Cameroon Television Awards maiden edition set for December 16.

The announcement was made Thursday November 16 by the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Maraboo Group, Yolande Bodiong. 

This was during a press conference organised to officially present the project, which is anchored under the patronage of the Ministry of Communication.

According Bodiong, some 35 awards will be dished during the awards to honour TV stars selected from 17 national TV stations. Those to be honoured include TV show hosts, animators, journalists, TV décor and columnists. Special award, she added, will also be handed out. 

Bodioing said some 15 awards will be distributed in the magazine category considered as one of the most crucial parts of television. 

The categories in the award include; Best Daily Morning Show, Best Access Day Time TV Show, Best Evening Show, Sunday Entertainment Program and the Best Prime Time Show. 

The Best Male TV News Presenter, Best Female TV Presenter, Best Magazine Presenter and Best Columnists will equally be honored. 

A special award with a prize money of two million FCFA will also be dished out to celebrate television producers who are giving Cameroon a positive image.

The prize will be handed to the best 13-minute report on the theme “Cameroon, land of living together, hospitality and opportunities”, to be produced within the timeframe of November 16 to 5, 2023. 

Smooth, transparent voting criteria, procedure 

According to organisers, the voting for the nominees will be done through the award’s official Facebook page, “Cameroon Television Awards”, and the official website of the Maraboo group, “www.cta.mymaraboo.com”. The voting will be done in two phases with the first phase to run from November 16 to 26, 2023.

Votes from the public through the website and the Facebook page will account for 40% while those from the members of the jury will make up for 60%. 

To ensure transparency and meritocracy, members of the jury, organisers revealed, will be pooled in groups of six persons each and will be made up of neutral persons. The process, they said, is to ensure choices made meet the requirements. 

Celebrating hard work, creativity 

The event, Bodiong said, is designed to boost competition with the goal of improving the quality of television productions in the country in terms of content, technical productions and creativity.

“We want to contribute to improving the quality of Made in Cameroon television to satisfy viewers and achieve a level of competitiveness that will enable us to face up to external competition in terms of quality and quantity,” she detailed.

The award also has as aim, the promotion of the spirit of professionalism among media practitioners in the television space.

“We are highlighting talents of Cameroonian television whose values of work, professionalism, ethic, deontology, and innovation are the principal pillars and contributing to reviving the brand image… and present models to the youths that aspire to take on careers in the profession,” Bodiong added.