Fans have been venting on social media about how their favourite musicians did not make the overall nomination list. Either that or how some musicians didn’t make it in certain categories. Which is normal right? I mean you’re a fan…you want your favourite to win all the time! However, how about you remove the fan tag and consider a few things. 
During the Sanlam/NBC days, a “select few” would win awards year in, year out. People…well, you started complaining that the same artists win year in, year out and that it’s starting to get boring. MTC steps in and restructures everything alongside its partner NBC which ultimately bucked the trend. 
One key change that the new structure that’s in its ninth year this year brought was to re-look at voting. Back then, fans could vote for almost every category. As for the current structure…the only voting category as far as Namibian acts are concerned is the “song of the year” category. 
The rest is in the hands of the judges, who, to my understanding, judge on merit and I hope popularity is not part of the criteria. The whole country knows Get Rich…but does that mean he is better than LMPC? 
 Now that the new structure has birthed fresh faces, people…well, you again are complaining that the awards are boring because your favourite did not make the nomination list or was omitted from certain categories. 
I did some digging and it turns out that there are a couple of factors why your favourite did not make it. One of the main factors was the release dates. The NAMAs has an eligibility period and if your favourite’s music was released before or after that period, they would get disqualified. 
Another factor that came to the fore was the fact that your favourite would make school girl errors on their application forms. I understand that the vetting committee would, at times, actually make the effort to contact your favourite seeking clarity, be it proof of release or genre entries etc. 
So if you are venting about your favourite not making the list…you might actually look stupid. Your favourite needs to pronounce themselves. Your favourite needs to be honest. Your favourite needs to tell you that they lost out because their release date was outside the scope of the NAMAs’ eligibility period. Your favourite needs to be honest about how the vetting committee tried to get clarification from them. Until your favourite states their case…I think we ought to resort to King Tee Dee’s rather annoying phrase, which is to drink H2O and mind our business. 

Until the next loop, we say “GMTM”!
NSK is a professional MC. For bookings, email naobebsekind@gmail.com
@naobebsekind (twitter)