“Over the weekend, the city of New York played host to some of Nigeria and Africa’s finest in the entertainment industry, during the three day long Nigeria Entertainment Awards event. The event line-up included a welcome party, seminar, movie premiere, the official award ceremony followed by the after-party. The main event being the award ceremony was definitely the highlight of the weekend, with nominees, guests and fans being able to finally hear the words “and the winner is…”
This year’s NEAs definitely lived up to the organizers promises of bigger, and better. The entertainment seminar was not only informative, but served as a great networking medium for great minds. The movie premiere of ‘The Return of Jenifa’ gave loyal fans of the movie the opportunity to not only enjoy the movie, but the chance to connect with the main act, Funke Akindele who was present at the premiere, and also hosted the award show. The award show itself was stellar, with outstanding performances that thrilled the sold out theatre, and great laughs by the show’s hosts Funke Akindele and Julius D’ Genius Agwu.
At the Award Ceremony, Waje, winner of the Best R&B/Pop Artist of the Year, thrilled the crowd with her version of Sade’s “Sweetest Taboo” and Bob Marley’s “Turn Your Light Down Low” before doing one of her original tracks. The crowd was on their feet to get a good view of the performance of one of top producers in the game now and also the winner of the Producer of the Year Awards, Singer and Producer Sam Klef aka Sam Klef Noni. Sound Sultan was super in his first performance at the NEA Awards.
The show closed with the performance of MI, Jesse Jagz and Ice Prince aka Choc Boyz. Each of the artists performed their hit songs. MI kicked off the performance his hit song “Action Film” with Jesse Jagz on the drums, then comes in Ice Prince who then performs his new hit single “Superstar”. Jesse Jagz performed “Wetin Dey”. The group then did a skit of “The Light”, the song made popular by Rapper Common and followed up with “Africa Rapper #1”. The crew departed the stage briefly only to return to perform what the crowd probably was hoping to get a glimpse of – Ice Prince’s performance of “Oleku”. The performance drew the stars in the house onto the stage, an NEA tradition, where all the celebrities in attendance always go on stage to dance to the last performance of the evening.
Full list of winners
MUSIC
- Best Album of the Year – MI2 (MI
- Best International Artist – Nneka
- Best Music Video – Eni Duro directed by DJ Tee
- Best New Act – WizKid
- Best Pop/R&B – Waje
- Best Rapper – MI
- Best US Female Act – Naira
- Best US Male Act – Rotimi
- Best in Gospel – Lara George
- Hottest Single of the Year – Oleku (IcePrince)
- Best Indigenous Artist – Duncan Mighty
- Most Promising Act – Jhybo
- Music Producer of the Year – Sam Klef
- Pan African Artist – Fally Ipupa
FILM
– Best Actor in Film – Ramsey Nouah
– Best Actor in TV – Frank Edoho
– Best Actress in Film – Omoni Oboli
– Best Actress in TV – Dami Adegbite
– Best Film Director – Lancelot Imasuen
– Best Picture – Inale (Jetta Amata)
– Pan African Actor – Chris Attoh
– Pan African Actress – Jackie Appiah
OTHER
– World DJ – DJ Obi
– Best Comedian – Gordon
– Entertainment Executive – Audu Maikori
– Entertainment Promoter – TiwaWorks
Humanitarian Award: For the first time in the history of the NEA, Sutainable International Medical Missions was honored wit the humanitarian award for their humanistic efforts in bridging health care gaps in mutiple states in Nigeria. The awardees are Dr. Babafemi Adenuga, an assistant professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Howard University Hospital, Dr. Chinedu Ahaghotu, an associate professor of Urology and Chief of the Urology services at Howard University Hospital, Dr. Chukwemeka Onyewu, a plastics and reconstructive surgeon and adjunct professor of General Surgery at Howard University Hospital and Dr. Alexander Nnabue, CEO/Owner of Visual Eyes. Congratulations to them for all their services.
Congratulations to all the nominees and winners in the different categories.
The winner of the International Artist of the Year category, Nneka, will also be receiving an all expense paid one-track music production collaboration with an International artist and also an all expense paid music video for winners of the Hottest Single of the Year (Ice Prince) and Most Promising Act to Watch (Jhybo) courtesy of Spinlet, Spinlet is a downloadable application that enables consumers to browse and listen to their favorite music on their mobile phones.”
Founded in 2007, Ladybrille® Magazine is a California based pioneer digital publication demystifying the image of Africans in the west through contemporary African fashion and celebrating the brilliant woman in business and leadership, with an emphasis on the African woman in the diaspora. Our coverage includes stories on capital, access to markets, expertise, hiring and retention, sales, marketing, and promotions.
