# Piosenka dla Europy 2008

Piosenka dla Europy 2008 (Song for Europe 2008) was a Polish pre-selection for the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest, which took place at Belgrade Arena in Belgrade. The final of the selection was held on 23 February 2008 in Studio 5 at the headquarters of Telewizja Polska on 17 Woronicza Street in Warsaw, where Isis Gee won with the song For Life.

## Contest progress
### Song submission

Starting 30 November 2007, songs could be submitted to the headquarters of the Polish public broadcaster – Telewizja Polska. All entries had to meet the contest's regulations, primarily requiring lyrics in Polish or English, a maximum length of 3 minutes, and that the song not have been published before 1 October 2007. Each performer (not a debutant) was allowed to submit only one song. The deadline for submissions was 2 January 2008, with approximately 100 songs submitted. From these, a special jury selected 10 finalists. The jury consisted of: Piotr Klatt [pl] (chairman), Paweł Sztompke [pl], Artur Orzech, Magda Czapińska [pl], Zuzanna Łapicka [pl], Agata Krysiak, Ryszard Poznakowski, Robert Obcowski, and Tomasz Deszczyński. The following contestants qualified:
* Afromental (Thing We've Got)
* Edyta Kuczyńska [pl] (Lovin'U)
* Isis Gee (For Life)
* Kasia Nova [pl] (The Devil)
* Margo [pl] (Dlatego walcz)
* Man Meadow [pl] (Viva La Musica)
* Sandra Oxenryd (Superhero)
* Starnawski & Urban Noiz [pl] (It's Not a Game)
* Queens (I Say My Body)
* Krzysztof Zalewski (Kiełbasa)
Additionally, five artists were placed on a reserve list, ranked from 11th to 15th:
* Plastic [pl] (Do Something)
* Grzegorz Kloc [pl] (Don't Let the Fire Die)
* Michał Karpacki (Women to Love)
* Zenon Boczar (What's Going On?)
* Kashmir (Czy to miłość czy zabawa?)
Other artists known to have submitted entries include Aisha i Delfin [pl] (Gdy nie ma Ciebie), East Clubbers (Never Turn Away), Kravt (My Heart), Jarosław Wist (Ja w Twoich oczach), Video [pl] (Bella), Honeys (Sexy Toy), Żywiołak (Psychoteka), Janusz Radek [pl] (Mozartella), Ania Rusowicz (Pistolety z naszych serc), Kostek Joriadis [pl] (Ten dzień), Jay Delano (Angel), Agata Torzewska, Paweł Stasiak, Marek Torzewski [pl], Melanie Hazelrigg, Sara May [pl], Sumptuastic [pl], and Charizma.

### Wild cards

Telewizja Polska decided to award three internal "wild cards". These could only be granted to songs that had not been rejected by the National Selection Jury. The final period for granting the "wild cards" occurred on February 8, and the winners were: Natasza Urbańska with Blow Over, Izabela Kopeć [pl] (You've Got My Love), and the band Żywiołak (Noc Kupały).

### Disqualifications

On January 8, the TVP1 Entertainment Department announced the disqualification of one of the selected songs. Kiełbasa by Krzysztof Zalewski violated the competition rules, as it was publicly performed before 1 October 2007. The artist had played the song on 15 September 2007 during a concert in Warsaw for Dzień Kotana. As a result, the 10th spot in the final went to the first reserve participant – the band Plastic.
Another finalist, the group Starnawski & Urban Noiz, faced potential disqualification due to allegations that their song It's Not a Game was a plagiarism of Nu Insista by Daniela Raduici, performed during the 2007 Romanian Eurovision selection. On January 12, the musicians denied the copyright infringement claims, and the composition was not withdrawn. The group appeared on the official list of participants in the competition order.
On February 15, eight days before the final, it was announced that Żywiołak, winner of one of the "wild cards" with Noc Kupały, was disqualified due to a violation of the contest rules. A special statement from the TVP1 Entertainment Department and the National Selection Production for the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest stated that Noc Kupały (submitted under a different title according to the copyright registration) was performed live at the Etniczne brzmienie kultur concert during the Festiwal Czterech Kultur, before 1 October 2007.

### Draw of performance order

On January 29, a draw to determine the performance order took place at the headquarters of Telewizja Polska. Contestants or their representatives participated in the event.

### Hosts

On February 20, Telewizja Polska denied rumors that Artur Orzech, a music journalist and long-time commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest, would host the Polish national selection. Two days later, the portal Wirtualne Media announced the names of the hosts for the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest national selection: Radosław Brzózka [pl] and Katarzyna Sowińska [pl].

### Controversies

Before the final of the Polish Eurovision selection, rumors emerged about Telewizja Polska allegedly favoring Natasza Urbańska, one of the contestants. Both the broadcaster and the singer denied these claims.

## Results
### Participants

During the selection, the winner was determined by a 50% split between the jury and the televote, with voting carried out via the audio-tele system. A total of 57,462 valid votes were cast.
| Position | Artist | Song | 'Language' | Result | Total |
| 1 | Kasia Nova [pl] | The Devil | English | 11 | 1 |
| 2 | Edyta Kuczyńska [pl] | Lovin' U | English | 4 | 12 |
| 3 | Izabela Kopeć [pl] | You've Got My Love | English | 6 | 10 |
| 4 | Starnawski & Urban Noiz [pl] | It's Not a Game | English | 10 | 5 |
| 5 | Queens | I Say My Body | English | 12 | 0 |
| 6 | Isis Gee | For Life | English | 1 | 24 |
| 7 | Man Meadow [pl] | Viva La Musica | English | 3 | 12 |
| 8 | Afromental | Thing We've Got | English | 9 | 7 |
| 9 | Plastic [pl] | Do Something | English | 5 | 12 |
| 10 | Sandra Oxenryd | Superhero | English | 8 | 9 |
| 11 | Natasza Urbańska | Blow Over | English | 2 | 15 |
| 12 | Margo [pl] | Dlatego walcz | Polish | 7 | 9 |

### Scoreboard

On February 23, the members of the jury were announced. The jury consisted of:
* Maryla Rodowicz (chairperson)
* Janusz Kosiński [pl] (music journalist, Polskie Radio)
* Paweł Sztompke [pl] (music journalist, Polskie Radio)
* Adrian Stanisławski (representative of OGAE Poland, Eurovision fans association)
| Participants | Participants | Results | Results | Results |
| Participants | Participants | Total | Jury | Televote |
| | Kasia Nova | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| | Edyta Kuczyńska | 12 | 7 | 5 |
| | Izabela Kopeć | 10 | 4 | 6 |
| | Starnawski & Urban Noiz | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| | Queens | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Isis Gee | 24 | 12 | 12 |
| | Man Meadow | 12 | 2 | 10 |
| | Afromental | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| | Plastic | 12 | 10 | 2 |
| | Sandra Oxenryd | 9 | 6 | 3 |
| | Natasza Urbańska | 15 | 8 | 7 |
| | Margo | 9 | 1 | 8 |
For the first time in the history of the Polish Eurovision selections, both the jury and the viewers awarded the winner the highest score of twelve points.

## OGAE Poland favorite

Members of OGAE Poland selected their favorites shortly before the Piosenka dla Europy 2008 concert. The poll was coordinated by the Entertainment Department – Tomasz Lener and Artur Onacki. Below is the overall ranking of OGAE Poland members, covering all the finalists of the selection:
* Isis Gee – For Life
* Izabela Kopeć – You've Got My Life
* Sandra Oxenryd – Superhero
* Margo – Dlatego walcz
* Plastic – Do Something
* Man Meadow – Viva La Musica
* Kasia Nova – The Devil
* Starnawski & Urban Noiz – It's Not a Game
* Afromental – Thing We've Got
* Edi Ann – Lovin' U
* Natasza Urbańska – Blow Over
* Queens – I Say My Body

## Viewership

The Piosenka dla Europy 2008 selection was watched by an average of 2.7 million viewers:
* Piosenka dla Europy, Part 1 – 2.97 million (21.88% share)
* Piosenka dla Europy, Part 2 – 2.33 million (18.60% share)
* Piosenka dla Europy, Part 3 (announcement of results) – 2.87 million (25.92% share)