Poland was represented at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Nice, France. Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) was responsible for the country's participation in the contest and again chose the Polish artist through the national selection , won by Maja Krzyżewska and her rendition of the internally selected song "I Just Need a Friend".

Background

Prior to the 2023 contest, Poland had participated in the contest nine times: In and , Poland finished in last place, and they decided not to participate from 2005 to 2015. The country returned in . Olivia Wieczorek was selected to represent the nation that year with the song "". Olivia finished in 11th place out of 17 entries with 60 points. In both and , Poland won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest with Roksana Węgiel and Viki Gabor respectively, becoming the first country to win the contest twice in a row. In , Laura competed for Poland with the song "To the Moon" which ended up in 10th place out of 16 entries with 95 points.

Before Junior Eurovision Szansa na sukces TVP selected the Polish representative with the television program (); the same show was also used for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest since 2019, and various times for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition consisted of four shows which concluded with a winning artist and competing song reveal on 24 September 2023. The shows were broadcast on TVP2, as well as online via the platform TVP VOD and at the broadcaster's website tvp.pl, hosted by , who also hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019.

Format The casting for the show took place on 13 and 14 May, from which twenty-one acts were selected to advance to the competition. The format of the national final consisted of four shows: three pre-recorded heats with seven contestants each broadcast on 3, 10 and 17 September 2023, respectively, and a final broadcast live on 24 September 2023. In each heat, the contestants performed cover versions of randomly drawn songs and a three-member professional jury consisting of (Polish commentator of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest) and 2 unique members for each episode selected the winner of the episode which qualifies to the final and a runner-up which receives an honourable mention, but does not advance to the final. TVP reserved the right to select up to two wildcard contestants to advance to the final as well, with those contestants being given the Golden Ticket in the broadcast of the heat they competed in.

The final featured the remaining contestants again performing cover versions of randomly drawn songs that were already performed during the heats, after which the 50/50 combination of votes from a three-member professional jury and a public vote decided the 2 superfinalists. The superfinalists then performed their renditions of the internally selected Polish entry, after which the winner was selected solely by public vote.

Shows

Heat 1 The first heat was broadcast on 3 September 2023 at 15:15 CEST. Joining permanent juror Marek Sierocki on the jury panel were:

Sara James – singer, runner-up of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021 Tulia – folk music band, represented Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The season premiere was watched by 868,845 viewers with a market share of 10.66%.

Key: Jury finalist Wildcard finalist Honourable mention +Heat 1 – 3 September 2023DrawArtistSongResult1Elena Popowicz"Euphoria"Eliminated2Miłosz Zarzeka"Color of Your Life"Eliminated3Daria Malicka"Easy on Me"Advanced4Leon Olek"Counting Stars"Advanced5Hanna Adamczyk"Somebody"Eliminated6Olivka Majewska"Snap"Eliminated7Patrycja Kulicka"If I Were Sorry"Eliminated

Heat 2 The second heat was broadcast on 10 September 2023 at 15:15 CEST. Joining permanent juror Marek Sierocki on the jury panel were:

Cleo – singer-songwriter, represented Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Roksana Węgiel – singer, winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 The subsequent heat was watched by 756,545 viewers with a market share of 10.25%.

Key: Jury finalist Wildcard finalist Honourable mention +Heat 2 – 10 September 2023DrawArtistSongResult1Kornelia Woźniak"Arcade"Eliminated2Gracjana Górka"Rise Up"Advanced3Zuzanna Talkowska"Solo"Eliminated4Filip Robak"Stand Up for Love"Advanced5Viktoriia Tsariuk"Photograph"Eliminated6Helena Włodarczyk"Anyone I Want to Be"Eliminated7Małgorzata Manthey"Flowers"Eliminated

Heat 3 The third heat was broadcast on 17 September 2023 at 15:15 CEST. Joining permanent juror Marek Sierocki on the jury panel were:

Gromee – DJ, represented Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 Viki Gabor – singer, winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The final heat was watched by 679,452 viewers with a market share of 9.57%.

Key: Jury finalist Wildcard finalist Honourable mention +Heat 3 – 17 September 2023DrawArtistSongResult1Sabina Bednarz"Dance Monkey"Eliminated2Emilia Franica"Superhero"Eliminated3Antoni Pytlak"Rain on Me"Eliminated4Antonina Smerkowska"Anywhere"Eliminated5Natalia Pawelska"Light Me Up"Eliminated6Kornelia Sadowska"As It Was"Eliminated7Maja Krzyżewska"Set Fire to the Rain"Advanced

Final The live final took place on 24 September 2023 at 15:10 CEST. The jury voting in the first round consisted of chairperson Konrad Smuga (Art Director of the Polish performances in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest), as well as Daria Barycka (head of the TVP Entertainment Creation and Development Agency) and Grzegorz Urban (musical director of ). A commentary panel consisting of Blanka (represented Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023), Laura (represented Poland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022) and permanent juror Marek Sierocki provided feedback in regards to the show, but did not have voting power.

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Laura performed "To the Moon" as the interval act. At the end of the show, 12 year-old Maja Krzyżewska was announced as the winner of . Krzyżewska had previously competed in the sixth series of the Polish version of The Voice Kids. The final was watched by 1,067,479 viewers with a market share of 12.19%. +First round – 24 September 2023DrawArtistSongJuryTelevoteTotalPlace 1Gracjana Górka "Flowers" 3 1 4 52Leon Olek "Dance Monkey" 7 5 12 1 3Daria Malicka "Snap" 5 2 7 3 4Filip Robak "As It Was" 2 3 5 45Maja Krzyżewska "Photograph" 1 7 8 2 +Second round – 24 September 2023DrawArtistSong 1Leon Olek "I Just Need a Friend" 2Maja Krzyżewska "I Just Need a Friend"

Preparation The shooting of the music video for "I Just Need a Friend", directed by Dawid Ziemba of Mind Productions, commenced in early October. A revamped version of the entry was released on streaming platforms on 19 October, with the official music video being published the next day. For the seventh year in a row Konrad Smuga, director of the 2019 and 2020 Junior Eurovision Song Contest, was appointed as the stage director of the Polish entry, while Paulina Przestrzeska, who was responsible for the performance of Sara James in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021, was appointed as the lead choreographer.

TVP held a press conference on 16 October, in which it was revealed that Maja would be joined by 4 dancers from the Volt Dance Studio and that the performance would include photos of her with her family from when she was a child. The press conference also served as a send-off ceremony before her scheduled flight to Nice.

Promotion Following her selection, Maja Krzyżewska embarked on several promotional activities, appearing on the TVP2 morning show several times, most notably after she won . On 18 November 2023 she performed during the semi-final of the fourteenth season of The Voice of Poland.

At Junior Eurovision The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023 took place at Palais Nikaïa in Nice, France on 26 November 2023.

Voting

At the end of the show, Poland received 69 points from juries and 55 points from online voting, placing 6th.

+ Points awarded to Poland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point Poland received 55 points from the online vote

+ Points awarded by Poland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Detailed voting results The following members comprised the Polish jury: Leon Olek Piotr Matysik Rafał Brzozowski – host of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020, represented Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 Aleksandra Radwan Daria Malicka

+ Draw Country Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points 01 7 8 11 5 8 9 2 02 15 4 12 9 1 8 3 03 2 13 15 1 12 6 5 04 6 10 14 12 9 13 05 1 12 4 7 3 3 8 06 8 3 2 2 4 2 10 07 14 5 13 15 10 14 08 4 14 7 6 2 4 7 09 10 9 15 10 11 13 15 11 12 7 9 4 11 10 1 12 3 6 1 3 5 1 12 13 10 1 3 14 15 7 4 14 11 11 5 8 14 11 15 13 9 8 13 6 12 16 5 2 6 10 7 5 6

References