Loria Nnam Crowned Best New School Actor as Scream All Youth Awards 2020 Goes Virtual

Africa’s biggest youth recognition platform pulls off the continent’s first virtual live awards ceremony, crowning a fresh class of West African talent led by reality television star SymplyTacha and Brethren breakout Loria Nnam.

By Funke Olaode

The 7th edition of the Scream All Youth Awards lit up Nigerian and West African screens on Sunday night, as the entertainment platform staged what organisers say is the first virtual live awards ceremony of its scale on the continent. Held against the backdrop of COVID-19 restrictions that have kept Lagos’s red carpets shuttered through much of 2020, the show streamed live across the platform’s social channels to audiences in Nigeria, Ghana, and the wider African diaspora.

The night’s most-talked-about story belonged to Big Brother Naija star Symply Tacha, who swept three categories: Social Media Influencer of the Year, Brand Influencer of the Year, and Fashion Brand of the Year for her label Titans Collections. Tacha appeared visibly moved as her third win was announced, and her acceptance speech drew real-time celebration from a global online audience that has watched her transition from reality TV breakout to one of West Africa’s most commercially active digital influencers.

But the story that quietly defined the night unfolded in the emerging screen acting categories. Loria Nnam, the Nigerian-born actress who has spent the past year building a profile through her recurring role as Linda on the MNet Original drama series Brethren, was named Best New School Actor in the West African category. The student and early-career screen acting categories at Scream are tracked closely each year as the platform’s earliest indicator of which performers are about to break through. Past honourees in these categories have gone on to become some of the most recognisable names in Nigerian entertainment, including comedy creator Mr. Macaroni. Nnam’sname was called by host [host name], and Nnam, virtual-streaming in from her home, accepted with a brief and gracious speech that thanked her castmates, executive producer Femi Odugbemi of Zuri 24 Media, and the production team behind one of Africa Magic Showcase’s most ambitious commissions of the broadcast year.

The Best New School Actor category is closely watched at the Scream Awards because it tracks the performers programmers and audiences are paying attention to before the wider industry catches on. The platform’s student and early-career categories have a track record of identifying talent ahead of the curve. Nnam’s selection from a competitive shortlist of West African screen talents at the formative stage of their careers places her firmly within that trajectory.

Nnam plays Linda in Brethren, a fast-paced action thriller and crime drama produced by Zuri 24 Media for MNet’s flagship Africa Magic Showcase channel. The series, which centers on two adopted brothers from the Kurokeme family, caught on opposite sides of the law, has been a fixture of the channel’s prime-time weekday schedule since its October 2019 launch and reaches viewers across more than 50 African countries through MultiChoice’s DStv satellite distribution platform. Nnam’s Linda is part of the supporting ensemble that anchors the show’s interpersonal drama, and her performance has drawn audience attention since the early episodes.

“This award is for everyone on the Brethren set who took a chance on me, especially Mr. Odugbemi and the writers’ room. I’m just getting started.” Nnam said in her acceptance, before signing off to celebrate with family.

Across the radio and on-air categories, the night also belonged to Ghana. Hitz FM and JoyNews presenter Catherine Opoku-Asamoah, popularly known as King Kady, beat ten other nominees from across the West African region to take home On-Air Personality of the Year. Her win marks a continued expansion of the Scream Awards beyond its Nigerian roots, a direction founder Jimi Coker has championed publicly since 2018.

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Speaking after the show, founder Jimi Coker, known fondly in industry circles as King Cokes, framed the night as a statement of resilience: “We are living proof that the African dream cannot be stopped, irrespective of the challenges faced. Our mission of celebrating hard-working African youths cannot be thrown under the bus.” Coker also announced that a special women’s edition would hold later in the year, which has since evolved into the Scream African Women Awards.

For Nnam, the win caps a year that has seen her transition from a relatively unknown name into the conversation about which young Nigerian actresses to watch. She was profiled by BellaNaija earlier this year for the same Brethren role, and industry observers have begun tracking her work alongside the cohort of Nigerian screen performers now drawing international attention. With Brethren continuing its run on Africa Magic Showcase and a slate of new projects reportedly in development, Nnam’s Best New School Actor trophy may turn out to be the first of several.