By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka
All is set for the 20th edition of National Arts Merit Awards this Saturday at the majestic Harare International Conference Centre.
Also known as the NAMAs, the show makes a welcome return after a two-year hiatus following COVID-19 pandemic.
The awards ceremony will be held under the theme “Zimbabwe and Beyond #AmaLevels”.
Hosted by South Africa-based Zimbabwean actor Leeroy Gopal, organisers have made sure that the awards show is held amid glitz and glam as well as all the razzmatazz associated with the event of this magnitude.
Gopal will co-host the show with ZiFM’s Amad while red carpet presenters are Spanchi Omnyama, Phill Chard and Danny That Guy completing the list.
Qualifying entries of art work were from December 1 2019 to November 30 2021.
The nominees from 2 135 entries that were received covers a wide spectrum of the arts such as visual arts, theatre, literary arts, film and television, dance, media, spoken word and music categories.
For this year’s entries, music dominated submissions across categories with 794 entries followed by film and television with 434, visual arts 283, literature 254, spoken word 104 and dance 99.
Media and theatre categories received the least entries with 80 and 87 entries.
The NAMAs are the country’s premier awards show established through an Act of Parliament in 1985 by NACZ.
The awards show which is jointly hosted by the NACZ and Jacaranda Culture and Media Corporation (JCMC) was scheduled for February 27, 2021 but unfortunately the organisers decided to push the date back to 26 February 2022.
One of the most anticipated categories is music where musicians Jah Prayzah and Nutty O go head-to-head.
Former stablemates — Jah Prayzah and Nutto O are up for Outstanding Male Musician, Outstanding Album and Outstanding Song gongs while Janet Manyowa got two nods for Outstanding Female Musician against Gemma Griffiths, Feli Nandi and Dorcas Moyo as well as in the Outstanding Album category.
Newbies DT Bio Mudimba of the Kujata Jata fame are nominated in two categories — Outstanding Song and Outstanding Newcomer while Feli Nandi is also up for two categories in Outstanding Female Musician and Outstanding Newcomer.
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