Poland in The Origin Song Contest 06

Poland took part in the sixth edition of The Origin Song Contest, held in Gothenburg, Sweden. TVP, the Polish broadcaster, internally selected singer MANNEI to represent the country, while her song "Savage" was chosen through the national final Piosenka dla MANNEI. As a result of the country's third place in the previous edition The song was automatically qualified to the final, where it placed 25th in the competition with 0 points - the first song to do so in the contest's history.

## Before TOSC

On 21st September 2018, Poland was the first country to confirm participation in the contest, stating that Piosenka dla would be used for the fifth time to select the entry, although with the format to be decided. The format was revealed on the 4th January 2019, when it was revealed that MANNEI would be the sole artist competing in the selection Piosenka dla MANNEI.

### **Piosenka dla MANNEI**

*Main article: Piosenka dla MANNEI*
**Piosenka dla MANNEI** (literally 'A Song for MANNEI') was the fifth edition of Piosenka dla, the national selection to choose the Polish representative for The Origin Song Contest. The show was hosted by Paulina Sykut-Jeżyna, co-host of the first edition of The Origin Song Contest. Three songs, all performed by MANNEI, competed. A combination of international juries and the Polish televote chose "Savage" as the winner, albeit with some controversy due to the fact that it won neither the jury or televote.

Each edition, a song that did not win the selection is chosen by the Polish OGAO club to represent them at the OGAO Second Chance Contest. "Łapię tlen", the third place of the selection, was chosen.

## At TOSC

The allocation draw for the semi-finalists competing in the edition took place on 22nd February 2019. Poland, as one of the "big 6" countries (following Lor's third place in the last edition with "Windmill"), were pre-qualified to the grand final and drawn to vote in the first semi final with Sweden and Greece. On the 26th February, the semi-final running order was published, while at the opening ceremony a draw was held to determine the halves in which the pre-qualifiers would perform. Poland was drawn in the second half, while their position in the running order would be drawn randomly after the completion of the final lineup following the second semi-final.

The betting odds placed Poland as ninth favourites to win the edition with odds of 3.26, placing them between the Faroe Islands and Monaco. The country was the third favourite of the "big 6" to win as well, with Norway and Belgium both in the top five of the odds.

The grand final's running order was revealed on the 9th April. As always, Poland's position was drawn randomly to avoid bias. The country was drawn starting position 25. The remainder of the running order was decided by the OBU reference group, who chose the Faroe Islands to precede Poland, and Croatia to follow them and close the show. In spite of a positive reaction in the betting odds, the country did not achieve a successful result in the contest: they came ninth in the negative votes with -16 points, however finished dead last in the negatives with a record low of 16 points, resulting in an overall finish of 25th place with zero points. To date, no other country has received zero points in the contest - as it requires an equal total of positive and negative points.

## Voting

### **Points awarded to Poland**

Points Awarded to Poland (Final)
 5 points
 * Greece
 -5 points
 * Italy
* Portugal

### **Points awarded by Poland**

#### **Split voting results**

The following five members comprised the Polish jury.

* Paulina Miłosz (aka Pola Rise) - chairperson - singer-songwriter
* Szymon Chodyniecki - singer-songwriter
* Julia Błachuta - violinist, represented Poland in the fifth edition and seventh editions as part of Lor
* Krystian Dobraszak (aka Krist Van D) - DJ and producer
* Tola Szlagowska - singer-songwriter