Artists urged to submit entries for NAMAS

Entries for the second Namibia Annual Music Awards (NAMA) are now open and artists are invited to submit their work which was crafted and commercially released between 1 December 2010 and 31 November 2011.
The annual awards are held in partnership with the national broadcaster, Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and mobile communication giant MTC, who is also the main sponsor of the award.
Artists can enter online at www.nama.com.na or can submit their completed entry forms at either the MTC head office or NBC head offices. Entry forms are also available at the head quarters of both institutions.
The second NAMA Awards will consist of 31 categories, of which only 25 categories are open for entries. Artists can submit their work and enter in categories of their choice at no charge as from 13 December 2011 to 25 January 2012.
According to Tim Ekandjo, executive member of the NAMAS, entries received will be screened for compliance with the award rules and also to ensure that the entries were submitted in the correct category.
“The purpose of this process, known as vetting, is to ensure that each entry is eligible and not at risk of disqualification later. The steering committee of the Namibian Annual Music Awards will perform this function. No artistic or technical judgements are made about entries at this stage,” he said.
After submission, qualifying entries will be sent to the judges for adjudication. All the categories in the awards, with the exception of non-voting categories, are adjudicated by a panel of judges in accordance with the defined guidelines.“The public is not involved at this stage at all,” Ekando stressed.
He added that there is a different panel of judges for each category, but depending on the particular expertise of a judge, such a judge may serve on more than one panel. The panel of judges are reviewed annually. They are selected according to their expertise in their respective fields.
Final nominations will be announced at the Nomination Launch. The judging vote will count 70% while the public vote will count 30% as opposed to the 60% and 40% ratio.
The second Namibia Annual Music Awards aims to recognize accomplishment in the Namibian music industry by celebrating groups and individuals who have excelled in the past year.
Ekandjo appealed to interested recording artists to familiarise themselves with the rules and regulations of the awards.