Ghanaian film, Contract, leads nominees list for AMVCA 2014

Yvonne Okoro, lead act in Contract

 Leading the nominations list for 2014 AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA) is Ghanaian film Contract with nine nods, followed by Nigeria’s Living Funeral with eight, Tanzania’s Siri Ya Mtungi with seven, Kenya’s Nairobi Half Life with seven and Last Flight to Abuja with six.
  The exciting announcement of the nominees for the second annual AMVCAs were made on Thursday, December 5, during a special 90 minute live broadcast of StarGist.

Created to recognize and honour Africa’s film and TV talents, the AMVCAs is quickly becoming established as a highlight on the continent’s entertainment calendar, with the nominee announcement paving the way toward the big night in March when winners will be named!

Led by the StarGist team of Vimbai Mutinhiri and Lawrence Maleka, and featuring Big Brother Africa’s IK Osakioduwa as a guest anchor, the highly anticipated ‘Nominee Announcement’ is sure to captivate the interest and imagination of industry professionals, and fans alike as the race to take home the coveted AMVCA gilded statuette begins.

With over 1000 entries received for the 2014 AMVCAs, three times the amount submitted last year, the nominations were hugely diverse this season spanning productions from the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. In total there are 137 nominations chosen from across 80 productions, up from 110 nominations chosen from 42 productions a year ago.

In the hotly contested category of Best Movie are five stand out titles – Last Flight to Abuja (Obi Emelonye), Contract (Shirley Frimpong Manso, Yvonne Okoro and Ken Attoh), Living Funeral (Udoka Oyeka and Orode Ryan), Flower Girl (Michelle Bello) and Awakening (James Omokwe).

Meanwhile in the category Best Television Series, nominees are Prem (Grace Kahaki Munthali from Kenya), Love Games (Catherine Phiri from Zambia), Siri Ya Mtungi (John Riber from Tanzania), The Benjamins (Paul Igwe from Nigeria) and Nowhere to be Found (Benson Akindeju from Nigeria).

Plus, in the acting categories, a wide cross-section of Africa’s stars were also nominated.

Best Actress in a Drama nominees are Stephanie Wilson, Veronica Waceke, Nse Ikpe-Etim, Nkiru Sylvanus and Ivie Okujaiye. In the Best Actor in a Drama category, Juma Rajab Rashid, Hlomla Dandala and Tope Tedela are all nominated alongside Majid Michel, who scored two nominations.

Echoing Majid’s nomination success is Funke Akindele who scored an impressive 3 noms in the Best Actress in a Comedy category. Nominated alongside her was Yvonne Okoro, Jackie Appiah and Mary Ogbonna. In the Best Actor in a Comedy category, nominations went to John Okafor, Chinedu Ikedieze and Hlomla Dandala with Osita Iheme also drawing 2 noms.

Other notable names on the nominees list include: Amil Shivji, Ann Hamberger, Bikiya Graham-Douglas, Bimbo Manuel, Chris Attoh, Chris Eneaji, David Mulwa, Desmond Elliot, Frank Rajah Arase, Hafizu Bello, Ian Mbugua, Jazmyn Batchan, Jumafor Ajogwu, Liz Ameye, Martins Onyebuchi Onyemaobi, Mercy Aigbe, Nancy Handabile, Olatunji Akeem Balogun, Tamara Eteimo, Tosh Gitonga, Valerie Kimani, Vincent Moloi, Uche Jumbo

and many more.

In addition, AfricaMagic also announced a brand new category The New Era Award, which aims to recognize and honour individuals who have made significant contribution to creating a new era for African film and television. Nominees in this category are: Desmond Elliot, Kate Henshaw, Rita Dominic, Rukky Sanda and Uche Jombo.

M-Net Africa Managing Director Biola Alabi congratulated the nominees on their achievement and urged them to use their nominations as a source of future motivation.

“We are so impressed by these skilled persons whose value to Africa must be recognized and honored. We send all the nominees our best wishes for the Awards in March but want to also remind them that their nomination is in itself an acknowledgement of the remarkable work they have done and are continuing to do in creating compelling African entertainment. AfricaMagic is also delighted that the success of year one of these Awards can be so clearly seen in the sharp increase in the number of entries received this year.”

Alabi also thanked leading pay-TV operator MultiChoice Africa and sponsor Amstel Malta for their support.

“As our headline sponsor, Amstel Malta, has proved to be an invaluable partner who truly understands the vision of these Awards to recognize and honour the African film and television community. Their investment into the AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards is deeply encouraging and greatly valued. The same must be said of our platform provider MultiChoice Africa, which has always been a pioneering leader in showcasing the skill and talent of Africa and Africans.”

Nominees for the 2014 AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards were once more selected by a nominee judging panel comprising some of the industry’s leading professionals. They were -

Akin Omotoso, Fabian Lojede, Adze Ugah, Njoki Muhoho, Njeri Karago, Lawrence Thompson, John Riber, Ebou Waggeh, Armand-Guy de Beer, Eileen Sandrock, Richard West, Bongiwe Selane, Aladejobi Ibraheem and Matt Bish. The nominee selection process was verified by the accounting firm of SizweNtsalubaGobodo. 

The event to announce the nominees of the 2014 AMVCAs, held on the same night that AfricaMagic celebrated its 10^th birthday, also drew a plethora of on screen talent.   

From Tinsel leads Gideon Okeke and Ireti Doyle to the famous faces of Desmond Elliot, Majid Michel, OC Ukeje and last year’s Trailblazer of the Year Ivie Okujaiye, the event was star-studded from start to finish.  Also making an appearance on the show were Lwanda Jawar and Brenda Wairimu, the Kenyan stars of the emotional 250 episode telenovella Kona. Providing superb music during the evening’s festivities were cute pop singer Temi Dollface, the powerful vocals of Efya and the mellow sounds of R&B crooner Praiz.   

But the night belonged entirely to the nominees of the 2014 AMVCAs.

Now, with voting open, fans can vote for their favourite in the 2014 AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards at www.africamagic.tv or via the mobile site on your mobile phone. Voting on the website and on the mobile site is free and you are allowed to vote once per hour.

You can also vote via SMS by sending the relevant voting code (as per list at www.africamagic.tv) to the SMS number (+2783142100415). For example if you are voting for an actress in the Best Supporting Actress category, send the voting code associated with that actress (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D or 1E) to (+2783142100415). SMS's are charged as applicable per specific network tariff. VAS rates apply. Free minutes do not apply. Please note that you can vote 100 times by SMS per telephone number. Public voting will close on March 3, 2014.

And remember that the nominee that receives the most number of votes will win the Award in that category. So the more you vote for your favourite nominees, the better their chance of winning!

There are 9 viewer voted categories this year, an increase from the 6 categories opened to viewer votes last year. The remaining 17 categories will be selected by an expert winners judging panel, who will be revealed in due course. In total, 28 awards in 26 categories will be awarded at the 2014 AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards, to be screened live from Lagos on Saturday March 8 on DStv and GOtv. On the night, the recipients of the Industry Merit Award, the New Era Award and the TrailBlazer Award will also be announced. From this year onwards there will be nominees in each category, though the nominees for the Industry Merit and TrailBlazer Awards will be announced at a later stage, as nominees in these categories are still under evaluation.