Tube Awards to Celebrate Excellence in Television

Iyke Bede

On Sunday, February 13, the cream of Nigerian television and Nollywood converged at the Grand Ballroom of Eko Hotels and Suites to witness the unveiling of Tube Awards, a newly formed platform that celebrates the small screen.

The organisers, Tube Afrique, also announced its call for entry for television content broadcasted between January 1 and December 31 of last year.

The award show, which positions itself as an accelerator for innovation and growth in the television space, listed 27 categories to honour creatives and professionals. It ranges from actors to producers to broadcasters.

With a provisional date set for the award ceremony in December, all programmes are expected to meet the requirements of being via cable, terrestrial, or digital platforms. Compulsorily, entries must have been conceptualised, developed, filmed, and broadcast in one of the regions in Africa.

To activate its initiatives, an eclectic jury body made up of professionals across all fields it concerns itself has been assembled to oversee the shortlisting of entries. It also plans on organising events targeted at building the capacity of practitioners for optimal performance and proper monetisation.

Niran Adedokun, an entertainment journalist cum author, PR practitioner and lawyer, who hatched the idea 20 years ago, explained the strong influence television broadcasting plays in shaping lifestyles and the need to celebrate TV’s finest contributors.

“Ultimately, what we watch on TV affects us,” He said in his welcome address. “When television has transcended from that tube in a box which we return to every night into tablets and phones that we hold in our palm, we must then be concerned about the medium that it feeds us. If we are concerned about the content that we consume from television, we must also consider the people who produce that content for us.”

He continued: “Nigeria now has over 150 channels. and as the number of outlets increases, so as the number of practitioners. The Tube Award is an avenue for ensuring that those who provide us with content on television have the best of encouragement and build the best of capacity.”

Receiving praise from the GM/CEO, National Theatre, Sunday Ododo, the theatre professional further expressed optimism towards the goals Tube Awards set out to achieve.

“Content will certainly improve technical contribution to production processes,” Ododo pointed out. “We are very happy about this because the National Theatre presents, preserves, and promotes Nigerian entertainment. It will have a part to play in this. We are grateful for Tube Afrique for making this award come to life,” he concluded.

Similarly, veteran televisión actor Abiola Atanda, aka Madam Kofo, lauded the effort that aims to use meritocracy as a benchmark to properly project creatives who have excelled in their career

Guests present at the event include Bimbo Oloyede, Charles Novia, Emeka Ossai, Fidelis Duker, Tope Duker, Lancelot Imasuen, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett among others.