Smooth Promotions announced its 2014 Headiness Nominees during the week and
Kcee,
Olamide and
Phyno are leading the pack with five nominations each. Following on their heels are Tiwa Savage, Oritse Femi and the Mavins Crew with four nominations.
Newcomers Ruby Gyang, Patoranking got two nods each while Yemi Alade bags three nominations in the ‘Song of the Year’, ‘Best Pop Single’ and ‘Next Rated’ award category.
Lil Kesh also made a debut in the award. He was nominated in the ‘Best Street Hop-Artiste’ category for his song ‘Shoki’.
Tuface was nominated in the ‘Best Recording of the Year’ and ‘Best R&B Single’ for his song ‘Let Somebody Love You’ while Timi Dakolo bags three nominations in the same categories including ‘Best Vocal Performance (Male)’ for his ‘Iyawo Mi’ song.
Of the 21 categories, Flavour was only nominated in the ‘Artiste of the Year’ category. It is a tough call for the Limpopo crooner in the ‘Artiste of the Year’ category as he is nominated alongside Davido, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Olamide, Phyno and Flavour.
Absentees at the nominees list include P-Square, Omawumi, MI and others.
The annual prestigious award, which is in its 9th season, unveiled the nominees on Tuesday alongside a press briefing.
For the first time, the organisers, who has over the years kept mute about the adjudication and voting process, revealed a member of the jury to the public to address some of the controversial issues that have trailed the award ceremony since its inception.
Heading the jury is veteran entertainer and disc jockey, Jimmy Jatt. Jatt elaborated on the process of screening and voting to the media professionals, laying emphasis on the transparency of the award so far.
“We deliberately refused to reveal the members of the jury to the public to avoid lobbying. So if anyone says he pays money to anybody to win in this category, then good luck to him because we don’t know anything about it. We don’t take money from anyone.”
He further explained that the award is not based on public votes alone but the jury votes as well. An interesting issue he addressed was the ‘song of the year’, ‘revelation of the year’ and ‘Next rated’ award category. According to him, the public misconstrued the structure of the award when the winner emerges because they believe a certain artiste should have won in that category.
“These artistes are selected based on their works submitted in the year of review. If you don’t have any work produced during that period, you are not qualified for the award”, he added.
The year under review for this year’s award is between July 2013 and June 2014.
The CEO of Smooth Operations, Ayo Animashaun, reiterated the integrity of the award, stating that the award does not seek to favour any tribe but to honour excellence in the industry. The award ceremony is scheduled for October 25.
