Entertainment award shows in Africa have caused a buzz in the art and entertainment industry for over a decade in Africa. With many shows sprouting up just to wither with time, for lack of consistent funding, mismanagement and other reasons, the arena is tackled with myriads of challenges. In the recent feature from around 2018, there has been a consistent increase in the number of award shows in the arts and entertainment sphere especially in East Africa including some of the most popular ones, Extreem Awards, E360 Awards among others which were preceded by the Groove awards sponsored by Safaricom in the prior years.
The excitement and hype around awards shows has been further catapulted by the use of social media and tapping into the competitive spirit of the contestants or nominees. For instance, the recently concluded, E-360 Awards, saw the voting process create a lot of buzz with the nominees eager to show their best and receive support from their fanbase.
For the first time nominees the ambition to come up top in the race is the fuel for the furnace of award glory. The question of the benefit in monetary terms however, has always come up as the initial award shows such as Chaguo la Teeniez came under fire from nominees such as Kenyan dancehall hall and hophop artist Nazizi, who wasn’t impressed by the award shows lack of proper monetary award tangibles.
In as much as the trophies and certificated of achievement are offered, artists have decried lack of monetary award to go with it, as the award organizers benefit alone from various funding sources and programs for these awards fete. The future of award shows in Africa therefore, will be determined by whether, the award shows can attract enough sponsorship, that will in turn translate to the benefit consequently being passed on to the participants and winners getting monetary rewards as well.
With lack of a proper structure in the entertainment industry, there is a tendency of award shows being ran haphazardly which also negatively impact the whole outcome and the winners list. Lack of transparency and accountability has rendered skeptism towards awards shows in Africa. It is therefore, very key that organizers and sponsors prioritize, transparency, integrity in the process and the follow through. Better collaboration of stakeholders and more sponsorship is needed if award shows are to consistently achieve their fundamental goal of inspiring growth and progress in the industry.
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