by Thinus Ferreira
MultiChoice and M-Net West Africa are reviving its Nigeria-centric Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards after a year's absence due to the global Covid-19 pandemic with the 8th Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards that will take place in 2022.
The 8th African Magic Viewers' Choice Awards will once again be staged in Lagos, Nigeria with the awards introducing "Best Online Social Content Creator" as a new category.
In October MultiChoice revealed that it would bring back the AMVCAs in 2022 after a year's absence, with the 7th edition that took place on 14 March 2020 with a packed hotel auditorium audience, after which MultiChoice had to warn its thousands of MultiChoice and M-Net guests who physically attended in Lagos, Nigeria that they were likely exposed to Covid-19.
MultiChoice's Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards is usually panned for its bad production values year after year, shoddy presenters, and multiple awkward mistakes during the broadcast on M-Net's Africa Magic channels on DStv that neither MultiChoice nor the production company seems able to improve and fix.
In 2021 MultiChoice and M-Net didn't organise any Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards due to Covid-19 and never officially announced that it was cancelled for this year.
MultiChoice didn't have the AMVCAs in 2019 and revived it for 2020 after a year's absence, meaning that the pan-African awards show for the continent's film and TV industry has been an on-off, on-off event for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Likewise, MultiChoice South Africa and M-Net also didn't have any DStv Mzansi Viewers' Choice Awards in South Africa in 2021 and failed to communicate that it was cancelled for the year, with kykNET that didn't want to say that there won't be any Silwerskermfees in 2021 either.
Submissions can now be made for the 8th Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards in 2022, with the entry period that will close on Friday 14 January 2022.
Work created and screened by Africans in Africa between 1 December 2019 and 30 November 2021 can be entered, with films, made-for-TV movies and TV series previously entered or nominated for an award, or awarded a prize in another film and television competition that are eligible to be entered for the AMVCAs.
This is a much broader eligibility window for work that had been produced to make up for the absence of the AMVCAs in 2021.
"Following the 7th edition in 2020,
plans for the next instalment were put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic and
the attendant concerns on the health and safety of all stakeholders. The AMVCAs
will now take place in Lagos, Nigeria in 2022," MultiChoice Africa says in a statement.
John Ugbe, MultiChoice Nigeria CEO, says "The 8th edition of the AMVCAs once again demonstrates our commitment to spotlight the immense talent we have in the African film and TV industry and promises to leave a much bigger impact than previous editions".
Dr. Busola Tejumola, MultiChoice Nigeria's head of content and West Africa channels, says "We are very excited about
the Best Online Social Content Creator category as we believe this will further
underscore our commitment to represent all content creators and inspire new
talent".
"There is no better time than now to recognize and celebrate this
growing digital community as we stage the eight edition of the awards."
The 8th AMVCAs will also see the return of Best Africa Magic Original Drama Series, Best Africa Magic Original Comedy
Series as well as the Best Dressed Male and Female, which
will be voted for on the night of the event.
The 8th Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards will now have a total of 33 categories.
Although the competition has "Viewers' Choice" in its name, a whopping 21 categories are decided by the AMVCA panel of judges, with only 12 categories that are voted for by the public - 36%.
Although still shockingly low, it is an improvement on the 25% of 2018 in which Africa's viewers only got to decide the winners in 7 out of the 27 categories at the AMVCAs.
People and production companies that want to enter the 8th AMVCAs must prepare a 5-minute long showreel under 300 MB and log on to the Africa Magic website at www.africamagic.dstv.com, click on the AMVCA 8th edition banner and go to the submissions page where the submission form must be filled, and the clip uploaded.
A participant can submit multiple entries in different categories.
A reference number will be allocated for every completed online submission. A hard drive of the submitted project must then be sent to the head office of the relevant African region (Nigeria in West Africa, South Africa in Southern Africa, Kenya in East Africa).
Nigeria
Busola Komolafe, Africa Magic, 4 Industrial Street, Ilupeju
South Africa
Sibongile Mabel Nkosi, Magic Center, 137 Bram Fischer Drive,
Randburg, 2123
Kenya
Margaret Mathore, 2nd floor, M-Net offices, Local Production Studio, Jamhuri Grounds off Ngong road
