The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) is postponing this year’s edition of the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) originally scheduled for February 27.
The event, dubbed #NAMA Legends @40, is an honorary awards ceremony where 40 living legends from different art genres will walk away with gongs for their contribution to the sector since the country’s independence in 1980.
NACZ Director Nicholas Moyo says the postponement is in light of the level 4 lockdown conditions announced by government in January to curb the spiralling Covid-19 cases in the country.
“NACZ would like to advise stakeholders in the cultural and creative sector, sponsors and the nation at large that the #NAMA Legends @40 awards will now be held on the 27th of March 2021.”
He said the ceremony that will honour 40 living legends had been pushed forward by a month to allow the event organisers and suppliers to make up for the downtime during the much more stringent lockdown conditions which include reduced business time and travel restrictions.
“The NAMA process includes various planning and implementations stages that were disrupted by the implementation of the lockdown and for us to host a credible event it has become necessary to push forward the date to allow for the smooth running of the awards”, Mr Moyo said.
The director also said that the #NAMA legends @40 will be a virtual event following the Covid-19 restrictions on gatherings.
“NACZ is now working with various service providers to make sure that the event is available to all Zimbabweans across multiple viewing channels.”
He added that they engaged various arts associations and captains in the sector who submitted names of legends in their respective sectors as potential recipients of the honorary awards.
“The process of receiving nominations has been closed. The jury is now in the process of reviewing the entries after which they will submit their list of nominees for consideration by the board.”
The ceremony is being held under the theme ‘Our Legacy, Our Pride’.
