The Yarona FM Music Awards will take place this weekend at the Gaborone International Convention Center.
The awards which are returning for their second year, will see winners from 15 categories determined by a point system based on SMS voting line results and the YAMA Committee 50/50 score of each nominee’s final score, while the other half of each nominee’s score will be left to the discretion of the YAMAs Committee.
Yarona FM Progams Manager, Bonnie Dintwa who confirmed this criterion said voting lines were closed in November and that the judging process was currently being concluded. “The judging panel comprised of a number of people from the production team, the guys responsible for Top 40 Chats. In order to determine this 50%, the production team had to consider the quality of the songs being nominated while the chat guy had to check the popularity of the song and the programs manager had to check how many times the songs had been requested in each program.”
Dintwa added that the awards will be a celebration of great music, and not so much the artists.
“Our judging has nothing to do with the artists, but rather their music which is why you might find that the songs which wins is one that the artist is rarely known but his track is a hit. I think the songs that will win are those that are really hot and have made an impact this year on radio chat,” he said.
Reflecting on the judging process, Dintwa described it as “difficult”, saying “ The judging process has really been difficult because sometimes we find two songs that are equally as good but we have to make a decision.”
Of the 15 categories, 2 categories, namely, The Hall of Fame and the Yarona FM Icon Award will be decided by a committee which comprises of industry experts with a wealth of experience in the Botswana entertainment industry.