South African Music Awards

South African Music Award
Current: 30th South African Music Awards
Annual South African Music Awards Generic Logo
Awarded for	Outstanding achievements in the music industry of South Africa
Country	South Africa
Presented by	Recording Industry of South Africa
First awarded	1995; 29 years ago (1995)
Website	samusicawards.co.za
Television/radio coverage
Network	SABC

The South African Music Awards (often simply the SAMAs) are the Recording Industry of South Africa's music industry awards, established in 1995. The ceremony is held annually, usually in late April or May, with the judging process starting in November of the previous year. The nominations are typically announced at the end of March. The winners receive a gold-plated statuette called a SAMA.^[1]

The show has mostly been held at the Super Bowl in Sun City, with the exception of three years, and broadcast live on national broadcaster, SABC. The ceremony features live performances as once-off collaborations by a selection of nominees.

As of the 26th SAMAs, in 2020, there are a total of thirty categories awarded. These categories change from year to year to accommodate changes in music styles and changes in popularity of already existing genres. These genres include adult contemporary, Afrikaans, classical, dance, faith, jazz, Kwaito, Maskandi, pop, rap, reggae, RnB, rock, soul and traditional.

At times genres are grouped together into a single category based on their popularity amongst a certain demographic (e.g. Best Urban Artist nominees are often Hip Hop, African pop and Kwaito artists grouped together since these genres are popular amongst South Africans living in urban areas).

As of the 27th South African Music Awards, artists working in the Gqom and Amapiano genres will be considered in separate categories.^[2]

These are the top five award categories of the SAMAs. They were first introduced at the ceremony in 1995, with exception of Album of the Year that was introduced in 2007.^[3]

• Album of the Year
• Best Newcomer of the Year
• Best Female Artist of the Year
• Best Male Artist of the Year
• Best Duo or Group of the Year

The winners of the following SAMAs are not chosen by a panel of judges:

• Record of the Year: Determined by a public vote, traditionally by SMS

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (March 2016)

As per the committee guidelines, only citizens and permanent residents of South Africa are eligible for a nomination.^[3]

This section needs expansion with: Detail eligibility Breakdown of entry criteria. You can help by adding to it. (March 2016)

At the beginning of the adjudication process a Supervisory Committee is set up, it consists of two members from each of five "super genre" categories, which are Global Charts, Urban, Traditional, Technical and Jazz or Classical. This committee oversees the entire SAMA ceremony production process, along with the Steering, General Rules, and Vetting Committees. These committees are composed of unpaid volunteers from record companies and industry stakeholders. The judges are drawn from a wide spectrum to include journalists, critics, musicians, producers, and academics. There are five judges per genre category, based on the judge's field of expertise.^[3] The judge's anonymity is protected by the Steering committee, who ensure the judge's do not influence each other.^[4] The entire adjudication process takes place between September and February, with the nominees announced in March.

The first phase takes place between late-September and December. The Steering Committee first determine the award categories, rules, and judging criteria for the entries. A panel of judges is elected and a call for entries takes place in November. The entries are vetted to comply with the committee rules, and genre guidelines.

In this genre category phase, the judges receive a copy of the entries (either an album and DVD) by the end of December. The entries are scored against the criteria set by the Steering Committee. The score cards are submitted online, along with recommendations for the Top Five category nominees. The Top Five categories are nominated from the same pool of entries. An electronic judging system calculates the results, which are then audited by an independent firm at the end of January.

This final phase of adjudication evaluates the Top Five categories. One judge from each genre category is selected to be part of the first round of voting. These judges select their top three entries, in their respective genres, taking into account the recommendations from other judges. The independent auditing firm ensures that a finalist in the Top Five has qualified for a nomination in their respective genre. Once the auditors have confirmed the Top Five finalist list, the last round of voting begins. All the judges participate in this round to determine the winners of each Top Five categories.

The first awards ceremony was in 1995, there have been 30 editions to date.

At the 1st South African Music Awards, kwaito artist Arthur Mafokate performed a simulation of anal sex on a dancer. This was done as an act of defiance to the organisers, as he felt there was a need for a Kwaito Award. The following year the organiser introduced the award category.^[16]

It had been three years since the first democratic elections in South Africa and a new national anthem had been introduced at the beginning of the 1997. At the 3rd South African Music Awards, popular kwaito-group Boom Shaka decided to re-create the anthem in a "funky" on-stage performance, that later caused a "public blacklash".^[16]

Towards the end of the five-hour-long 7th South African Music Awards, Brenda Fassie accused a prominent journalist of being a homosexual - using the derogatory slang word moffie. She went on to further accuse him of destroying her with the articles he published. At an after-party, she was seen fighting with Mandoza and demanding that he hand over his award as it was "her award".^[16]

The SAMA22 was the first awards show to be broadcast live in its entirety in 360° video, with virtual reality made possible by Unreal Industries.^[30]

Before the SAMA25, Simon Makgatholela, Kenny Makweng and Ronee Sathekge, members of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), launched a campaign criticising the SAMA for discrimination.^[31] The group claimed the SAMA had "snubbed" them for 25 years over the fact the SAMA have never recognised "veterans" in the gospel genre, such as Oleseng Shuping, Nkosana Kodi and Mojeremane Xale.^[31] In response to the accusation, Recording Industry of South Africa CEO Nhlanhla Sibisi stated, "The Samas are open to all music and do not discriminate against any genre. We have invited them to explain why they feel we are discriminating against ZCC music."^[31]

• List of South African Music Award categories
• Metro FM Music Awards

• Official website