The Urban Jamz Awards is one of those reputable awards that is growing and will be one of the biggest awards that West Africa, specifically Cameroon will have in the near future if it keeps up with it’s progression.
It is never easy to pick out nominees from the wide array of talent out there as is the case with the Cameroonian music industry. Especially now with the resurgence of new artists as well as those who have been in the music scene for a longer time. This might explain why many artists have been left out of the nominations and many should be left out as they still have work to do to compete in an already crowded sector. No one wishes for them to be exempted but what one might seek to understand is whether award organizer’s are neglecting kids in the nominations.
I saw this award last year, as one of my best because I felt like they encouraged kids who do music. They didn’t have a special category for kids last year and this year one would have expecting them to create a separate category for kids and much younger artists under a certain age but they completely ignored it.
For example, there is Kowan, a kid artist who made waves in 2019 more than many much older and/or established artists, and who was endorsed by Samuel Eto’o and performed alongside much older artist at various events and concerts. Then there is the young female artist called Otang who has not seemingly slowed down since she made her official debut in 2017/2018.
Why are these two very young artsits not nominated in any of the numerous categories? Let’s leave encouragement of kids aside. Were they not deserving of a nomination? Did they not do enough in last year to merit a nomination? Someone like Kowan had a more successful year and created a lot more buzz than some of those nominated.
The HotJem will be contacting a member of The Urban Jamz Awards to find out more about kids not being nominated and we will update you on this as soon as we get some of our questions answered. Until then, lets keep encouraging our youths and kids to continue believing in their dream.
