By Sindiso Dube
After successfully hosting the Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards over three days, the organisers said they will maintain the setup in the next award ceremonies and keep improving what they started this year.
The awards were hosted in three phases with the spoken word and theatre awards given out on Wednesday night while the film and fashion awards were handed over on Thursday night, which was also the nominee’s dinner and the main event was held last night at the Large City Hall.
Last year due to time and Covid 19 regulations, the awards ceremony has cut short in a dramatic manner, which saw police walk on stage to stop the presentation of some awards.
On Wednesday night the contestants got a chance to perform live before an audience, giving fans a feel of what they have been voting for, and also artists got a chance to prove their nomination and their win before the public.
One of the organisers of the awards, Raisedon Baya confirmed that they will stick to the three-day format next year and will work towards adding equal visibility to the three shows.
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“The reason was more to do with time management,” Baya said.
“Trying to give out more than 50 awards in one night within three hours is impossible.
“The awards are also giving prominence to other genres such as theatre and spoken-word and their own chance to shine within awards.
“From what we saw, it’s possible to hold the awards in such a setup, and what we just need is to add the glitz and glamour to the other awards so that they don’t lose the awards feel.
“Throughout the week everyone was talking about the awards even before the main event and it’s a good thing. We hope the segmentation won’t create divisions and discrimination within genres. What we need to do is to hype the first two events to reach the stage of the main event.
“So far, I haven’t seen any complaint around why we are splitting them (awards). next year we will need equal time, equal support, and equal visibility.”
Baya added that the three-phased awards are a win-win for everyone.
“If we have the three-day awards, it means that more work for designers who make clothes for nominees and fans. It means more work for service providers, photographers, business for everyone and also other sponsors,” he said.
“The platform is there now and it’s up to the artist, the organiser, and the corporates to find their role in the three-day event.”
Like always, Bulawayo’s biggest dress-up event was full of glitz and glamour as artists were bestowed with awards.