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Mthabisi Tshuma, Showbiz Correspondent
After a successful inaugural awards showcase, organiser of the Midlands Teen Arts Awards (MTAA), Farai Chigumbu is now preparing to host the second edition which he is opening up to teens in other provinces.
The inaugural ceremony which was held last month saw Chaplin High School students coming out tops.
The showcase was confined to youths in the Midlands province with those from other provinces only honoured through a special category.
Chigumbu said in response to calls from other provinces to be included, he decided to make the competition a national event.
The youthful MTAA founder whose vision is to uplift young talent, said the second edition which has been slated for December, will be for persons between the ages of 13 and 24 years.
While presenting certificates to winners of the inaugural event this past weekend in Gweru, Chigumbu said the second edition will hopefully see winners being presented with gongs and prize monies as the event is attracting sponsors.
“The second edition is going to be much different from the first as it’ll be open to all youths in Zimbabwe aged between 13 and 24.
“The reason we’re opening it up is to create competition among youths throughout the country.
“Last year we received entries from youths from other provinces hence the decision to make it national,” said Chigumbu.
He said the venue and date for the event are yet to be finalised.
“The entry dates are going to be announced soon. We’ll be accepting works which were produced from November, 2020 up to the close of entries.”
Explaining the concept of the awards, Chigumbu who was inspired to host the showcase by events such as the Bulawayo Arts Awards said: “This is a youths’ initiative created to celebrate, promote and recognise creative youths in the Midlands province. The MTAAs now seek to recognise talent in other provinces of Zimbabwe.
“These awards are also a way of creating competitive ideas within teens who are in the arts industry as our aim is to embrace the different talents that young people have.” — @mthabisi_mthire.
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