The International Committee of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) has directed that all entries for the 2022 edition of the awards must be submitted before the portal closes on August 5.
The AFRIMA juror, representing Diaspora Northern America, Hadja Keita, said this in a statement issued on Monday.
According to her, all artistes, music professionals and other relevant stakeholders within Africa and across the diaspora must submit their entries before the portal closes.
Keita said that the award platform would not extend the submission date.
“It is important that all relevant parties submit their entries on time this year. We are a very thorough and transparent organisation and we have a clear process for the award ceremony every year.
“Once submission of entries ends, we spend time in judging the materials, before we can derive our final nominations list.
“We also have a specific time allotted to voting, the entire process is also audited by a firm of international repute, Pricewaterhousecoopers.
“We do not just wake up and nominate people, AFRIMA 2022 will be held from November 3 – 6 this year; to achieve this, we cannot extend deadlines at this point,” he said.
Keita said that all prospective entries must have been created between August 2021 and August 2022, being the year-in-review for all submissions.
She said artistes, artiste managers, music producers, recording companies/labels, video directors, disc jockeys and other relevant stakeholders could submit their work via the official AFRIMA website at www.afrima.org.
“All submissions must be done in consonance with AFRIMA guidelines, terms and conditions, which are also available on the website.
“This year’s edition retains its existing categories, all of which are carefully curated to celebrate the best of talents within the African music scene as well as communicate the strengths of Africa for global competitiveness.
“A pre-screening and a main screening process will be carried out, respectively, by a world-class 13-member jury composed of seasoned music experts from across the five regions of Africa and in the diaspora, between August 5 to 16, 2022.
“A world media announcement of the AFRIMA 2022 nominees list will be held on August 17, 2022, officially heralding the voting period for this year’s edition,” she said.
According to her, from August 24, the AFRIMA Academy as well as music fans and followers around the globe will begin to participate in the public voting process.
She said this would be conducted on AFRIMA’s website, during which the nominees will receive votes that could lead them to emerging winners in the various categories of the awards.
She noted that the voting process, which closes 24 hours before the awards ceremony, would be monitored and audited by a reputable international auditing firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“The awards ceremony will be held from Thursday November 3, to Sunday November 6, 2022, it will feature a 4-day fiesta of music, glitz, and glamour.
“The event is scheduled to commence with the welcome soiree, followed by the AFRIMA Music Village, the host city tour, African Music Business Summit, and the exclusive nominees’ party.
“And it will be concluded with the live awards ceremony broadcast to over 84 countries around the world.
“African music lovers can take part in the events on social media, live stream on the AFRIMA website at www.afrima.org and visit the social media platforms (Instagram – Afrima.official; Twitter – Afrimawards), and they can watch the event coverage by tuning in to their local and cable TV providers,” she said.