WINDHOEK– With only ten days before entries closes for Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMAs), Executive Chairman, Tim Ekandjo, is urging artists not to wait until the eleventh hour to enter.
“We are urging artist not to wait for the 11th hour because that is how they make mistakes and submit incomplete entries that will be disqualified. No entries will be accepted after the closing date as artist had the entire month to submit,” says Ekandjo disappointed in the low number of entries that had been received by the time of the issue of a media release earlier this week. The deadline for entries is December 15 and to qualify artists must have produced/released an album between December 1, 2013 and November 30, 2014.
“The prize money for the Best Male and Female artist has seen a 100% increase, and they will now walk away with a cool N$ 100,000 each, which makes the NAMAs the best rewarding award ceremony on the continent, beating the South African Music Awards (SAMAs) by far whose biggest prize amounts to R15, 000,”Ekandjo said.
Ekandjo goes on that there is a possibility that other category prizes will also be increased and that the organisers are in negotiations with the sponsors. The 2015 NAMAs have seen the introduction of a new category called “Best Song with a Message” and “Best Musical Event of the Year”. The 2015 event will take place either in Swakopmund or Ongwediva and the organisers will in due course finalise the technical assessments to make a final decision.
The public vote categories are now open for voting on both the NAMAs website and via sms. When voting via sms, the public should ensure that it spells the name of the artists correctly. Each sms is charged at N$ 2 only. The public vote categories are;
Song of the Year (sms SOY with the name of the song to 66262); Best Live Performance (sms BLP with the name of the artist to 66262); Best Musical Event (sms BME with the name of the event to 66262); Most Popular Artist (sms MPA with the name of the artist to 66262); Most Disciplined Artist (sms MDA and the name of the artist to 66262); Entertainment Journalist (sms EJY and name of journalist to 66262); Entertainment DJ of the Year (sms EDJY and name of the DJ to 66262). To vote online simply go to the NAMAs website www.nama.com.na and go to the link www.namaentry.com/public.php and follow the easy online voting process.