NAMA 2018 entries officially open – 11 categories scrapped off
Organisers of the Namibia Annual Music Awards (NAMAs), MTC and NBC on Wednesday said that artists can submit their applications for 2018 NAMAs from now up until 2 December.
The call for entries is open for all local artists with music/albums commercially released (made available for sale in any recognised retail trade) in Namibia between the 1 December 2016 and 30 November 2017.
The 2018 awards will take place on 28 April and will be a one day event due to the low interest in the Friday evening awards, according to NAMAs Executive Chairperson Umbi Karuaihe- Upi.
Furthermore, 11 categories which are; Kizomba and Shambo (due to low entry figures), Radio song of year, NAMA Special award, Best live performance, Best musical event, Entertainment journalist, Radio DJ, Most disciplined artist, Song with a message and Most Socially Responsible Artist of the year, have been scrapped off.
Tim Ekandjo, Chief Human Capital and Corporate Affairs Officer at MTC explained that this is done to afford the NAMAs team to focus more on the main event and make it more impactful. He however said that the cut of the 11 categories is not permanent.
The 24 categories that are open for entry are; Afrikaans, Damara Punch, Oviritje, Soukous/Kwasa, Afro Pop, Gospel, Kwaito, R&B, Rap/Hip Hop, House, Reggae, Traditional, Collaboration, Single, Newcomer, Music video, song of the year, pan African artist, best album, best male and female, best group, producer and lifetime achiever.
The organisers also added that there will be an amendment on the ‘Best Producer of the Year’ category, meaning producers must enter into NAMAs 2018 into this category to be considered for nominations as ‘Best Producer of the Year’. Previously this category was a non-entry category and the Vetting committee vetted producers based on the albums nominated purely from the ‘Best Album of the Year’ category.
Artists can enter manually or electronically. More information on entry requirements can be found on social media accounts and website of the awards.
