NAMA adjudication begins

The adjudication process for the 20^th National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) to be held on the 26^th of February 2022 has begun with the adjudicators holding their first meeting at the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) head office in Harare.

The meeting saw the Adjudicators receiving their letters of appointment and terms of reference, signing their contracts and collecting the entries they will be adjudicating for the prestigious awards.

The adjudicators have their work cut out for them with a total of 2135 entries being received for the 20^th NAMA covering the visual arts, theatre, literary arts, film and television, dance, media, spoken word and music categories. 1020 entries were submitted online while 808 entries were received from the various collecting points that were established for the submission of entries. Monitors selected by the NACZ submitted an additional 307 entries while 83 entries were from Zimbabwean artists based in the diaspora.

Music dominated submissions across categories with 794 entries followed by Film and Television with (434), Visual Arts (283), Literature (254) Spoken Word (104) and Dance (99). Media and theatre categories received the least entries with 80 and 87 entries respectively.

NACZ is pleased with the entries received for the 20^th NAMA which cover the 2 years running from 1^st December 2019 to 30^th November 2021. The entries show that the Cultural and Creative Sector in Zimbabwe has confidence in the Awards and its systems which recognise excelling artists and acknowledges their immense contributions in the sector.

The awards ceremony scheduled for the 26^th of February 2022 aims to recognise outstanding talent, innovation and excellence in the different fields of Zimbabwean art and culture.

National Arts Council of Zimbabwe presser