Zimpapers Logo

Winnie Ntshaba, CEO of the Royalty Soapie Awards, has said it is important to celebrate television personalities as they continue to entertain people even at a time that the world is grappling with the Covid-19                                       pandemic.

She said this year’s event that will be the fifth edition is all about celebrating arts  practitioners.

“This year, we are celebrating our shine, which is why our theme is ‘stars shine brighter in darkness, that is where you see the beauty of darkness,” said Winnie.

She said the awards are an industry event, but however, due to the current covid-19 restrictions, they will have an intimate ceremony. Viewers will be able to watch the award ceremony live on October 2 on SABC 1 at 8pm.

“These shows (TV) have sustained during the lockdown and nobody really imagined that they would be able to. Soapies have helped people escape from the realities which they were facing. Everyone was stuck indoors and in front of their TVs and got lost in the world of soapies,” said Winnie.

This year, the awards have an inclusion of five new categories to enable the audience at home to vote for their favourites. These are two viewers’ choice best actress and actor award which is a category which includes all the nominees who have been nominated. Another added two categories are the Most Popular Show and the Outstanding Cinematography categories.

“One of my favourite added to the new categories is the young performer award because we can say people are newcomers, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have experience. There are young kids who are still in school, but do exceptional work as well to tell stories,” concluded Winnie.

Nominees were announced last week with Zimbabwean actor Chrispen Nyathi who features on DiepCity nominated in two categories.

The annual Royalty Soapie awards intend to recognise all major contributors to the South African daily TV drama entertainment industry including actors, make-up artistes, costume designers and producers. — SundayWorld/ShowbizReporter