Women of Distinction shifted to 2015
It is official. The long-awaited Women of Distinction Awards (Woda) will not take place this year.
Instead, the biennial awards, aimed at recognising the achievements made by women in the country, will take place on February 6, according to organisers.
“The Woda committee wishes to apologise to the nominees, sponsors and the general public for the protracted delay. The challenge in finalising the awards ceremony were due to the postponement of the initial gala on May 3, due to technical difficulties with the Airtel SMS platform.
“We would like to thank all stakeholders for their support and patience. In keeping with our commitments to sponsors, among others, Woda is proud to honour the women achievers of Malawi by organising the premier awards celebration on February 6 2015 at the BICC,” said Zilanie Nyundo, the awards chairperson.
The awards have been shifted a couple of times from May to December 13 as the latest date.
“Following the tension of the May elections, Woda aimed to set a new date, but the contracted artists, South African award winning Lira was busy with international tours and only to give us dates from August to November, which we could not take due to renovations that were taking place at BICC,” she explained.
So far, there will be no more voting for the six categories that needs public input as that information is already available.
“When the awards were shifted to June, people had already voted for the winners in the month of May. We, therefore, know the winners in these categories and what is remaining is the official announcement,” she stated. Out of the total 18 categories, the public was asked to vote for lifetime achiever, national woman, sports, media, leadership in Parliament and arts.
Meanwhile, the South African artist will not be performing at the awards in February, but will visit Malawi at an arranged time.
Other changes that have taken place to the awards include a shift from holding a gala event to a live set up with the aim of having as many guests as possible. n
