WINDHOEK– The next stage in the 2015 Namibian Annual Music Awards(NAMAs) is the vetting of the record 835 entries received 271 mopre than last year when 564 entries were received.
The vetting process by a steering committee comprising industry experts and representatives from different record labels, entails checking whether all the 835 entries comply with the rules and regulations of the NAMAs. These are whether (1) the artist is a Namibian, (2) if the song has been entered in the correct category, (3) whether it qualifies and is on a valid album and (4) if it qualifies in terms of the prescribed timelines, that is December 1, 2013 and November 31, 2014. If any of the entry or entries do not comply with the above the Steering Committee may disqualify it or them, meaning it/they won’t reach the judging stage. “I wish to repeat that the Steering Committee members are not the same members of the Judging Panel and they do not judge entries but they simply check if the entries comply with the rules before it reaches the judges. Therefore only entries that are qualified through the vetting process will be attended to by the judges,” says Tim Ekandjo, NAMAs Chairperson in a media statement.
A total of 246 artists have entered in the different categories with 377 albums entered. Altogether 103 single albums have been entered competing for the Best Single category while 100 newcomers have entered this year’s awards. Ekandjo adds that the public voting categories are still open for public voting with 3505 smses received by the time of the issuance of the media statement on Monday. The the Song of the Year was leading with the most number of sms votes followed by the Entertainment Journalist of the Year and then the Most Disciplined Artist, Most Popular Artist, Entertainment DJ of the Year, Best Live Performance and Best Musical Event. The public can vote for these categories until Marh.
This year the NAMAs takes place in May 1 and 2 with the town and the venue where it would be taking still to be announced within a week.