Yesterday, Polish national broadcaster TVP published the official rules for their 2017 Eurovision national selection. The selection will once again be a televised national final with the title Krajowe Eliminacje. This show was also used to select Michał Szpak as this year’s Polish entrant. Michał was the first entrant selected by a public televote since 2011. The 2017 edition of the show will take place on 11th February.
The jury vote returns
The most high profile rule change for 2017 is the reinstating of a jury vote. Both a professional jury and the voting public will have a 50% stake in the final result. With the assumption that ten participants will compete, the jury and the public will award 10 points each to their favourite songs, 9 points to their second favourite songs and so on. In the event of a tie, the song that scored higher with the televote will be crowned the winner. This scoring system will be tweaked once the final number of participants are known. This is the first time since 2009 that a jury has been included in a Polish national final.
Who? When? From where?
The official rules state that between five and ten participants will be selected to compete. All participants must be Polish citizens and cannot have taken part in another 2017 national selection. This is presumably a reaction to Napoli taking part in Poland’s 2016 selection shortly after finishing second in the Belarusian selection. There is no language restrictions and artists must submit their songs before the deadline on 20th January. TVP will then reveal the lucky finalists the following week, on 27th January. The broadcaster may also directly contact artists and record labels alongside the submissions process. TVP also includes an extra rule that allows them to choose a wildcard that doesn’t fit the aforementioned criteria which perhaps opens up the possibility of a non-Polish citizen or a reject from another Eurovision selection taking part.
Progression from Poland
Since their comeback in 2014 after a two-year break, Poland have qualified on all three occasions. Their best result since their return was in Stockholm this year when Michał Szpak’s Color of Your Life finished in 8th place after a fantastic 3rd place finish in the televote. Poland are on their best run of form in Eurovision since the semi-finals were introduced and they will surely be looking to continue that run as Eurovision continues to become one of the most popular shows in the country.
Are you looking forward to Krajowe Eliminacje 2017? Which of your favourite Polish artists are you hoping to see compete? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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