Curtworth Masango
The 22nd edition of the prestigious National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) ceremony will be held on February 24 next year.
The entries were officially announced yesterday during a Press conference held in Harare.
The ceremony will be held at the ZITF Hall 3.
It will recognise and reward excellence in creativity and talent in the creative sector.
NAMA organisers, the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe and the Jacaranda Culture and Media Corporation (JCMC), have refined the awards ceremony and have promised to stage one of the biggest shows in Southern Africa.
NACZ executive director, Nicholas Moyo, said:
“We have held these awards annually and we are grateful to all the stakeholders who have helped NAMA to come to life all these years.
“The greatest of them all being the artists, without the artists, there is no NAMA.
“This is going to be our 22nd edition and we already have hundreds of entries that have already come in because artists have recognised that NAMA runs on an annual basis.
“After the last NAMA, the National Arts Council consulted with several stakeholders in reviewing NAMA and its categories.”
He added:
“The result of those consultations will be seen in some of the changes that I won’t reveal now, but one of the changes is that they will not be a media category.
“Going forward media awards are going to be given under special awards because of the role it plays.
“Today we are officially announcing that NAMA is open for entries, critical is that will be considering works of art that were held from December 1 2022 to November 30, 2023.”
JCMC managing director, Napoleon Nyanhi, said this year’s awards were running under the theme #KWAN22.
“This edition of the awards is running under the theme #KWAN22, a play on words that celebrates the return of Zimbabwe’s biggest celebration of the arts to KwaNtuthu Ziyatunqa, Bulawayo, while also marking the 22nd hosting of the NAMA.
“As a precursor to the main event, the NACZ and JCMC will be hosting its fourth annual NAMA Golf Day at Bulawayo Golf Club on the 10th of November 2023.
“The Golf Day serves as a platform for artists to interact and network with different stakeholders from the corporate sector.”