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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent 

August 29 has been set as the date for this year’s Bulawayo Arts Awards (BAA) with organisers saying they heeded the call by attendees to have the prestigious event during summer. 

The BAAs have, for the past three editions, been held in June or July and this has not gone down well with attendees who want to dress up for the event.

After taking suggestions from people after last year’s BAAs, organisers have finally heeded the call to hold the event in summer. 

“We’ve been holding the Bulawayo Arts Awards during winter and last year people requested that we move the event to summer. People said they want to dress up for the event and we listened. 

“We consulted widely and most people preferred August hence  the decision to hold the awards on August 29,” said Nkululeko Nkala, BAA spokesperson. 

The new date, according to Nkala, will also give artistes a longer period for their works to be considered. 

Last year, the awards ceremony was long leading to it ending very late, but for this year, Nkala said they were going to make the programme compact.

“There was an outcry that the awards ended very late and we want to address this shortcoming this year,” Nkala said. 

Last year, the highlight of the awards was Novuyo-Seagirl who won Song of the Year for her track AEIOU and Outstanding Female Artiste. Iyasa made a clean sweep of the dance awards winning the Outstanding Male dancer, Female dancer and Arts ensemble award. Filmmaker Daniel Lasker walked away with the Outstanding TV/Film director award and Outstanding Film award for the short movie The Man.