The voting portal for the 2022 edition of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) has been open to the public globally to select the winners of each of the 39 award categories.
The International Committee of the All Africa Music Award (AFRIMA) in conjunction with the African Union Commission (AUC) announced in a statement last weekend, urging African music lovers to vote intensively using the voting portal live at www.afrima.org, before the portal closes on December 10, 2022, which is the eve of the awards.
More information on the voting process, which would also be audited by the International auditing firm, PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PWC), can also be found on the website, as well as AFRIMA’s social media handles.
Like it did at the AFRIMA 2021 edition, the PWC, which has audited other major global awards, including the Oscars, will audit the voting portal, collate the votes and present them at the awards.
According to AFRIMA’s Executive Producer/President, Mike Dada, “AFRIMA’s core values of FACE IT – Fairness, Authenticity, Creativity, Excellence, Integrity and Transparency remain at the heart of our operations. With PWC, we are further reinforcing these value drivers, ensuring that we remain as inclusive, credible and authentic as always.”
Recall that the list of nominees were unveiled globally, last Wednesday, revealing a total of 382 nominations across all 39 categories. The nominations, which have been greeted with positive acclaim across the world, are the fruit of a rigorous 10-day adjudication held by AFRIMA’s 13-member jury, in July. Also, only entries within the validity period of August 20, 2021 to August 5, 2022, were considered for nomination for this year’s awards.
According to AFRIMA’s Executive Producer/President, Mike Dada, the awards body remains the ultimate recognition of African music globally, also serving as a muse to other award bodies across the continent.
“We are not oblivious to the fact that there are some other award bodies that copy our nominations every year. As the ultimate recognition of African music, globally, we are a source of inspiration to both music gatekeepers and music lovers across the entire industry. AFRIMA continues to blaze the trail in celebrating African talent and developing our creative ecosystem, and this year’s edition is a step further in that direction,” he said.
On her part, the African Union Commission’s Head of Culture, Angela Martins, urged music lovers to vote decisively and objectively.
For the 4-day ceremony scheduled for December 8 to 11, 2022, TCN reliably gathered that the organisers may have settled for a French-speaking West African country as the host city for this year’s award.
The last time Afrima held outside Nigeria was in 2018 when Accra, Ghana hosted the lavishly celebrated music awards.
Organisers are expected to formally unveil the host city on September 30 in a modest ceremony as part of the activities lined up towards the continental event.