By Charles Mgbolu
Organisers of the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA), Africa’s largest movie award event, have called for submissions from content creators across the continent as they gear up to mark the 10th edition of the event, which takes place in May 2024, but the awards this year come with sweeping changes.
‘’As we mark our tenth anniversary... we are embarking on a bold journey to reevaluate our award categories and further align with global trends and benchmarks,'' Head of Content and Channels West Africa, MultiChoice, Busola Tejumola, announced in a video message posted on Monday.
''This involves retiring certain categories, streamlining others, and revisiting both voting and non-voting classifications,’’ she added.
According to Tejumola, the performance awards have ‘’undergone streamlining and will fall under the categories of Best Actor or Best Actress in a Leading or Supporting Role, with winners determined by the jury deviating from the previous audience voting system.’’
Critics of the previous editions have welcomed the news with relish.
Backlash
Last year, AMVCA was heavily criticised on social media after the winners of certain categories were announced.
Critics said the Best Actor/Actress awards should not be decided by public voting, as star actors with huge social media followings become the eventual winners and not the performer with the best acting skill.
There was also uproar when Nigerian actor Kunle Remi was omitted from the list of nominees for the awards despite his performance in Nigerian filmmaker Kunle Afolayan’s epic drama, Anikulapo, which received 16 nominations at the awards.
Kunle maintained that the exclusion had no effect on him, his style, fame, or energy.
Award integrity
‘’It’s not my show, and we will not be getting answers, but I’m happy the world spoke out... It doesn’t reduce my value. I didn’t put in the work because of the award, but because it was a challenge,’’ he told local media.
The AMVCA did not respond to the criticisms, but the new changes indicate a strong will to preserve the integrity of the awards.
‘’The AMVCA remains committed to celebrating the incredible talent in the African film and TV industry,’’ Tejumola said in her video message.
The names of members of the judging panel for these categories have not been revealed, but AMVCA said the jury consists of experienced filmmakers from across the continent and the head juror will determine the winners in the 16 non-voting categories.
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