Poland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999. The Polish broadcaster

Telewizja Polska Telewizja Polska S.A. (; "Polish Television"; TVP), also known in English as the public Polish Television is a Polish state media corporation. It is the largest Polish television network, although viewership has been declining in the 2010s. Sinc ...

(TVP) selected country's entry via an internal selection. Mietek Szcześniak was ultimately selected to represent Poland at the 1999 contest in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

with the song "Przytul mnie mocno" written by

Seweryn Krajewski Seweryn Krajewski (born 3 January 1947, Nowa Sól, Poland) is a Polish singer and songwriter who rose to fame in the 1960s and 70s with the popular Polish band Czerwone Gitary. After leaving the group in 1997, he recorded several solo albums. He ...

and Wojciech Ziembicki. Szcześniak and his contest entry were announced on 9 March 1999. Poland competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 29 May 1999. Performing during the show in position 12, Poland placed eighteenth out of the 23 participating countries, scoring 17 points.

Background

Prior to the 1999 Contest, Poland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest five times since its first entry in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. Poland's highest placement in the contest, to this point, has been second place, which the nation achieved with its debut entry in

with the song "

To nie ja! "To nie ja!" (; "It wasn't me!"; often rendered without the exclamation mark) was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, performed in Polish by Edyta Górniak. This marked Poland's debut at the contest, and consequently the first time th ...

" performed by

Edyta Górniak Edyta Anna Górniak (; born 14 November 1972) is a Polish pop singer with a career spanning 3 decades. Górniak started as a musical theatre actress in 1990. She performed in the most popular musical in Polish history, the Tony Award-nominated ...

. The Polish national broadcaster,

(TVP), broadcasts the event within Poland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Having internally selected their entries since 1994, the broadcaster opted to continue selecting the Polish entry via an internal selection for 1999.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

The Polish entry for the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest was selected via an internal selection. On 9 March 1999, it was announced that Mietek Szcześniak would represent Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 with the song "Przytul mnie mocno", written by Seweryn Krajewski and Wojciech Ziembicki. TVP directly invited four artists to perform "Przytul mnie mocno" during a live audition round held in early 1999:

Andrzej Piaseczny Andrzej Tomasz Piaseczny (born Pionki, 6 January 1971) more commonly known as Piasek, is a Polish singer, songwriter, actor, and television personality. Former Mafia singer, Member of the Phonographic Academy of ZPAV. In the years 1997–2010 he ...

Kasia Stankiewicz Kasia Stankiewicz (born 2 June 1977, Działdowo, Poland) is a Polish pop singer. She started her career in 1995 singing a song by Varius Manx, a multi-platinum Polish band, in the TV song contest '' Szansa na sukces'' (A Chance for Success). I ...

, Mietek Szcześniak and

Natalia Kukulska Natalia Maria Kukulska (born March 3, 1976) is a Polish singer performing pop and R&B music, turning towards alternative electronica in the 2010s. She debuted as a child singer in 1986, and released her first "adult" solo album in 1996. Her mos ...

, during which Szcześniak was selected by a selection committee to represent Poland. Among the members of the selection committee were Marek Sierocki (Head of Entertainment of

TVP1 TVP1 (TVP Jeden, ''Program I Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Jedynka"'') is the main public television channel of TVP (Telewizja Polska S.A.), Poland's national television broadcaster. It was the first Polish channel to be broadcast and remains one ...

Irena Santor Irena Wiśniewska-Santor (Polish pronunciation: ; born 9 December 1934), known professionally as Irena Santor, is a Polish singer, musical performer and actress. Her career started in 1950. She's noted for singing in clear mezzo-soprano, consid ...

(singer and actress) and Wojciech Gąssowski (singer and composer).

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom seven countries in the

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contest competed in the final on 29 May 1999. On 17 November 1998, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Poland was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from

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and before the entry from

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. Poland finished in eighteenth place with 17 points. The show was broadcast in Poland on

and

TVP Polonia TVP Polonia (formerly known as TV Polonia) is the international channel of the Telewizja Polska (TVP). The channel is co-funded by the TVP and the Polish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and broadcasts from the TVP headquarters in Warsaw. TVP Polon ...

with commentary by

Artur Orzech Artur Dariusz Orzech (born 22 February 1964, in Jelenia Góra) is a Polish journalist, radio and television presenter and music broadcaster. After graduating from ''IV Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Adama Mickiewicza w Warszawie'' in 1983 with an ...

. The Polish spokesperson, who announced the Polish votes during the final, was Maciej Orłoś.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Poland and awarded by Poland in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Germany in the contest.

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1999

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...