The 2012 edition of the prestigious Ghana Music Awards Festival was launched yesterday at the GHOne Studios in Accra. The festival which is the biggest event on the Ghana entertainment calendar aims at recognizing and celebrating the hard work and dedication of the various players in the Ghanaian music industry.
With new sponsors Vodafone on board, the awards is now known as Vodafone Ghana Music Awards and VGMAs for short. The entire and various committees of the awards were dissolved with new members brought on to review the entire process and the organization of the awards.
A Technical Review made up Musicians, Music Producers, Music Directors, Sound Engineers, DJs and Journalists reviewed the entire scheme resulting in few changes for the betterment of the awards.
The general public for the first time will have the opportunity to choose who wins the ‘Most Popular Song’ of the year category. Previously the public contributes only 30% of in that category.
The Selection Committee has been replaced with Vodafone Music Awards [VGMA] Academy with Vodafone Music Awards [VGMA] Board replacing the Planning Committee. Members of both bodies will have 30% each in the decision of winners for the awards in the Public Voting Categories and 50% in the Industry Voting Categories.
The VGMA Board will have 100% stake for the 3 Honorary Categories. The re-introduce categories include ‘Gospel Album of the Year’, ‘Group of the Year’ and ‘Sound Engineer of the Year’. The ‘Music Producer of the Year’, ‘Music Video of the Year’ and ‘Sound Engineer of the Year’ would be decided by the VGMA Board and their own peers with each carrying 50%.
Another big change to the system is the number of votes that a mobile phone is allotted. The system has been restructured to allow only 20 texts per a mobile number. Even though GhanaCelebrities.Com believes each mobile number should be allowed only a vote, we think this is far better than the previous practice where a mobile numbers votes as many as they can.
Aside voting on mobile phone via Vodafone Short Codes, new voting system has been included to the voting scheme. The awards website: www.ghanamusicawards.com will be another avenue for voting with one IP address one vote.
The term ‘Commercial Release’ was redefined to take cognizance of new digital channels of music distribution e.g. Facebook, Twitter, RBT/CRBT as such, the word ‘Commercial’ was dropped because some of the channels are non commercial e.g. Twitter, YouTube etc.
According to the review, a release refers to any musical work that can be obtained officially through Digital web or Mobile downloads, CD, VCD, DVD and Cassette purchases.
There will be 15 Public Voting Categories, 12 Industry Voting Categories and 3 Honorary Categories. To be eligible for a VGMA 2012 the work should have been released from 1^st December 2010 – 31^st December 2011.
Below are the categories and description for Vodafone Ghana Music Awards 2012:
Public Voting Awards Categories:
Best Group Of The Year:
The Best Group of the Year is  adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the group with the highest audience appeal and popularity. They must comprise of at least 2 or more members and must have released a hit single/album during the year under review.
Reggae Song Of The Year:
The Reggae song of the Year is the song adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the most popular Reggae song released in the year under review. The song must have generated the most excitement during the year.
Gospel Song Of The Year:
The Gospel Song of the Year is the song adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the most popular Gospel Song released in the year under review. The song must have generated the most excitement during the year.
Hip Hop Song Of The Year:
The Hip Hop song of the Year is the song adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the most popular Hip Hop song released in the year under review. The song must have generated the most excitement during the year.
Afro-Pop Song Of The Year:
The Afro-Pop Song of the Year is the song adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the most popular song that is a cross pollination of music genres. The song must have generated the most excitement during the year under review.
Most Popular Song Of The Year:
The Most Popular Song of the Year is the song adjudged 100% by the General Public as the most popular song released in the year under review, irrespective of genre. The song must have enjoyed a lot of patronage and generated the most excitement during the year.
Highlife Song Of The Year:
The Highlife song of the Year is the song adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the most popular Highlife song released in the year under review and generated the most excitement during the year.
Hiplife Song Of The Year:
The Hiplife Song of the Year is the song adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the most popular Hiplife song released in the year under review. The song must have generated the most excitement during the year.
African Artiste(S) Of The Year
The African Artiste(s) of the Year is the Artiste(s) (non-Ghanaian) whose music crossed borders and made the most impact in Ghana and on the continent at large during the year under review.
Best Collaboration Of The Year:
The Best Collaboration of the year is the song adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the song released through the collaboration/featuring of two or more Artistes. The song must have been released and generated the most excitement during the year under review.
New Artiste Of The Year:
The New Artiste of the Year is the Artiste(s) adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the most promising and talented new artiste(s). The award goes to the artiste(s) who made the most impact with his/her FIRST release (Single/Album) during the year under review.
Gospel Artiste(s) Of The Year
The Gospel Artiste(s) of the Year is the Artiste adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the Artiste(s) with the highest audience appeal and popularity in the Gospel genre. The Artiste(s) must have released a hit single/album during the year under review.
Highlife Artiste(s) Of the Year:
The Highlife Artiste(s) of the Year is the Artiste(s) adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the Artiste(s) with the highest audience appeal and popularity in the Highlife genre. The Artiste(s) must have released a hit single/album during the year under review.
Hiplife/Hip Hop Artiste(s) Of the Year:
The Hiplife/Hip Hop Artiste of the Year is the Artiste(s) adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as having with the highest audience appeal and popularity in the Hiplife/Hip Hop Genre. They must have released a hit single/album during the year under review.
Artiste(s) of the Year
The Artiste of the Year is the Artiste(s) adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the Artiste(s) with the highest audience appeal and popularity. The Artiste(s) must have released a hit single/album during the year under review.
INDUSTRY VOTING AWARDS CATEGORIES:
Music for Development:
The Music for Development award goes to the best song with lyrics that promote social development. It is adjudged by the Board and the World Bank and must have been released during the year under review.
Gospel Album of the Year:
The Gospel Album of the Year is the Album adjudged by the Academy and Board as the most outstanding compilation of hit Gospel songs that was released during the year under review. It must have generated the most excitement during the year.
Instrumentalist of the Year:
The Instrumentalist of the Year is an honorary award presented to the Instrumentalist who performed creditably on a number of hit songs that were released during the year under review. It is adjudged by the Board and awarded to the Instrumentalist who had the most influence on the music.
Record of the Year:
The Record of the Year is adjudged by the Academy and Board as the most outstanding original song that was released during the year under review. It may not have enjoyed huge success, but has quality artistic value.
Traditional Artiste(s) of the Year:
The Traditional Artiste(s) of the year is adjudged by the Academy and Boards as the most popular Traditional or Folkloric Artiste(s) in the year under review.
Sound Engineer Of The Year:
The Sound Engineer of the Year award is adjudged by Peers and the Board to be the Sound Engineer directly responsible for the recording, mastering and technical treatment of a nominated song during the year under review.
Music Producer of the Year:
The Music Producer of the Year award is adjudged by Peers and the Board to be the Producer(s) directly responsible creatively for the best production of a song during the year under review. The song must have been nominated in the Most Popular Song of the Year category.
Songwriter of the Year:
The Song Writer of the Year is adjudged by the Academy and Board as the Song Writer(s) responsible for the song with the most meaningful original lyrics and compositions for any released song during the year under review.
Best Rapper of the Year:
The Best Rapper of the year is adjudged by the Academy, Board and the General Public as the rap Artiste with the best word compositions, rhymes and rap dexterity on a popular song released in the year under review.
Music Video of the Year:
The Music Video of the year is adjudged by the Academy and Board as the most creative and entertaining visual representation of any song released during the year under review. The award goes to both Director and Artiste
Best Female Vocal Artist of the Year:
The Best Female Act is adjudged by the Selection and Boards as the Female artiste (solo) with the best vocal delivery/Performance on any musical presentation which was released during the year under review.
Best Male Vocal Artiste of the Year:
The Best Male Vocal Artiste is adjudged by the Academy and Board as the Male artiste (solo) with the best vocal delivery/Performance on any musical presentation which was released during the year under review.
Album of the Year:
The Album of the Year is adjudged by the Academy and Board as the most outstanding compilation of hit songs on an album that was released during the year under review. It must have generated the most excitement during the year.