AU, AFRIMA release full nominees list

The African Union Commission, AUC, and the 13-man Jury of the All Africa
Music Awards, AFRIMA, have released the highly anticipated 2016 Nominees
List for the Continental Categories of Africa's leading awards project.


The 2016 AFRIMA Continental Nominees List was released to the public via
the media and on the AFRIMA website www.afrima.org [1] on Tuesday,
September 6, two weeks after the Nominees list for the Regional
Categories of the awards were unveiled on Monday, August 22 at a Press
Conference in Lagos. The 22 continental nomination categories include
different music genres, as well as coveted categories of "Artiste of the
Year in Africa", "Best Video in Africa", "Best Producer in Africa",
"Best Songwriter in Africa" and "Revelation of the Year in Africa".

This year also saw the introduction of an innovative category by the
International Jury of AFRIMA titled "African Fans Favourite", to
recognize African artistes who create chartbusting, anthemic songs that
propel the artistes to great popularity within and outside their
respective countries and regions.

Reiterating the Jury's position on fairness and transparency, Associate
Producer, AFRIMA, Ms. Adenrele Niyi, said the gap between when the
Regional and Continental Nominees List were released was necessary for
the Jury to 'painstakingly review and grade the qualified entries
submitted and carefully and accurately fit them into their appropriate
categories'.

"There is the need to be accurate right from the process of verifying
eligibility of entries, to the process of collating and finalising
results. Screening and selection of entries are evolving processes which
we work painstakingly at to ensure transparency and fairness", Ms. Niyi
stated.

The Regional Categories which featured Best Female Artistes and Best
Male Artistes of the five regions, nominated 65 artistes while 184
nominees make up the newly released continental categories with online
public voting expected to begin on Monday, September 12 on the AFRIMA
voting platform domiciled on www.afrima.org [1]

Also commending the commitment of the AFRIMA Jury to the adjudication
process, Director of Communication/Sponsorship, AFRIMA, Ms. Matlou
Tsotetsi observed that having been tasked with the responsibility, the
Jury dedicates time and effort to get the best expressions of the rich
African cultural heritage in music.

Ms. Tsotetsi said: "The urbane mix of African sounds in sync with modern
tunes and works that promote the positive image of Africa to the world,
are some of the guidelines the Jury worked with during the
screening/selection exercise. AFRIMA will continue to maintain exemplary
standards and uphold African music and culture as it had done since
inception in 2014. The process is very transparent and the public can
follow the entire process online and make any enquiries to the AFRIMA
Secretariat", she concluded.

Public voting for the nominees in the different categories of the awards
opens on Monday, September 12 and ends Saturday, November 5.

In partnership with the AUC and the Official Host City, Lagos State,
AFRIMA 3.0. calendar of events for November 4-6, 2016 will include the
Africa Music Business Summit on Friday, November 4, and the AFRIMA Music
Village, an open concert-style festival featuring nominees and other top
billed music stars. The grand awards ceremony holds on Sunday, November
6 with over 6,000 guests expected in Lagos, Nigeria for the various
events.