Voting Opened for the 2012 Kisima Awards

The 2012 Kisima Awards nominees have officially been announced, following an exclusive cocktail launch that took place last night. Plenty of Kenya’s artistes are set to battle it out now for what is one of Kenya’s premier music awards events.
 
Leading the list of nominees is rapper Nonini, who is in contention in categories such as ‘Artiste of the Year’, ‘Video of the Year’ and ‘Hip Hop Artiste of the Year’.

The Kisima Awards were started in 1994 by producer Tedd Josiah and regularly held at the Carnivore Restaurant, but discontinued in 1997. In 2003 the Awards were revived and later expanded to include other East African artistes. 

This year’s gala ceremony will take place on the 2nd of November at the Kenyatta International Conference Center in Nairobi.

Sponsors of this year’s Kisima Edition include Pulse Magazine, Nakumatt Holdings, IQ Marketing, Brand Kenya, Standard Group, True Blaq, 3 Mice and Kenya Tourist Board. The overall winner is expected to walk away with a cool Kshs. 2 million.

Interesting to note was that Daddy Owen declined the nomination via a tweet to the organizers saying he ‘doesn’t want to participate in any awards this year’.

Here’s the complete list of nominees for the 2012 Kisima Awards:

Artiste / Group of the Year:
Octopizzo
Daddy Owen
Nameless
Camp Mulla
Nonini

Video of the Year Category:
Nonini – Colour Kwa Face
Nameless – Coming Home
Daddy Owen – Mbona
Juliani – Exponential Potential
Rabbit – Swahili Shakespeare

Collaboration of the Year:
Alicio / Juliana
P-Unit / Sauti Sol
Daddy Owen / Denno
Longombas / Mr. Vegas
Keko / Madtraxx

Boomba Artiste Category:
Avril
Amileena
DNA
GrandPa Family
Habida
Prince Davis
Q Tasi
Mejja
Size 8

Hip Hop Category:
Nonini
Juliani
Octopizzo

Gospel Artiste of the Year:
Daddy Owen
Eko Dydda
Eunice Njeri
Mastar Piece
Emmy Kosgei
Willy Paul

Ragga/Reggae Category:
Longombas
Fireson
Kevo Yout
Wyre da Lovechild
Daddy Owen

Urban Artiste / Group Category:
Just a Band / Nonini
Camp Mulla
Boneless
Muthoni the Drummer Queen
Yvonne Darko
Nariki

Fusion Artistes Category:
Wahu
Anto Neosoul
Dan ‘Chizi’ Aceda
Sanaipei
Juliet
Judith Bwire

Benga Artiste of the Year:
Judith Bwire
Kamande wa Kioi
Wa Kahalf
Otieno Aloka
Wa Othaya
Vincent Ongidi

Upcoming Artiste of the Year:
Anto Neosoul
Camp Mulla
Nariki
Xtatic
Yvonne Darko
Alicio

East African Recognition:
Jackie Chandiru
TMK
Chameleone
Diamond
Lady Jay Dee / Mr. Blue
Professor Jay
Dynamiq

Through a transparent voting process the public will have an opportunity to vote for their favorite artist and music via mobile SMS and the internet and thereafter winners will be awarded during the main event.

The Voting process determines the Kisima Music Awards Winner in each Category except for the Producer of the Year, Album of the year, Lifetime Achievement and Trustee awards. A percentage of the final voting process goes to the Voting Academy and the general public which determines the Kisima Music Awards recipients (winners) after an audit by a professional firm.

Voting for the nominees will take place for a period of 7 weeks. 

Register here to vote for your favourite 2012 Kisima Award nominees.