POSTPONED! Byo Arts Awards moved
BULAWAYO will have to wait until December before it can crown its cream of the arts in 2022, after organisers of the annual ROIL Bulawayo Arts Awards (ROILBAAs) announced that the ceremony has been shifted from 5 November to an unspecified date in December.
As things stand, the venue for Bulawayo’s premier awards ceremony remains unchanged, after organisers earlier this year struck a deal with the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF).
Now a staple on the local arts calendar, this year’s ROILBAAs are highly anticipated, with organisers continuing their mantra of giving out life-changing prizes to some of the city’s best performing artistes.
Last year, gospel sensation Mai Mwamuka walked away with the big prize of a housing stand, as she also got building material from other sponsors to start work on her dream home. Eager to show that last year’s lucrative award was not a once-off, organisers of the ROILBAAs in July sealed a deal with a company, with interests in property, to give a similar prize to the winner of the main award this year.
However, it seems like artistes in Bulawayo will have to sweat a little bit longer as they wait for the winner of the big prize to be revealed this year, with one of the organisers of the ROILBAAs, Nkululeko Nkala, revealing to Sunday Life that the awards had been moved to December. Nkala said the postponement came at the request of a prospective partner.
“We have decided to postpone the awards to December because a potential sponsor came on board and requested that we do so as they prepare to come on board. So, this is a decision that has been made with our sponsor in mind,” he said.
Nkala said while some might be worried that December, with so many events competing for people’s attention over the festive season period, might lead to apathy, the organisers of the
ROILBAAs were in fact, trying to take advantage of people’s desire to have a good time during this period.
“We want to take advantage of the festive spirit and invite as many people as possible to come and catch Bulawayo’s finest during that time. The festive season is when a lot of people from the diaspora come back home and so rather than watching through livestreams, this time they’ll be able to catch the artistes that they are always yearning to see being crowned live,” he said.
Nkala said the organisers wanted to go ahead with announcement of the winners of the awards sometime this month. The nomination process for this year’s edition of the RBAAs, ran from 1 July 2022 to 31 August 2022. The organisers further advised the public to keep checking their social media platforms and website
for further details.