BREAKING. Confusion, uncertainty of whether the Royalty Soapie Awards will actually be broadcast on SABC1 on Sunday.

There is ongoing uncertainty and confusion regarding whether the Royalty Soapie Awards will be televised on South African TV or not. While the organisers are adamant that the awards show will go ahead and be shown on television, the SABC says there is no contract and that it will not.

After multiple delays, e.tv's soaps being pulled from consideration, zero information regarding who the judges are and backstage drama between the organizers which saw venture partner Lala Tuku back out, the Royalty Soapie Awards was moved from its November 2013 date to March 2014 at the Durban International Convention Centre.

The Royalty Soapie Awards organised by Winnie Modise is finally set to take place on Saturday 8 March in the same city as this past Saturday's 13th Metro FM Awards which was shown on SABC1 on Saturday as a live broadcast and which suffered from terrible production values.

The Royalty Soapie Awards takes place on exactly the same date and time as M-Net and MultiChoice's continental 2nd AfricaMagic Viewers' Choice Awards.

According to the organisers the Royalty Soapie Awards with hosts Michael Mol and Hlomla Dandala, will be shown on SABC1 a day later on Sunday 9 March at 20:30.

SABC1 says it will not broadcast the Royalty Soapie Awards and has the movie Lake City scheduled.

With three days to the actual event and four days to the would-be broadcast date, the SABC on Wednesday told TV with Thinus that "we are waiting for the agreement to be finalised between the SABC and the organisers". The SABC said that a statement will only be made "once the agreement is in place".

A spokesperson for the Royalty Soapie Awards organisers told TV with Thinus that they however have confirmation from the SABC that the Royalty Soapie Awards will be shown on SABC1 on Sunday at 20:30.

Sindile Xulu, Royalty Soapie Awards project director says the organisers are "thrilled to have the awards show broadcast made accessible to the widest possible audience" on SABC1.

A ROYALTY MESS. Royalty Soapie Awards jettisons 2 November awards ceremony in Durban; postpones it to sometime in first quarter of 2014.

What is known as the Royalty Soapie Awards - a new awards ceremony which would have celebrated South African's local soap opera genre - has now suddenly been  postponed to an indefinite date in 2014, less than a month before it was set to take place on 2 November in Durban - raising further questions around the organising which has gone into the now controversial event.

The Royalty Soapie Awards' PR company released a prepared statement about the Royalty Soapie Awards' postponement - without giving a new date - at exactly midnight on Saturday night before the Sunday tabloids splashed about the news.

The Royalty Soapie Awards apparently couldn't sign a South African broadcaster to broadcast the event of 2 November on time, as it is trying to hammer out a deal with the SABC's SABC1 channel.

Questions have been swirling around the Royalty Soapie Awards, organised by Generations' actress Winnie Modise since earlier this year when it splashily announced a September announcement of nominees which didn't materialise.

Meanwhile many in the local TV industry are clueless about the judges since the awards show refuses to release any names; people are uncertain about how the awards works; and Lala Tuku, Winnie Modise's partner to start the awards ceremony, is no longer involved and backed out.

There's been other delays as well and big concerns from the South African TV industry. It saw e.tv pull its local soaps such as Rhythm City and Scandal! and pay-TV broadcaster M-Net also snubbed it by keeping Inkaba and Zabalaza out of categories.

According to the TV industry this voids the credibility of the Royalty Soapie Awards if it doesn't have 100% representation of what is purports to give industry awards to. Business, including the South African TV industry and soap productions, need predictability and abhors uncertainty.

In the statement, the Royalty Soapie Awards, now claiming the beginning of 2014 is better because the calendar is less crowded and that it is jettisoning its 2 November date in Durban for a new, unannounced date in the 2014, says "the inaugural awards ceremony focusing on television soap opera will now take place in the first quarter of 2014".

"The first quarter of the year is an ideal time and fairly uncluttered from an entertainment point of view and is a fantastic time to visit Durban as it falls outside of the peak holiday season," says Sindile Xulu, Royalty Soapie Awards project director.

The statement doesn't explain why the organisers - wanting to do a professional industry event - didn't know of, were not aware of, or didn't have or make use of professionals to calendarise and inform the organisers of this back in June when the Royalty Soapie Awards and the dates were announced.

Also not clear is why soap actors and TV soap crew would eevn care about whether they have to show in or out of peak season at Durban's International Convention Centre - doing an awards show appearance is part of publicity work for productions and not for stars to holiday.

The Royalty Soapie Awards now plan to announce the finalists in the acting categories on 23 October. Voting for the non-inclusive list of soaps for the "Most Popular Soapie" award has been announced as now starting on 2 November although people wanting to vote for certain soaps won't be able to do so.

e.tv on pulling its soaps from the Royalty Soapie Awards: 'To be blunt: They just think they can just put up an event and use our brands.'

You're reading it here first. 

e.tv has some stern words for the Royalty Soapie Awards from which the free-to-air commercial broadcaster has pulled both its soaps Rhythm City and Scandal! citing big concerns, with Monde Twala, e.tv's group head of channels telling TV with Thinus in an interview that the Royalty Soapie Awards "don't seem organised to the extent where they're able to give us enough information".


ALSO READ: e.tv pulls both its soaps Rhythm City and Scandal! from the Royalty Soapie Awards
ALSO READ: Royalty Soapie Awards: "It's a pity that e.tv did not allow their soaps to enter"; "judges only revealed at the winners' announcement ceremony".


"These guys are not clear," Monde Twala tells TV with Thinus. "To be blunt, they think they can just put up an event and use our patents and brands as they please."

The Royalty Soapie Awards organised by Generations' Winnie Modise is set to take place in Durban on 2 November but is now no longer representative of the entire South African TV soap industry given e.tv's exclusion.

"We spend millions and invest millions on local television content, particularly around the soaps like Rhythm City and Scandal!. In addition we spend a lot of marketing money on it to build these great brands. People can't just come to us and say we're starting an award. It's becoming fashionable just to start awards."

"We want to be a part of it, but we need to take care of what's the intention around a particular awards ceremony," says Monde Twala. "What's the benefit for not only the broadcaster but what's the benefit for the actors, what's the benefit for producers, directors?"

"There's a lot of clutter at the moment in terms of different people coming up with all sorts of award events. We have to be careful how we associate and who we associate with in terms of how we manage our brands."

"We're running a business here and we're running a long term business you know. I've seen awards shows come and go, believe me, and I'm sure you have also. We need to be cautious and there needs to be a broader discussion apart from just someone hosting an awards event around soapies," says Monde Twala.

"We are a part of the South African Film and Television Awards. We had numerous meetings. We had a similar issue with the Saftas and over the last period we've had meetings with the Saftas. They've been very transparent with us. And these guys haven't. They haven't been transparent with us."

"The Saftas is an industry award that involves everyone else. It includes industry players. I don't know who is included in the Royalty Soapie Awards. Who are the judges? They say they've got judges. They're not giving us the facts. We don't know what the judging process is."

"We're not just going to blindly go into awards and mess up our brands," says Monde Twala.

Royalty Soapie Awards: 'It's a pity that e.tv did not allow their soaps to enter'; 'judges only revealed at the winners' announcement ceremony'.

You're reading it here first. 

The Royalty Soapie Awards, the new upstart South African awards ceremony looking to bestow statuettes on South Africa's TV soap stars and those working behind the scenes cranking out these weekday sudsers, tells TV with Thinus that "it's a pity that e.tv did not allow their soap productions to enter".

It comes after e.tv decided to pull both its local South African soaps Rhythm City and Scandal! from The Royalty Soap Awards, instantly nullifying the perceived credibility within the South African TV industry of the new awards ceremony organised by Generations actress Winnie Modise.

ALSO READ: e.tv on pulling its soaps from the Royalty Soapie Awards: "To be blunt: They think they can just put up an event and use our brands'.

With 20 categories, and viewers' votes deciding "Most Popular Soapie of the Year", it means a hollow victory for the winner since viewers who might have wanted to vote for Rhythm City or Scandal! won't be able to do so.

With major questions around who judged the various categories and who the judges are since the organisers have refused to release any names, the Royalty Soapie Awards says the judges will only be revealed at the winners' announcement ceremony set for 2 November in Durban.

"It's a pity that e.tv did not allow their soap productions to enter. However we do respect their decision, as all roleplayers have the prerogative to participate or not," Sindile Zulu, Royalty Soapie Awards project director tells TV with Thinus.

Asked for a list of the judges, Sindile Zulu says "the names of the judges will only be revealed at the winners' announcement ceremony. This is done to ensure that there is no interference from any quarter and that the integrity of the entire process is protected. This applies to many similar awards locally and abroad."

"The judges are from a broad spectrum of people in the arts. They are experts in the TV production industry, photographers, actors, TV and radio personalities and entertainment media."

Asked how the Royalty Soapie Awards can see itself as representative of South Africa's TV soap industry if not all soaps on South African television are taking part, Sindile Zulu says "it has always been the intention of the Royalty Soapie Awards to be inclusive of the industry as a whole".

"Industry support for these awards has been extremely positive with all broadcasters bar one submitting entries. Over 100 entries have been received from 10 of South Africa's 12 soap productions. This represents over 80% of the industry."

"e.tv's decision is unfortunate, however we aim to build the confidence of the broadcaster so that all South African soaps will participate moving forward," says Sindile Zulu.

According to Sindile Zulu the Royalty Soapie Awards established a representative steering committee made up of specialists from TV broadcasting stations and non-conflicting production houses, "those who had no soapies to enter". "A representative executive producer from e.tv was a part of the original team".

Sindile Zulu says the Royalty Soapie Awards was "notified of e.tv's decision not to participate through the Rhythm City and Scandal! production teams. They were in the final process of submitting their entries when they were informed of the decision not to participate."

"We managed to secure a meeting with Monde Twala, e.tv's group head of channels, a week or two later to understand their position."

"He indicated that it is the broadcaster's intention to protect the brands that they have built and that he felt that e.tv had not received sufficient information to warrant participation in these awards. He indicated that their non-participation was based mostly on their lack of confidence in the entry and adjudication processes of award ceremonies in general, which he was not convinced were fair," says Sindile Zulu.

"As a new awards ceremony our priority is to grow," says Sindile Zulu. "We value the input of the industry into making the Royalty Soapie Awards trusted, supported and loved by all.Our intention is to convene a steering committee each year to better our criteria and to ensure that we are fully representative."

"We will continue to engage e.tv to hear the broadcaster's concerns and hopefully secure its future participation."

Royalty Soapie Awards, a new soap genre specific awards ceremony for South Africa, wants to 'boost the country's television sector'.

The Royalty Soapie Awards has been launched as a new genre-specific awards ceremony set to honour soap opera television in South Africa, with the 1st Royalty Soapie Awards set to take place on Saturday 2 November in Durban's International Convention Centre (ICC).

The Royalty Soapie Awards says it wants to "boost the country's television sector".

Similar to the South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas), the Royalty Soapie Awards which is done in partnership with the provincial KwaZulu-Natal government, appears to have some credibility issues.

The Royalty Soapie Awards is launched by Winnie Modise, an actress in a TV soap in the public broadcaster's Generations on SABC1; who the panel of judges will be is not clear; and its not's clear whether all 8 local South African soaps including those on pay-TV channels such as Binneland and Villa Rosa as well as telenovelas such as Isibaya would be eligible and be included.

Viewers will apparently nominate and vote for winners in the categories of Best Lead Actor, Best Lead Actress, Best Male Villain, Best Female Villain, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Newcomer and Best Couple.

Awards will also be handed out after voting by an industry panel for the categories of Best Costume, Best Post-production, Best Storyline, Best Soapie, Best Make-up, Best continuity, Best Writing, Most Popular Soapie, Best Set Design, Best Direction and Best Cast Ensemble. A lifetime achievement award, known as the Shaka Zulu Award will also be handed out.