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Arts Reporter
There has been overwhelming response to the 15th edition of National Arts Merit Awards with entries almost doubling last year’s numbers. The closing date for submission of entries was on November 30, 2015 and organisers of the awards National Arts Council of Zimbabwe announced that a total number of 1 104 entries were submitted. Last year Nama received 626 entries.

The forthcoming awards will be held on February13, 2016 in Harare.

“The entries are from all provinces and the adjudication process has commenced. Those who submitted include production houses, studios, stables, galleries, organisations, associations, groups, artistes, monitors and/or the publics. Nominees will be released during the first week of February next year,” noted NACZ in a statement

They are eight Nama categories that are Music, Literary, Dance, Visual, Film and Television, Theatre, Media and Spoken Word. Nama is the platform where NACZ recognises outstanding achievements within the creative sector.

The awards are a means of encouraging creativity and excellence in the quality of the arts, making Zimbabwe a force to reckon with on the international arena.

In addition, the awards aim to inspire artists to strive for higher and original forms of creativity and provide an opportunity for arts disciplines to jointly market and publicise the arts locally, regionally and internationally.

Some of the entries in the Nama categories were identified by monitors who were appointed by NACZ and kept an eye on excelling artists throughout the year.

Meanwhile a panel of independent adjudicators is now presiding over all the submissions to select nominees as well as winners for each award.