Nominations for IRAWMA close Wednesday; medical marijuana award for Peter Tosh

Nominations for the 40th IRAWMA (International Reggae and World Music Awards) Anniversary close this Wednesday, and the press conference to announce all nominees and special awardees is scheduled for March 9.

During the nomination period, January 24 to March 1, names can be submitted to vie for the trophies for the best of 2021 and 2022. The public and fans will be able to select the winners commencing on March 6, and ending at midnight, April 15. This was announced at a recent press launch held via Zoom.

The 40th IRAWMA Anniversary showcase will be hosted in Kingston, Jamaica on Sunday, May 7 and the organisers promise that it will be a glitzy red-carpet showcase, specially made for television, but will also offer a limited number of VIP seats to the public.

Dr Ephraim Martin, president of IRAWMA, outlined the categories and criteria for the nominees.

“The nominators’ decisions should be based on material and songs released no earlier than January 1, 2021, and no later than December 31, 2022. Nominators must take into consideration the social relevance of materials, originality, sales, local and international performances, the quality of performances and stage appearance. Two new categories, Best EP Recording and Best IRAWMA Song, have been added to the categories for 2023, and we are elated to announce that a special posthumous honour will be awarded to Peter Tosh for his work in the global legalisation of medical marijuana,” Martin revealed.

Dr Martin also said, “This year, for the first time, IRAWMA is honouring the best of two years, 2021 and 2022, as last year’s event had to be postponed. Some 40 nominated and special awards will be presented in 38 categories. All nominators and voters are asked to subscribe to YouTube.com/irawma before making selection or vote, then visit www.irawma.com to vote. Only one vote per person will be accepted, as our voting system will automatically reject all duplicate votes”.

The March 9 press conference to disclose nominees for the 40th IRAWMA will include the participation of previous nominees, music industry members and corporate sponsors, who will be revealing the nominations.

This is the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that the historic annual IRAWMA will be open for in-person attendance. During the pandemic, the 38th and 39th IRAWMA events were virtually broadcast and televised on various national TV stations.

VVIP and VIP Tickets for the 40th Anniversary are already on sale.

Partners so far for the 40th Anniversary event include the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Downsound Entertainment and The Pegasus, with more to be announced soon.