Chairperson of the NAMA Adjudication Panel Prof. Ruby Magosvongwe has released a statement to outline their findings in the nominations as well as explaining some decisions the panel made.
Below is the full statement
The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) is delighted to announce the nominees for the 19th National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) which will be held on Saturday 29 February 2020 at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC).
A total of 1290 entries were received at the close of the nomination period and thereafter a panel of independent adjudicators was appointed to preside over all the submissions. Over the past 2 months, using pre-determined criteria, these adjudicators have been engaged in a rigorous judging process.
This process was based on submitted entries as well as those identified by individual and institutional monitors appointed to track excelling artists throughout the year. These adjudicators who are seasoned and highly professional in various genres adjudged the entries submitted and only works that were produced between 1st December 2018 to 30thNovember 2019 were judged.
For the 19th NAMA council is pleased to unveil two new categories of awards:
These awards are in response to industry needs and their introduction follows sector-wide consultations.
Turning to the submissions, the adjudicators noted that there was a lot of artistic depth in the entries submitted across all disciplines.
The adjudicators also witnessed that in some areas like theatre and film, there was high competitiveness as artists were pushing the bar to produce quality projects. The artists were also commended for a lot of originality and innovation exhibited in the entries submitted for the awards.
The judges also observed the following:
The NACZ would at this juncture like to stretch its gratitude to all artists, production houses, producers, media houses, promoters, creative stables, arts organisations and institutions and all those who submitted entries for the 19th Edition of NAMA for making the process successful.
The council values this participation for it keeps the NAMA brand alive.
NAMA is a platform of the NACZ to recognize outstanding achievements within the creative sector.
The awards aim to encourage creativity and excellence in the quality of the arts enabling the sector to contribute positively towards the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Zimbabwe.
The awards also seek to inspire artists to strive for higher and original forms of creativity whilstproviding an opportunity for arts disciplines to jointly market and publicize the sector locally, regionally and internationally.
In conclusion, it is important to note that as the submissions for the 19th NAMA closed on 30thNovember 2019, the submissions for the 20th NAMA edition immediately opened.
All works of art produced after the 1st of December 2019 are eligible for consideration and nomination forms are available at the designated points. Those not nominated still have a chance be winners in 2021
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