All Africa Music Awards calls for entries

According to the calendar of activities for 2016, this year the All Africa Music Awards will take place in Gambia. Nigeria has hosted the first two editions of the award ceremony.

Already AFRIMA has obtained support from the African Union, with Angela Martins, the Head of Culture Divisions of the African Union Commission, saying at the 2016 launch, “We will continue to promote regional and continental integration of Africa using the potential of this creative industry, which is music, by linking the activities of the artistes to the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance, the African Youth Charter and the AU Plan of Action on Cultural and creative industries.”

AFRIMA, Martins said, is a veritable space for youth development: “Since we started this journey almost a decade ago, we have been focusing on developing the African youths and celebrating them and we will continue to do that through AFRIMA.”

Mike Dada, President and Executive Producer of AFRIMA, asked that artiste, managers, producers, record label owners, publicists and agents submit work for consideration within the submission period. "No matter how popular an artiste or their works are,” Dada said, “if they don't submit them for the awards, they will stand no chance of winning as the AFRIMA jury will not go sourcing for artists’ works themselves."

He added that the voting period for the general public begins 26 August. The AFRIMA Academy will start its own judging process on 26 September. The entire voting process will close on 5 November.

Last year’s edition saw Charlotte Dipanda and Diamond Platnumz take three awards each. Other winners on the night were Stanley Enow and Olamide.

The All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, is a music property developed to celebrate, reward and showcase the rich musical culture of Africa, stimulate conversations among Africans and between Africa and the rest of the globe about the great potential and values of the African culture and artistic heritage for the purpose of creating jobs, reducing poverty, calling attention of world leaders to Africa and promoting the positive image of Africa to the world.

Entries for the 2016 All Africa Music Awards opened on 30 May, to close on 30 July. To submit an entry, click here.