Two years after its introduction, organisers of creative award platform, The Malawi Sounds awards (Maso) has introduced 10 new categories for the 2022 edition.

The Maso Awards team say the move is part of their quest to increase the scope of the awards to cover other artistic works and improve the arts and entertainment sector in the country. The organisers made the announcement in Blantyre on Monday afternoon when they released a list of nominees for this year’s edition.

Wendy Harawa accepting her award as best female gospel musician

Categories such as visual artist of the year, fashion designer of the year, photographer of the year, comedian of the year, poet of the year, feature film of the year, Maso humanitarian award, graphic designer of the year, actress/actor of the year and set designer of the year are some of the new categories.  

Maso Awards director Augustine Mukisi said they have adopted a new approach after noting that most of the awards in the country focus on music and  ignore other artistic facets.

“There are so many gaps in the awards terrain that we want to cover. Our objective is to promote art in Malawi in its wholesale state and not just music,” he said.

However, some sections of the public have questioned the placement of the artists in some categories and the absence of some names on the list.

The organisers have since backed the process which they said is done through public voting, thereby giving people the chance to vote for the artists they feel deserve to be on the list.

Mukisi said: “It is a public vote. From there we have an independent committee that vets the results of the vote based on the criteria we have in place.”

He said among the factors they consider in their set criteria are relevance of the artist or song in the year of the awards, listenership/downloads/ online views and the quality of the work.

Voting starts on October 15 till November 19. The awards event will take place at Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre on November 26.

Amaryllis Hotel general manager Ramy Waheed said they feel proud to be associated with efforts to uplift Malawian arts. 

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