The 10th Annual Botswana Musician Union (BOMU) Awards were officially launched last week at the Protea Hotel with union president, Phemelo ‘Fresh’ Lesokwane, firmly justifying the controversial appointment of Total Music Group, an infant company owned by Seabelo Modibe.
“He is a brand marketing specialist. There has been a lot of misinformation peddled and we will be irresponsible not to address this. We did not give Modibe a tender. We appointed him through his company Total Music Group to consult and assist with the running of the awards,” The BOMU President explained.
For his part the man behind the awards, Modibe explained that only members of the union will be eligible to enter the awards. “If one is not a BOMU member they will have to pay P 500 to enter the awards.”
Speaking on the judging criteria, Modibe explained: “We have changed the way the awards are going to be marketed and judged. In the past, judges congregated in one room and discussed the submissions. This time around we are going to have 30 judges, five judges per six categories and the judges will not know each other.”
Modibe further noted that in the past some artist joined more than two categories with the same album.
He said this time around there will be vigorous vetting and that no same album will participate in more than one category.
“People won’t submit for another category that is different from their genre just because they are afraid of competition. Our regulations this time stipulate that beforehand there will be vigorous screening and betting and we will place submissions in the right category,” Modibe said.
For this year there will be 30 categories. The categories are: Top six awards with Album of the year, Best Newcomer Award, Best Male, Best Female, Song of the year and Best Group/Duo.
“The artists that will score the most points in each category will be taken to top six categories. Each category must have four nominees and of the nominees with the most points they will automatically enter for the top six awards,” Modibe explained.
Modibe further explained that this year there will be no Best single category.
“If we receive fewer submissions for a certain category then we will have to just give those who have submitted, some appreciation certificates. There will be no competition if we have less people submitting for a certain category,” Modibe further said.
The awards will be held in July 31st in Gaborone whilst nominees will be announced on May 1st.
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