Zimpapers Logo

Wayne Chiridza Showbiz Reporter

After a rigorous judging process, the Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) nominees will be revealed at 6pm today at a cocktail in Harare that will be streamed live on the Zima Facebook page. 

Entries for the country’s prestigious awards were opened to artistes on November 11 last year and closed on December 31. Thereafter, adjudicators began shortlisting nominees that they will reveal today.

Benjamin Nyandoro, Zima public relations officer said over 1 000 entries were submitted with adjudicators having a torrid time shortlisting the entries.

He said:

“We had over 1 000 submissions and the judges had a tough time shortlisting as each category will have a maximum of five artists/songs from a selection of over 20 from selected categories.”

He said there are 32 categories with the most contested being Song of the year.

“The category of interest is Song of the year which we’ve partnered with a mobile company to provide us with a separate voting platform. This however doesn’t mean other categories weren’t highly competitive as adjudicators generally had a tough time coming up with nominees,” Nyandoro said.

Interestingly, only Song of the year will be determined by the public as all other categories will have the winners decided by the judges.

Preparations for the awards ceremony, Nyandoro said were going on well with cement company, PPC Zimbabwe being their main sponsor. The awards are set to be held at the Country Club in Newlands, Harare next Saturday.

Below are the Zima categories:

Best Female artist of the year, Best Male artist of the year, Best Group/duo of the year, Best New comer of the year, Best Album of the year

GENRE AWARDS CATEGORY

Zimdancehall, Sungura, Hip Hop, Afro Pop, Contemporary Gospel, Traditional Gospel, RnB & Soul, Jazz, Dance (House/Gqom/Kwaito/EDM), Tshibilika Traditional Folk (Chinyakare/Chimurenga), Traditional Folk (Ezomdabu/Imbube), Best Alternative

SPECIAL AWARDS CATEGORY

Zim Male Icon Award, Zim Female Icon Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, Best International Zimbabwean Artiste, Best Collaboration, Best DJ

Best Promoter, Best Corporate sponsor, Top Downloaded Song of the year

TECHNICAL AWARDS CATEGORY

Best Music Video, Videographer of the Year, Producer of the Year, Engineer of the Year

PUBLIC VOTE CATEGORY AWARD

Song of the Year (SOY)