Nominations for the maiden edition of AfricaMagic Viewers? Choice Awards (AMVCAs) were revealed during a special edition of lifestyle program 53 Extra on Monday evening. Held in association with MultiChoice, and headline sponsor Amstel Malta, the AMVCAs recognizes and rewards excellence in African film and TV.
Leading the pack is South African hit Otelo Burning with 14 nominations while Nigeria?s brilliant The Mirror Boy grabbed 11, just in front of Man on Ground, another powerful Nigerian offering which garnered 9 nominations. Other titles scoring multiple nominations included Perfect Picture (8), Two Brides and a Baby (7), Maami (5) and Skeem (5). In total, there were 110 nominees chosen from 43 different productions from countries as diverse as Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
In the category for Best Actress in a Drama, the nominees are Bubu Mazibuko, Genevieve Nnaji, Nolwazi Shange, Funke Akindele and Jackie Appiah while in the Best Actress in a Comedy category Funke Akindele, Lilian Esoro and Mercy Johnson are all in the running. In the Best Actor in a Drama category, the nominees are Fabian Adeoye Lojede, O.C Ukeje, Kenneth Uphopho, Edward Kagutuzi and Jafta Mamabolo. Nominees for Best Actor in a Comedy are Hafiz Oyetoro, Kunle Bamtefa, Bovi Ugboma, Francis Odega and Ikhide Isaac.
And in the Best Movie Overall category are Skeem (Tim Greene), Man on Ground (Akin Omotoso, Fabian Adeoye Lojede, Hakeem Kae-Kazim and Rosie Motene), Jozi King (Jamie Ramsay), Otelo Burning (Sara Blecher) and The Mirror Boy (Obi Emelonye).
Encompassing 28 awards in 26 categories, the AMVCAs includes 6 categories where viewers will vote for winners and 18 more technically focused categories where winners will be selected by an expert industry based judging panel (judges will be announced at a later date). M-Net Africa MD Biola Alabi says, ?We want the AMVCAs to be transparent, credible, respected and fair. So we selected people to the nominee selection team who embrace this philosophy. We will do the same when selecting the industry judging panel that will pick winners in certain categories. We know that everyone associated with these awards must be diligent and conduct themselves with integrity during what are challenging, tough processes. At this time, I must also say that we are truly delighted with the list of nominees and we wish them all well. Roll on March, we couldn?t be more excited about the big night and promise TV audiences an event to remember!?
Now, while the judges deliberate on the non-viewer voted categories, viewers can also start casting their votes for the 6 all-important viewer voted categories. Voting begins January 28 at 23:00 CAT and closes at midnight CAT on March 3, 2013. Viewers can vote via WEB, WAP or SMS
