adminBongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ), organisers of the National Art Merit Awards (Nama) received 1,104 entries for next year’s awards ceremony, a notable increase from last year’s 626.
Most entries are for the Film & Television, Music and Visual Arts categories. Nominees will be announced early next year ahead of the February 13 ceremony. Arts personalities will be awarded in eight categories, Music, Literary, Dance, Visual, Film and Television, Theatre, Media and Spoken Word.
Catherine Mthombeni, NACZ communications and marketing officer yesterday said musicians lead the pack with 330 entries, followed by Film & Television with 255 and Visual Arts with 204. Theatre recorded the highest increase of entries as there are 125 up from 34.
“The increase in entries could be an indication of people having gained confidence in the product,” Mthombeni said.
She said adjudicators were now hard at work.
“A panel of independent adjudicators is now presiding over the submissions to select nominees as well as winners for each award. Nominees will be released during the first week of February next year,” said Mthombeni.
“Some of the entries were identified by monitors who were appointed by NACZ and kept an eye on excelling artists throughout the year,” said Mthombeni.
Man of the moment, Jah Prayzah was the biggest winner at last year’s awards ceremony as he bagged four gongs for his Tsviriyo album. Other winners included Memory Kumbota, Olivia Charamba, Rolex Dance Crew and Bathabile Dhlamini.
derick.khumalo