Showbiz Honors: Another Mushroom Award

I believe there’s a disconnect within Emklan Events, the organizers of the showbiz honors. Perhaps it’s the very concept of the awards itself that’’ unclear. The discrepancy between the pre-award procedures and the actual ceremony honoring Nadia Buari for her exemplary role as an actress casts doubt on their overall image.

 I didn’t attend the ceremony, but news reports and accounts from attendees suggest a rather peculiar event. It seemed to blend elements of a birthday party, complete with cake cutting, with a more formal awards night. A short film featuring Nadia Buari, even praised by the Vice President, was shown. However, the specific work that warranted this honor wasn’t explicitly mentioned.

It was her “exemplary role as an actress” that earned her the award, but whatever the organizers intended with this vague title, we’re not quite sure we got it. It feels like one of the most ambiguous labels ever attached to an award meant to recognize excellence. Beyond the ambiguity, I’m struggling to understand how Nadia ended up being the only honoree on showbiz’s big night. If this is supposed to be an alternative awards show, she shouldn’t be the sole awardee. And, without question, we should know exactly what she is being awarded for this year—or at the very least, which of her works merited this honor.

I think Nadia Buari is a lovely person and probably a talented actress, too. I’ve lost track of her career, given the sheer number of movies she churns out each year—she makes more in one year than Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock does in a decade. Admittedly, some of her films have bizarre plots and cringe-worthy dialogue. I’ve heard some are actually quite good, though even if I took time off work, I doubt I’d manage to watch them all. That said, I do think she deserves an award or two, if only for showing up every morning to star in so many films.

But whoever decides to award her must clearly state the reasons she deserves it, especially when it’s meant to be an industry award. The lack of transparency around these showbiz honors is baffling. What happened to the usual process of nominations, categories, a selection panel, and all the rest? We need to know these details. Otherwise, let’s not waste our time—or the Vice President’s—by presenting a birthday party disguised as an awards show.

What irks me, beyond the lack of clarity around the award, is the choice of prizes given to her. Tacky doesn’t even cover it. Who organizes an awards show and gives a year’s supply of sanitary pads as a prize? So, if Agya Koo had won, would he have received a pack of Fruit of the Loom briefs just because they were a sponsor? Not to mention the “ticket to somewhere over the rainbow” and a year’s supply of non-alcoholic wine. This show clearly lacked the polish and professionalism we expect from industry awards. Then again, with details like these, it was bound to be a tasteless affair.

No award show in the world operates under such a veil of secrecy. The Nobel Prize for Literature, for instance, may be awarded to a single person, but the selection isn’t made by Norwegians in secrecy and then imposed on the world. Instead, invitation letters go out to qualified individuals who can nominate candidates for that year. After a set deadline, a committee reviews the works of each candidate and creates a shortlist. This list is then further reviewed by permanent advisers, who are specially recruited for their expertise. Finally, a winner is selected by majority vote from members of another committee.

While the process may differ, every major award we admire—the Grammys, the Oscars, the Tonys—involves some kind of rigorous selection process. Even our own Ghana Music Awards, flawed as they are, follow some recognizable order. To be fair to Emklan Events, they did outline their criteria: recipients are expected to have a good personality, be socially responsible, and excel in their chosen field. But “good personality” and “socially responsible”—according to whom? And who really cares how “responsible” or “good” a person is when they’re up for a showbiz honor? It’s their work that should be evaluated, not their character. Humanitarian awards are the United Nations’ territory; maybe Emklan should leave those values-based awards to them.

While we’re on the subject, let’s be real: we already have enough flimsy awards that celebrate mediocrity. Emklan might want to chuck these ambiguous awards and their cheap prizes straight into the bin, where they belong.