As the adjudication process commenced on August 7, it has been revealed that this year’s All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) received 8,157 songs/videos entries.
The entries set the record as the highest since the inception of the biggest music event in Africa. It exceeded the 2018 submissions by 148 entries. Of the 8,157 entries, however, West Africa leads the pack with 38% of the total entries followed by Southern Africa with 24%. East Africa, Central Africa and North Africa have 20%, 14% and 4% respectively.
Meanwhile, the 13-man international jury of AFRIMA, which arrived Lagos on August 7, has begun the weeklong adjudication process in earnest. The jury’s responsibilities include screening, categorising, assessing, grading and selecting into the 36 regional and continental categories nominees who will vie for the gold-plated AFRIMA trophy.
Guided by transparency and fairness, each of the jury members will bring their span of experience and professionalism to play and utilize their boundless knowledge of African music, culture, and entertainment, to collectively arrive at artistes and/or recordings that will appear on the nominees’ list, which would be unveiled during a world press conference scheduled for August 14 at Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, the AFRIMA hospitality partner.
Speaking on the development, African Union Commission’s Angela Martins, said: “AFRIMA, the Pan-African initiative and music platform, is gaining greater momentum, continental visibility and recognition. This can be verified by the increased number of entries received for its 6th edition to be held in November.”