by Reuben Daba

AfricaMagic and MultiChoice Africa have jointly come up with a new initiative which they call The AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards.  They made the big announcement during a special episode of the popular AfricaMagic magazine show Jara. Jara is hosted by former winner of Big Brother Africa, Uti Nwachukwu, and Helen Paul and is beamed to DSTV audiences in 47 countries across the continent.

The AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards aims to celebrate African film and television talent, both in front of and behind the cameras.  The winners of the various categories would be chosen by the viewers directly, alongside several professionally judged categories.

A breakdown of the awards show that there will be 28 awards in total in 26 categories. The awards include those for acting, directing, script-writing, cinematography, editing, make-up, sound, lighting and costuming among others. And of course there will be awards in arguably the two most prestigious categories viz – the Industry Merit Award and the TrailBlazer of the Year Award.

In March 2013, the awards will be handed out at two separate events billed for Lagos, Nigeria. The first event will be dedicated to standout technical accomplishments while the second one would be the gala night, a night of glitz and glamour. The two events will be screened to DStv audiences across the continent with the gala being screened live.

According to M-Net Africa Managing Director, Biola Alabi, “It has been part of our plan to create a specific event that honors, celebrates and recognizes those people who are giving so much of their talent and creativity to ensuring the popularity and evolution of African film and TV. And to do this in partnership with MultiChoice illustrates the level to which both companies value this industry and are willing to invest in its future.

“Following the successful launch earlier this year of an expanded line-up of AfricaMagic channels, we are now totally focused on these Awards. We are aiming to create a platform that showcases and supports the film and television community, while simultaneously entertaining and engaging viewers. While we are aware that there are challenges ahead we are committed to the success of this initiative as we truly believe it will contribute positively to the efforts of filmmakers from Lagos to Nairobi, Lusaka to Kampala and all across Africa,” she said.

On his part, the CEO of MultiChoice Africa Nico Meyer said “Over the last 20 years MultiChoice has continuously invested in our premium channels M-Net and SuperSport to ensure that DStv becomes home of African television. The creation and success of the Africa Magic channels are a reflection of the popularity of this strategy of providing channels made in Africa for Africa. Thus, celebrating the best talent in this industry we believe will encourage further development and investment. We are truly proud to be part of this event which will showcase the best that Africa has to offer.”

Following the announcement, the next phase of the process is a call to producers to make their submissions for consideration.

The details of how to go about it can be obatained on www.africamagic.tv.

Deadline for all is Wednesday 31 October 2012 at 9pm (CAT). Entry is free.

After receipt and verification by an expert selection panel to be named later in the year, AfricaMagic/Multichoice would make the announcement of the nominees for the first-ever AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards in early December, formally launching the public voting stage.

Click to download the Guidelines

Click to download the Entry Form