Preparations are in high gear for the grand launching of the first ever “Gambian Talent Awards” scheduled to take place on 16th February 2008, at Jama Hall, Kairaba Beach Hotel.

Organised by Saul Sounds Joluv Arts Entertainment in the United Kingdom in collaboration with Gambian Talents Promotions in Atlanta,Georgia, USA, this new musical and talents awards is designed  to annually celebrate, reward and promote distinguished Gambians who have excelled  and made tremendous  efforts in their respective fields of endeavour.  The Awards will be given to individuals, ie, male and female in the following categories namely music, sports and art respectively.

According to the organisers, the show shall entail a live broadcast of the nominees interview via projector, performances by ten different Gambian artists backed by live band, awards presentation, speeches and other  forms of entertainment throughout the night. It will also cut across the entire spectrum of Gambian music, ranging from the old and accomplished to emerging new generation and the rising stars in sports, music and art. 

“The event is expected to be launch by Nenneh Macduaoll Gaye, secretary of state for information, communication and technology, while Mass Axi Gaye, secretary of state for youths and sports and other high profile dignitaries and a cross section of the Gambian diplomatic community as well as the general public, will be in attendance,” reports indicated.

However, reports added that a total of twenty awards will be presented and there will be an extensive coverage by both the print and electronic media. The Daily Observer newspaper, GRTS,BEN TV& OBE Television (the winners of the Favourite Black and Minority TV channel 2006 in the UK) will be in attendance .It shall also broadcast on Senegamabia TV(NWCT Channel19&20 in Minnesota-USA).

Additionally, shots of the event will be highlighted on major websites such as onegambia.com, gambiantalents.com, myspace.com among others, which are often visited by cross section of Africans in the diaspora.

A DVD of the event will be distributed in The Gambia, Europe and the USA.

Promotional  Strategy
Posters, flyers billboards banners, radios, TV, newspapers and the internet shall be the major promotional tools for the event.

Nomination, Voting & Awards process
Gambia Talents Promotions and Saul Sounds shall nominate the different candidates for the people to vote for the nominees. A minimum of 3 and maximum of 12 people shall be nominated in each category. Where as more than 5 people are nominated in a category, an elimination process will take place after 4 weeks of the voting process and the top 5 nominees shall proceed to the final ballot. After all the nominees are identified, different transparent mechanisms shall be put in place for voting.

According to the release, the Gambian Talents websites shall be the major place voting especially for those abroad. “Those in the country will utilise text message voting as the organisers will partner with one of the telecommunication companies in The Gambia to facilitate this process.This company shall provide one standard number where all votes shall be forwarded. The different radio stations and TV will be responsible for monitoring this process as well as keeping records and counting the votes. Voting  which started November  3rd, is expected to end on February 8th 2008,” the release added.

A team of professionals in different fields to be nominated by the organisers shall use their discretion and technical expertise to determine who the final winners of each category will be. Nominees will be selected on the following categories: male artist of the year, female artists of the year,Hip-Hop song of the year, mbalax song of the year, reggae song of the year, afromanding song of the year, upcoming artists of the year, most outstanding male overseas artists, most outstanding female overseas artists, club DJ of the year, radio DJ of the year, Journalist/writer of the year, TV personality of the year, lifetime achievement award, sports person of the year, football team of the year, actor of the year, actress of the year.

Tips for voters
Voters are encouraged to at least know or learn about the nominees by reading their profiles, listening to their songs, watching there video or any other sources of information that can determine their eligibility of winning an award.

Voters are also encouraged to vote base on merit qualities that distinguish your choice of nominee from others.

Voters can vote by sending text messages to the number to be provided by Gamcel,  Africell and Comium or via www.gambiantalents.com .