AFRIMA SET TO RELEASE NOMINEES' LIST

AFRIMA Juror(Diaspora-USA), Rab Bakari, AFRIMA Juror, South Africa, Christian Syren and AFRIMA Juror, Zimbabwe, Delani Makkhalima

Emerging from a rigorous period of collating, screening, grading and auditing the flood of quality entries that were submitted for the 2014 All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, the International Committee of AFRIMA is set to unveil the AFRIMA Nominees’ List on Tuesday, September 23, at a World Press Conference in the host country, Nigeria. All Africa Music Awards, in partnership with the African Union Commission, AUC, will be rewarding excellence in the continental music and media industry at the main awards ceremony slated for Sunday, November 9, 2014 that will be broadcast to 84 countries on 109 television stations. For the 2014 edition, the award project opened entries on May 15 and closed the submission of entries on July 21 in the process receiving a staggering total of 2,025 works for assessment submitted by African music industry artistes, professionals and journalists.   The AFRIMA Jury, made up of seasoned African industry practitioners, were in Lagos, Nigeria, between July 31 to August 6 for the week-long adjudication of entries from artistes, songwriters, video directors, producers as well as journalists. The result of the Jury’s work and the thorough collation by AFRIMA’s Kenya-based internal auditors has produced the highly-anticipated Nominees’ List. Nominees are vying for the coveted AFRIMA trophy in 32 categories divided into the regional and continental categories and including the AFRIMA Legend Award –a honour for a great African who has contributed immensely to the advancement of African music, the creative sector in general and impacted on the positive image of the continent and its global reckoning. The announcement in Lagos will be witnessed by international and local media, African music industry personalities, heads of partner corporate organisations and other music industry stakeholders. AFRIMA is rewarding both budding and established artistes and seeks to effectively contribute to the national and continental economies through music and culture.   While reiterating the criteria used in screening the entries submitted which aligned with AFRIMA’s core FACE IT values: Fairness, Authenticity, Creativity, Excellence, Integrity and Transparency, AFRIMA Director of Brand Communication and Sponsorship, Ms. Matlou Tsotetsi, enthused about the impending announcement. “AFRIMA Nominees’ List is a reflection of our values to ensure that there is fairness and transparency in this award. We want to celebrate excellence and integrity in Africa and not mediocrity. Our seasoned jury had screened and graded the entries and the international auditing firm had further screened the jury nominations to ensure that there is fairness and transparency. Just like everyone, we are particularly excited to know who our nominees will be come Tuesday, September 23. And eager to see how Africa will vote for their nominees thereafter for 35 days. ”. Also, AFRIMA Project Director Ms Adenrele Niyi said with excitement that “I am looking forward to the voting process as the contest is just about to begin after the announcement of the 2014 Nominee List as all votes from the Academy

All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, Juror in Adjudication session.

and the public will be collated and audited by an International auditing firm of repute who will be bringing the winners list to the Award Ceremony on Sunday, November 9, 2014” The five-week voting period commences on Tuesday, September 30, seven days after the announcement, where the AFRIMA Academy members and music fans and followers can vote for their favourite nominee (s) on the AFRIMA’s website and on AFRIMA social media platforms. All Africa Music Awards main ceremony promises to be a premium star-studded event on November 9. It will be preceded by the AFRIMA Music Village between November 4 and 7, a four-day festival style open concert of non-stop music, fanfare and exhibition from countries in Africa and performances by African artistes. There will also be an African Music Summit, November 6 to 7, themed “Reviving the Business of Music in Africa”. The two-day conference will be a platform for the music industry stakeholders to engage and deliberate on how the industry can be nurtured and be a major contributor to national and continental economies.