What happened to the Accra Nightlife Awards this Year?

All over the world, the immense contribution of people, brands and/or organisations in a particular industry are recognised and honoured by others mostly through annual award schemes and the situation is no different in the West African country of Ghana.

In fact, the whole production of these events are very daunting and it require the services of very dedicated, passionate and a team with vision to keep the scheme and its mission alive each year.

Each and every time, award ceremonies are conceived and after the maiden event is held, the subsequent ones become very difficult for organisers to make it materialise. A typical example is EDGE 53's [a subsidiary of EDGE Media Group] Accra Nightlife Awards which was held on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at the Event Haven inside the Trade Fair Centre, La-Accra.

The Birth of an Outstanding Vision: I was honoured to be part of the few media men who made it to the plush Citizen Kofi Entertainment Centre on that decisively important Friday, July 27, 2012 for the launch of the maiden rLG Accra Nightlife Awards (ANA) during which organisers informed the press that it is an annual event.

Following the press briefing, many envisaged the awards scheme as a great idea from the organisers and it was a thumbs up from everyone. This was obviously due to the fact that, the awards in its own way will help the growth of that sector of Ghana's entertainment industry.

Obviously, the ANA was one of the promising award ceremonies in the country, in view of the fact that it also recognise and honour personalities, events and places that promotes nightlife through entertainment in Accra.

The Certain Uncertainties: It was initially scheduled to take place in December, 2012 [with exact date and venue to be announced later] but it never saw the light on this day and it was rescheduled for Saturday, January 26, 2013. Again, this date never materialised until a final date, Saturday, February 23, 2013 became feasible and it was held.

Moreover, American hip-hop star, Cassidy was billed to perform but this proved futile and on the eleventh hour, organisers alluded this to the problem of the former finding it difficult to board an airline to Ghana after a barrage of multimedia advertisements.

Last but not least, members who were introduced during the launch as those who made up the team were not the same as people introduced at subsequent engagements of the ceremony but that obviously is not the bone of contention this time in this piece.

A Successful Event, the BIG Questions: The well-attended event was hosted by ace TV/radio presenters, Jay Foley and Jeremie Van-Garshong and indeed they were "Masters of [the] Ceremony" during the night. There were the likes of hiplife Grandpapa Reggie Rockstone, his younger brother Keitta, radio personality Lexis Bill, TV host Amanda Jissih, musician Joey B, CEO of 4Syte TV Ignace Hego and many more who graced the occasion.

Notwithstanding the disappointment from Cassidy, Ghanaian musicians R2bees, Jupiter, RnM et al. gave stellar performances to climax the night.

Yes! It was a TOTAL SUCCESS and the bell of "Watch out for Accra Nightlife Awards 2014" rang after that very night of the awards. However, with the year ending in barely 10 weeks’ time, organisers have failed to go about their usual promotion of the event and NOTHING has been said about the awards scheme yet.

Efforts to contact organisers on this issue have proved futile but an update on their official Facebook page says that Ghana should watch out for Accra Nightlife Awards 2014.

Taking all these into consideration, many questions crop up and it is only logical for one to ask exactly what has happened to the Accra Nightlife Awards after the maiden event. Has EDGE 53 decided to let the one time GOLDEN DREAM and VISION go to the drains?

Has the maiden headline sponsor, rLG Communications and other supporters lost faith in the awards scheme? Are organisers out of business now? Did the change in the team have a negative effect on the awards?

These are some of the few questions that need to be answered in the next part of this story.