Poland has once again placed its trust in a second edition of its national selection Polskich Kwalifikacji 2026 to choose the country’s representative for Eurovision 2026.
In an unprecedented format with pre-recorded performances, which we were able to enjoy this Saturday, March 7, Poland has already decided who will be its flag bearer in Vienna. The winner was Alicja Szemplińska with “Pray”, with 32.01% of the votes.
She achieved victory after a previous open online vote, where entries were voted on only through the audio versions, and an open SMS vote during the delayed broadcast of Polskich Kwalifikacji 2026. Finally, Alicja Szemplińska’s entry with “Pray” was selected to represent the country at Eurovision 2026, a decision that was announced on the morning program ‘Pytanie Na Śniadanie’ on TVP 2.
Last year, Justyna Steczkowska won the selection and her song “GAJA” represented the country at Eurovision 2025, bringing the country back to the Grand Final of the European contest. This success encouraged confidence in organizing a new edition, although with a completely different format.
Who won the Finał Polskich Kwalifikacji 2026? Review the results of the Polish selection
Six years later, Alicja Szemplińska will have the opportunity to step onto the Eurovision stage, after being unable to do so in 2020 due to the cancellation of the festival because of the Coronavirus pandemic. On this occasion, she was once again chosen by viewers thanks to the strong support received in the online vote and SMS voting. Specifically, she received 32.01% of the votes.
Meanwhile, Ola Antoniak with “Don’t You Try” and Basia Giewont with “Zimna Woda” completed the Top 3 of the viewers.
Check out the full results of the Grand Final of Polskich Kwalifikacji 2026 below:
| Position | Artist | Song | Televote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Alicja Szemplińska | “Pray” | 32.01% |
| 2nd | Ola Antoniak | “Don’t You Try” | 18.39% |
| 3rd | Basia Giewont | “Zimna Woda” | 14.55% |
| 4th | Piotr Pręgowski | “Parawany Tango” | 11.47% |
| 5th | Stasiek Kukulski | “This Too Shall Pass” | 9.62% |
| 6th | Karolina Szczurowska | “Nie Bój Się” | 6.36% |
| 7th | Anastazja Maciąg | “Wild Child” | 4.02% |
| 8th | Jeremi Sikorski | “Cienie Przeszłości” | 3.58% |
Who is Alicja Szemplińska
Alicja Maria Szemplińska, born in the Polish town of Ciechanów on April 29, 2002, is a Polish singer who can boast of winning every music competition she enters. She has an impressive track record: she won the contest Hit, Hit, Hurra! in 2016, The Voice of Poland in 2019, and the following year Szansa na Sukces, which served to choose Poland’s representative for Eurovision 2020. She now adds the victory at Polskich Kwalifikacji 2026, marking the second time she has won a national selection for Eurovision.
From a very young age, Alicja began her studies at the Zygmunt Krasiński school in her hometown of Ciechanów and started to develop an interest in music. She attended singing classes from a very early age at the local community center and also sang in the church choir. Standing out for her voice and stage presence, at only 12 years old she enrolled in professional singing lessons.
In 2016, at just 14 years old, she entered her first competition: Hit, Hit, Hurra!, broadcast on the public channel TVP2. Alicja won the contest thanks to Polish viewers, who were impressed by her vocal power. As a prize, she received singing lessons with the renowned Seth Riggs, the vocal coach of Michael Jackson.
Three years later, in 2019, she decided to take part in another music talent competition: The Voice of Poland, the Polish version of The Voice. All the coaches competed to have Alicja on their teams. She eventually chose Tomson and Baron. She quickly became the clear favorite, living up to expectations and winning the competition and the €50,000 prize. Her successful participation also led to her first record deal with Universal Music Polska. There she released her first original single “Prawie my”, which achieved great success, surpassing one million views on YouTube in less than ten days, and accumulating more than two and a half million streams on Spotify.
At the peak of her career, she entered the program Szansa na Sukces, which served to choose Poland’s Eurovision representative for Eurovision 2020. In the first stage of the selection she performed a cover of “To nie ja!” by Polish pop star Edyta Górniak, advancing to the second stage of the competition. There she ultimately won with the song “Empires”. However, Alicja was unable to travel to Rotterdam because COVID-19 led to the cancellation of that Eurovision edition.
The situation was a major setback for the young artist, but that same year she continued releasing new original songs such as “Gdzieś”, “Pusto”, “Na pamięć” and “Kolęda dla Nieobecnych”, which became successful in the country, turning Alicja into a rising promise in the Polish music industry and giving her great exposure.
When many countries decided to keep their 2020 representatives for Eurovision 2021, the young artist once again saw her dream interrupted, as the public broadcaster internally selected Rafał Brzozowski to represent the country with “The Ride”. This caused great disappointment among her fans and Polish Eurovision followers, who saw the representative chosen internally but not Alicja, even though she was willing to return. This new disappointment marked the beginning of a new artistic phase, moving toward a more contemporary R&B and alternative pop style, with much deeper and more personal lyrics about identity and maturity. She also had her first international experience, performing the Polish version of “Starting Now” for a Disney project.
This stylistic shift became consolidated in 2022, turning Alicja into a leading independent pop-soul artist in the Polish market. She began working with new songwriters and producers and collaborated with emerging artists. In 2023, her anticipated return to the Eurovision race took place, participating in the national selection with the song “New Home”, which she co-wrote herself. However, Alicja finished in a disappointing sixth place.
The artist continued developing her artistic path, and in 2024 she released her first studio album: Nie Wracam. In it we saw a much more mature Alicja, blending soul and pop with powerful ballads, with a more international and Anglo-influenced production. Notable singles from the album included “Spokojnie Panowie”, “Nie Wracam”, “Za dużo łez” and “W co ty dziś grasz?”. The release was accompanied by a tour that allowed her to travel across Poland and perform at the country’s major festivals.
Last year she began with a clear goal: to try once again to fulfill her Eurovision dream in 2026. She started working with international producers and searching for winning sounds. That objective has now been achieved, because this year Alicja will finally be able to step onto the Eurovision stage.
Enjoy the performances from the Finał Polskich Kwalifikacji 2026
Alicja Szemplińska – «Pray»
Anastazja Maciąg – «Wild Child»
Basia Giewont – «Zimna Woda»
Jeremi Sikorski – «Cienie Przeszłości»
Karolina Szczurowska – «Nie Bój Się»
Ola Antoniak – «Don’t You Try»
Piotr Pręgowski – «Parawany Tango»
Stasiek Kukulski – «This Too Shall Pass»
Finał Polskich Kwalifikacji 2026: a selection full of changes
Poland announced its eight participants on January 14, initially setting the national final for February 14. The broadcaster TVP, Poland’s public television, also announced a wildcard rule reserving the right to add up to three more entries directly to the final, something they ultimately decided not to do. The first change came with the date change, moving Polskich Kwalifikacji 2026 to March 7.
As last year, the responsibility for choosing the winner was left exclusively to the Polish televote. However, this year the process was more complex. The first online voting round opened on February 28, where fans could vote on the TVP VOD website. Viewers could vote up to three times per day, and the voting was based only on studio audio versions of the songs, without live performances or staging. Initially, this vote was expected to remain open until 17:00 on March 7, just before the final.
However, another change occurred later, and the voting closed earlier on Thursday, March 5. The eight candidates representing Poland at Eurovision 2026 had recorded their performances on Sunday, March 1, which are the performances shown in the Polskich Kwalifikacji 2026 broadcast. During the show, voting reopened via SMS, remaining open until 23:59 CET.
Although the decision was in the hands of viewers, in case of a tie or any failure in the public voting, TVP established a backup jury that would choose the winner of the public selection. This jury was composed of representatives from the Eurovision fan community.