As if South Africa is somehow separate from Africa and the rest of the continent, there hasn't been a single word of it to or within South Africa, but M-Net's AfricaMagic and MultiChoice Africa is launching The AfricaMagic Viewers' Choice Awards to celebrate African film and television talent.
The AfricaMagic Viewers' Choice Awards 2013 will be a two night event taking place in March 2013 in Lagos, Nigeria and will - in similar fashion to the South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) in South Aouth Africa - hand out technical awards on the first evening, followed by on-air talent categories the second evening. There willbe 26 categories and 28 awards in total. The award ceremony's two special prizes will be the Industry Merit Award and the TrailBlazer of the Year Award.
Two further AfricaMagic TV channels are becoming available from October in South Africa on MultiChoice's DStv platform joining the current two AfricaMagic TV channels which indicates a growing importance from M-Net, its AfricaMagic channels division, as well as MultiChoice, to show African content inside South Africa..
Since it's called The AfricaMagic Viewers' Choice Awards, viewers will get to decide the winners directly in several categories.
In a press statement (which was curiously again not issued within South Africa but only to the rest of the continent) Biola Alabi, M-Net Africa's managing director, says The AfricaMagic Viewers' Choice Awards is an opportunity to build a pan-African event that is both relevant to industry professionals and vastly entertaining to fans.
"It has been part of our plan to create a specific event that honours, 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," said Biola Alabi.
"The creation and success of the AfricaMagic channels are a reflection of the popularity of this strategy of providing channels made for Africa in Africa," says Nico Meyer, the CEO of MultiChoice Africa, in the same press statement. "Thus, celebrating the best talent in this industry, we believe will encourage further development and investment. We are truly proud of this event which will showcase the best that Africa has to offer," Nico Meyer says.
Producers across the continent [Ed: is South Africa welcome?] can now enter for free and details of where and how to do it is available at www.africamagic.tv - the deadline for allsubmissions to be received is Wednesday 31 October at 21:00.
