Poland in The Origin Song Contest 05

Poland took part in the fifth edition of The Origin Song Contest, and as runner-up of the previous edition were invited to host the contest. TVP, the Polish broadcaster, internally selected folk band Lor to represent the country, whilst their song "Windmill" was chosen through the national final Piosenka dla Lor. The song was automatically qualified to the final, and placed third in the competition with 138 points.

## Before TOSC

TVP, the Polish broadcaster, announced on 17th May 2018 that the country would be present at the fifth edition of The Origin Song Contest. At the time, it was expected that the edition would be hosted in Italy, however on 29th May, it was announced that Italy would not be participating, and therefore hosting rights were passed to Poland, who placed second in the previous edition with the song "Na koniec świata" by Honorata Skarbek.

On June 1st, TVP announced that the band Lor had been internally selected to represent Poland, and that their song would be chosen through the national final "Piosenka dla Lor", marking the fourth time the Piosenka dla name would be used in choosing the Polish entry for the contest.

### **Piosenka dla Lor**

*Main article: Piosenka dla Lor*
**Piosenka dla Lor** (literally 'A Song for Lor') was the fourth 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, who co-hosted the first edition of The Origin Song Contest. Three songs, all performed by Lor, competed. A combination of international juries and the Polish televote chose "Windmill" as the winner.

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. OGAO Poland chose "Aquarius", which was the third-placed song from the national final.

## At TOSC

On August 12th 2018, the allocation draw for the semi-finalists took place in Gdańsk, where the thirty-four semi-finalists were drawn into the two semi-finals. As host country, Poland was drawn to vote in the first semi-final. At the opening ceremony, Poland was drawn to perform in the first half of the grand final, with the running order position to be randomised, as usual, upon completion of the final lineup.

The betting odds for the edition were released, and Poland placed sixth with odds of 2.76, between Sweden and Greece, meaning the nation was sixth favourite to win the contest. Poland was also the second highest pre-qualifier, behind Latvia.

Poland was drawn as starting position eight in the grand final, performing between Ukraine and Albania. In the final, the country placed third with 138 points, winning the positive voting with 152 points and coming eighth in the negatives with -14 points.

## Voting

### **Points awarded to Poland**

Points Awarded to Poland (Final)
* Cyprus
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Malta
* Estonia
* Finland
* Iceland
* Ireland
* Lithuania
* Spain
* Sweden
* Slovakia
 5 points
* Greece
* Slovenia
* Norway
 -5 points
* France
* Ukraine
* Monaco

### **Points awarded by Poland**

#### **Split voting results**

The following five members comprised the Polish jury.

* Alicja Ruchała - chairperson - singer and model
* Marek Walaszek (aka Maro Music) - producer, mix engineer and DJ
* Ewelina Lisowska - singer-songwriter
* Jarosław Baran - composer and multi-instrumentalist
* Renata Przemyk - singer-songwriter