SAMAs open nominations for SAMPRA Artist of the Year

The Artist of the Year category was first introduced in 2021 and acknowledges musicians who entertained fans the most in the previous year as decided by the public. Afro-pop duo Blaq Diamond took home the award. The category, now sponsored by SAMPRA, is open to any South African artist whose body of work was released between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021. All nominees will be bound by the official SAMAs28 rules.

To nominate an artist for the SAMPRA Artist of the Year category, the public should send the artist’s name to 33121 before 19 May. SMSes are charged at R1.50 per SMS, free SMSs do not apply.

The SAMPRA Artist of the Year category joins the Record of the Year and Music Video of the Year categories as the third award voted for by the public. The other categories are adjudicated by a panel of expert judges.

“We are incredibly proud of the work that South African artists accomplished in 2021, especially given the conditions that they had to create in,” SAMPRA CEO Pfanani Lishivha said. “We urge every music lover to nominate and vote for their favourite artists because it truly is your nomination and vote that will count in the SAMPRA Artist of the Year category.”

RiSA CEO Nhlanhla Sibisi said: “We once again invite South African music enthusiasts to have their say in selecting the year’s biggest act. It has been a fantastic year for South African music, particularly with the emergence of new class acts. We anticipate that this will be a hotly contested category and we look forward to crowning the recipient at SAMA28.”