced that Poland was considering a return to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2016, after a 12-year absence from the contest. He stated that an invitation was issued to potential participants to submit songs to the broadcaster, but reaffirmed that they had not made yet a complete decision on whether they would actually be participating.^[6] On 30 August 2016, TVP officially confirmed that Poland would return and launched its national selection.^[1] In 2018, the form of choosing a representative and song changed - the person representing Poland was selected internally based on the viewers' votes in the previously performed program The Voice Kids and the song was fully internally. Roksana Węgiel was as the Polish representative, competing with the song "Anyone I Want to Be". She won the contest and gave Poland its first victory in the competition. In 2019 in Gliwice, the host country used a children's talent show format, Szansa na sukces, as the selection method for their artist. Viki Gabor and her song "Superhero" represented Poland and won with 278 points. It is the second time Poland won and the first time a country won on home soil. As hosts, they finished 9th being represented by Ala Tracz and the song "I'll Be Standing", which is their worst result since 2016. In the following year, Poland achieved its third podium result by finishing on 2nd place with Sara James.

Participation overview

 

Roksana Węgiel in Minsk (2018)

 

Viki Gabor in Gliwice (2019)

Table key

1	First place
2	Second place
◁	Last place
†	Upcoming event

Year	Artist	Song	Language	Place	Points
2003	Kasia Żurawik	"Coś mnie nosi"	Polish	16 ◁	3
2004	Kwadro	"Łap życie"	Polish	17 ◁	3
2016	Olivia Wieczorek	"Nie zapomnij"	Polish, English	11	60
2017	Alicja Rega	"Mój dom"	Polish	8	138
2018	Roksana Węgiel	"Anyone I Want to Be"	Polish, English	1	215
2019	Viki Gabor	"Superhero"	Polish, English	1	278
2020	Ala Tracz	"I'll Be Standing"	Polish, English	9	90
2021	Sara James	"Somebody"	Polish, English	2	218
2022	Laura	"To the Moon"	Polish, English	10	95
2023	Maja Krzyżewska	"I Just Need a Friend"	Polish, English	TBD 26 November 2023 †

Commentators and spokespersons

The contests are broadcast online worldwide through the official Junior Eurovision Song Contest website junioreurovision.tv and YouTube. In 2015, the online broadcasts featured commentary in English by junioreurovision.tv editor Luke Fisher and 2011 Bulgarian Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrant Ivan Ivanov.^[7] The Polish broadcaster, TVP, sent their own commentators to the contest in order to provide commentary in the Polish language. Spokespersons were also chosen by the national broadcaster in order to announce the awarding points from Poland. The table below list the details of each commentator and spokesperson since 2003.

Year	Channel(s)	Commentator	Spokesperson	Ref.
2003	TVP2	Jarosław Kulczycki	Astrar
2004		Artur Orzech	Jadwiga Jaskulski
2016	TVP1 and TVP Polonia		Nicoletta Włodarczyk	^[8]
2017	TVP2		Dominika Ptak	^[9]
2018	TVP ABC, TVP Polonia, TVP HD		Grace	^[10]
2019	TVP1, TVP Polonia, TVP ABC		Marianna Józefina Piątkowska	^[11]^[12]
2020				^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]
2021		Marek Sierocki and Aleksander Sikora	Matylda
2022		Aleksander Sikora	Viki Gabor	^[17]^[18]

Hostings

Year	Location	Venue	Presenters
2019	Gliwice	Gliwice Arena^[19]	Ida Nowakowska, Aleksander Sikora and Roksana Węgiel^[20]
2020	Warsaw	Studio 5, TVP Headquarters^[21]	Ida Nowakowska, Małgorzata Tomaszewska and Rafał Brzozowski^[22]

See also

• Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest – Senior version of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
• Poland in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
• Poland in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.

References

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2. "About Kasia Zurawik". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
3. Jurczak, Pawel (23 August 2005). "Poland withdraws from Junior Contest". ESCToday. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
4. Kuipers, Michael (20 April 2008). "Junior Eurovision 2008: Poland returns to JESC?". ESCToday. Retrieved 10 June 2009.
5. Granger, Anthony (6 August 2014). "JESC 14 Poland and Romania will not return". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
6. Granger, Anthony (14 June 2016). "Poland: May Return to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovoix.
7. Fisher, Luke James (21 November 2015). "Tonight: Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015!". Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Bulgaria 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
8. "Olivia Wieczorek jedzie na Eurowizję Junior 2016. Transmisja w TVP1 (wideo)". media2.pl. 17 October 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
9. "Poland: Junior Eurovision Moves To TVP2 For 2017". Eurovoix. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
10. Granger, Anthony. "Poland: Artur Orzech Confirmed as Commentator for Junior Eurovision 2018". Eurovoix. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
11. Granger, Anthony (14 October 2019). "Poland: TVP Announces Broadcast Plans For Junior Eurovision 2019". Eurovoix. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
12. Granger, Anthony (23 November 2019). "Poland: Marianna Józefina Piątkowska To Reveal Jury Points". eurovoix.com.
13. "Eurowizja Junior 2020 w nowym formacie: Pytania i odpowiedzi • Sprawdź co wiemy, a czego się domyślamy". dziennik-eurowizyjny.pl (in Polish). 2020-09-08. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
14. Granger, Anthony (2020-10-08). "Poland: Junior Eurovision To Be Broadcast Across Three Channels". Eurovoix. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
15. Blazewicz, Maciej (2020-11-18). "Eurowizja 2021 w formie zdalnej? Reprezentanci muszą wcześniej nagrać występy • Czy Alicja Szemplińska będzie reprezentować Polskę w 2021? • Pobierz oficjalny program Eurowizji Junior". Dziennik-Eurowizyjny.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-11-19.
16. Granger, Anthony (2020-11-28). "Poland: Marianna Józefina Returns as Spokesperson for Junior Eurovision". Eurovoix. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
17. Granger, Anthony. "Poland: Viki Gabor Spokesperson for Junior Eurovision 2022". Eurovoix. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
18. "Eurowizja Junior 2022 już dziś! Gdzie oglądać finał?". Eurowizja.org - najwięcej o Eurowizji (in Polish). 2022-12-10. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
19. "Gliwice-Silesia Host City of Junior Eurovision 2019". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 6 March 2019.
20. "Proud to present: The presenters of Junior Eurovision 2019!". junioreurovision.tv. 22 August 2019.
21. Granger, Anthony (October 8, 2020). "Junior Eurovision 2020 To Be Held At The TVP Headquarters". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
22. "Meet the presenters of Junior Eurovision 2020!". Junior Eurovision. 2020-10-07. Retrieved 2020-10-07.