The Recording Academy announced on Tuesday that the ceremony will not take place on Jan. 31, as previously scheduled, but is instead being pushed off until March 14, after it succumb to the uprise and concerns raised about the spread of the global pandemic, Coronavirus. In most years, the awards ceremony takes place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which is also where the 2021 ceremony was scheduled to take place.

The Los Angeles area, however, is experiencing a significant increase of COVID-19 infections that is expected to worsen, as NPR reported earlier Tuesday. The LA County director of health services, Dr. Christina Ghaly, said at a briefing Monday that many regional hospitals “have reached a point of crisis” and are being forced to make “very tough decisions about patient care.”

The Recording Academy, its broadcast partner CBS, and the event’s executive producer, Ben Winston (who is in his first year in that role), issued a joint statement Tuesday which read: “After thoughtful conversations with health experts, our host and artists scheduled to appear, we are rescheduling the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards to be broadcast Sunday, March 14, 2021. The deteriorating COVID situation in Los Angeles, with hospital services being overwhelmed, ICUs having reached capacity, and new guidance from state and local governments have all led us to conclude that postponing our show was the right thing to do. Nothing is more important than the health and safety of those in our music community and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly on producing the show.”

The news of the Grammy Awards’ delay was first reported Tuesday afternoon by Rolling Stone and Variety, which cited anonymous sources.

This year was supposed to represent something of a fresh start for the Grammys, which were overshadowed last year by a variety of bombshell accusations made by the Recording Academy’s now-ousted, short-lived former chief, Deborah Dugan, including allegations of sexual misconduct against her predecessor, Neil Portnow, and the Academy’s general counsel and former board chair, Joel Katz (who both denied the accusations). She also made accusations of financial mismanagement, self-dealing and vote rigging. Dugan was replaced by the Academy’s chairman and now interim chief executive, Harvey Mason Jr.

[Up until about a decade ago, I was a Grammy voter, and also served on one of the small “craft” committees that judges one of a handful of Grammy categories outside the “nomination review” process, and that are not voted on by the general membership. In addition, my husband, Joshua Sherman, is also a former Grammy voter and Grammy committee member; he was also part of teams that created several Grammy-winning recordings, and he produced several other Grammy-nominated albums.]

Music is set to be in the air soon as one of Ghana’s notable and credible awards schemes will be returning for the 4th issue after the third rollout saw a virtual edition of the show due to the up-rise in the global pandemic, Coronavirus; a virus which came paired with some preventive measures, including lockdown and social distancing. No insightful detail (s) pertaining to the fourth edition have been shared, but however, with reference to past editions, it is believed that, the Fantasy Dome, LA will play a host to this year’s edition of the awards ceremony.

The ‘3Music Awards’ is an annual music awards scheme that seeks to celebrate music made in Ghana by awarding deserving musicians by way of popular vote by the public. The 2019 edition was one of the most talked about events as controversial Dancehall and Afropop musician ‘Shatta Wale’ took home the highest number – 13 of awards. The organizers have promised a much more exciting event this year. Ofcourse, in its fourth year, organizers are expected to up their games and improve on the previous editions.

What to expect!

Activities to watch out for: Prior to the third edition of the event, the organizers and the governing board of the prestigious awards ceremony introduced an activity to commemorate the event. Dubbed “FanFest”; the initiative seeked to build momentum and encourage stakeholder participation in the awards ceremony. The organizers also scheduled a day of interaction between the nominees of the ‘3Music Awards’ and fans. Unfortunately all these initiatives were cancelled in compliance with the National Directives on Public Gathering due to COVID-19.

With activities in the interest of the public and the need to gather publicly but outdoor, it is believed the fanfest and nominees jam will host this year, as the government has eased up restrictions on public gatherings held outdoors.

How to watch: In 2018 when the awards scheme was established, it gave Media General TV3 the broadcasting right to air the event live on TV. The Multimedia Group Limited became the media right holder in the second and subsequent edition, thus far, this year’s edition of the awards ceremony will air live via Multimedia platforms especially on Joy Prime Tv since there is a yet to be made communication on this subject. However, in 2020 when the ceremony went virtual with no live audience, it was transmitted live on 3Music Awards’ Facebook page. This broadcast witnessed an unprecedented 1million+ viewers who joined the feed.

Who is/are hosting?: The first ceremony was hosted by Joselyn Dumas and D-Black. The second 3 Music awards was hosted by Lexis Bill and Cookie. The 3rd 3 Music Awards dubbed the “StayAtHome” edition was hosted by Jay Foley and Naa Ashorkor. Looking at the trend of host or hostess for the show, it is likely a creative economy oriented Journalist (s) is/are likely to host the fourth edition, and possibly Jay Foley and Naa Ashorkor and or Doreen Avio will be announced. However, something amazing happened at the last edition where comedians, OB Amponsah and Clemento Suarez were given a slot to co-host the event. There is a high possibility of we seeing another set of comedians gracing the stage this year too.

Who is/are performing?: Since its inception in 2018, prolific mainstream musicians, including Shatta Wale, Medikal, Sarkodie, Samini, Stonebwoy, others had the upper hand on stage as guest performers. At a point in time, the award ceremonies had foreign musicians who also graced the stage. But then, there is a conscious effort of enabling new talents into the music space, hence young and unsung creatives will be dominating this year’s list of performance. The roster may include, Kofi Mole, Kuami Eugene, Kofi Jamar, Yaw Tog, The Asaaka Boys, KiDi, King Promise, Sefa, Wendy Shay, Eno, Camidoh, Kwabanga, YPee, Etc. This year may fall into the book of history as an edition with no mainstream talent on Stage.

Are there any special honors?: Well, not certain but referencing to previous editions, some legendary singers or performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording may be receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award and others will be remembered or honored with the Humanitarian Award for dedicating their time to fighting indifference, intolerance and injustice and whose accomplishments are consistent with the goals of a foundation or group.

Stage and lighting designs: The set this year is expected to be an expansion on the 2020 3Music awards set. According to my view, the primary goal will be, to encompass the widest possible stage picture across the arena, including audience areas built into the offstage sides of the performance. This year, the upstage wall of the set is expected to feature an uninterrupted ground-supported LED screen with a series of video tile ribbons above, as it was done in previous editions.

Sound: The house sound system for the annual 3 Music Awards broadcast tends to change incrementally every year as manufacturers release new and improved products and system engineers introduce their own enhancements. For the 2021 edition, as the telecast is believed to hosted at the Fantasy Dome sound providers are expected to rolled out new speakers from the right quarters and further strengthen the system’s failure provisions.

Security: Honchos in charge of the 3Music Awards this year aren’t taking any chances. They are expected to be dropping extra cash to beef up security while keeping an eye out for any potentially troublesome beefs. However, the awards scheme has recorded no violence oriented incident since its debut.

Who will be nominated?: Well, anyone who worked hard or harder under the year of review will certainly make a cut, trust me. But as I mentioned in one of my submissions, there is a conscious effort by the industry to enable new talents to be the face of the industry and with award schemes being an influence contributing to the unearthing and growth of talents, this year’s edition might take new twist where majority of the mainstream talents, especially Sarkodie, Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale won’t dominate the nomination list. The “B” class of musicians will be at the helm of affairs.

However, organizers and the board are yet to make a formal communication announcing the nominees and other activities arrayed in the build up to the event. Keep following www.gbafrica.net for new updates…

Kuami Eugene, Barrington Chungulo, Amisa Rashid Ahmed and 11 other young African leaders were announced as winners for Africa Youth Awards 2020 on the 1st January after a highly contested public voting process, which saw 129 nominees from 32 African countries vying to win their respective categories.

Zambian Social Entrepreneur Barrington Chungulo & Kenyan Philanthropist Amisa Rashid Ahmed were voted to receive the premier award as the 2020 African Youth of the Year in the male and female categories. Other notable winners include Ghanaian Musician Kuami Eugene, YouTuber Kwadwo Sheldon, Lucy Mary Athieno, Wilson Atumeyi and Habtamu Abafogi.

The awards which was instituted in 2014 as a Pan African awards scheme to honour inspiring young Africans who are championing the development of the continent in diverse fields received over 1000 nominations for the 2020 awards, which was held in partnership with Kenley College and Avance Media.

Africa Youth Awards is also expected to announce the publication of its upcoming book dubbed: COVID-19 & the African Youth Heroes, which will be a compilation of stories from inspirational young Africans who through their individual initiatives contributed to various activities to curb the spread of the virus in their communities.

Below is the list of the 2020 Africa Youth Awards winners

– Amisa Rashid Ahmed || Nivishe Foundation, Kenya – African Youth of the Year (Female)
– Barrington Chungulo || The Dream Factory, Zambia – African Youth of the Year (Male)
– Wilson Atumeyi || Waterwide, Nigeria – Advocate of the Year
– Claire Nasike Akello || The Hummingbird Foundation, Kenya – Award for Agriculture
– Maame Efua De-Heer || Power of Love Foundation Canada, Ghana/Canada – Award for Diaspora Achievements
– Amadu Zulkarnain Mohammed || Achievers Ghana Education, Ghana – Award for Education
– Kuami Eugene || Musician, Ghana – Award for Entertainment
– Habtamu Abafogi || Jimma University Biomedical Innovation Center, Ethiopia – Award for Technology
– Anthony Dzamefe || Caveman Watches, Ghana – Entrepreneur of the Year
– Andrews Ofosuhene || Rotary Club of Accra-East, Ghana – Leader of the Year
– Kwadwo Sheldon || House of Content, Ghana – Media Personality of the Year
– Lucy Mary Athieno || Eco-Pads Uganda, Uganda
– Social Entrepreneur of the Year
– AJ Willz Media || Ghana – Startup of the Year
– Youth4parliament || Zambia – Youthled Organisation of the Year

The winners of the Sixth edition of Golden Movie Awards Africa were announced in Accra, at the Fantasy Dome on December 19, 2020 by the Grand Jury.

Organized by NMJ, the event brought actors, filmmakers, seasoned film critics, representatives of the Arts, Culture and Tourism ministries as well as other stakeholders in the African film industry together to celebrate and honour the industry’s most outstanding achievements within the year under review, while discussing the best ways of improving on it.

The biggest award for the night, the Overall Golden Movie award was won by Fisherman’s Diary, a Cameroonian film, which also won seven (7) other awards including Golden Actor, Golden Indigenous Movie and Golden Actress, won by eleven year old Faith Fidel.

In all, awards were presented to film makers across Africa in twenty competitive categories. In addition to the competitive categories, five legends of the African film industry; Akofa Edjeani, Kalsoume Sinare, Akwasi Boadi Akrobeto, Pascaline Edwards and Nana Ama McBrown were also honored and inducted into the Golden Movie Walk of Fame.

See full list of winners below;

WINNER FOR GOLDEN COSTUMIER
Name: IFEANYI MICHAEL
Film: FOREIGNER’S GOD

WINNER FOR GOLDEN MAKE UP ARTIST
Name: FLORENCE AWUAH
Film: GOLD COAST LOUNGE

WINNER FOR GOLDEN EDITOR SOUND
Name: KANG QUINTUS
Film: FISHERMAN’S DIARY

WINNER FOR GOLDEN SOUNDTRACK ORIGINAL
Name: PASCAL AKA
Film: GOLD COAST LOUNGE

WINNER FOR GOLDEN MOST PROMISING ACTOR
Name: ANTHONY WOOD
Film: GOLD COAST LOUNGE

WINNER FOR GOLDEN DISCOVERY ACTOR
Name: FAITH FIDEL
Film: FISHERMAN’S DIARY

WINNER FOR GOLDEN ART DIRECTOR
Name: OLATUNJI AFOLAYAN
Film: FOREIGNER’S GOD

WINNER FOR GOLDEN SHORT FILM
Film: CHRISTIAN VILLAGE

WINNER FOR GOLDEN EDITOR VIDEO
Name: KWEKU CACOU
Film: GOLD COAST LOUNGE

WINNER FOR GOLDEN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Name: RENE ETTA
Film: FISHERMAN’S DIARY

WINNER FOR GOLDEN SCREENPLAY DRAMA
Name: PASCAL AKA
Film: GOLD COAST LOUNGE

WINNER FOR GOLDEN INDIGENOUS MOVIE
Film: FISHERMAN’S DIARY

WINNER FOR GOLDEN SUPPORTING ACTRESS DRAMA
Name: ZYNNELL ZUH
Film: GOLD COAST LOUNGE

WINNER FOR GOLDEN SUPPORTING ACTOR DRAMA
Name: KANG QUINTUS
Film: FISHERMAN’S DIARY

WINNER FOR GOLDEN DIRECTOR
Name: IFEANYI IFAN MICHAEL
Film: FOREIGNER’S GOD

WINNER FOR GOLDEN ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Name: RICHMOND XAVIER
Film: 3 IDIOTS AND A WISE MAN

WINNER FOR GOLDEN STORY DRAMA
Name: IFEANYI IFAN MICHAEL
Film: FOREIGNER’S GOD

WINNER FOR GOLDEN ACTRESS DRAMA
Name: FAITH FIDEL
Film: FISHERMAN’S DIARY

WINNER FOR GOLDEN ACTOR DRAMA
Name: KANG QUINTUS
Film: FISHERMAN’S DIARY

WINNER FOR GOLDEN OVERALL MOVIE
FISHERMAN’S DIARY