On the 24th May, 2016, the second edition of the Golden Movie Awards was launched inside the Tang Palace Hotel, where Nadia Buari was announced as the ambassador for this year’s award scheme.

When all of the nominees were announced at the event, surprisingly some names I was expecting to see them in the list were missing. By missing, I meant, they did not receive any nominations and it’s very surprising.

Taking a look under the year under review, I expected to see some people in some categories but for reasons best known to the grand jury that made the selection, these names and movies did not even earn a single nomination.

How Could You Ignore Young Abraham Attah? First to start of, I was particularly looking forward to see Abraham Attah in the “Golden Discovery” category for playing the role of Agu in the movie, Beasts of Nation which has earned him several international awards and even at the 2015 Ghana Movie Awards.

The category definition for the Golden Discovery has been defined by the jury as;

“The Award for discovery of the year goes to the new actor who distinguished him or herself in a breakthrough role. The role must be seen to have had a visible impact on his/her career, opening opportunities for him/her to receive other roles.”

If we are to deduce anything from the above definition, the person nominated must have had a breakthrough after been featured in a particular movie and even created opportunities for him/her to receive other roles.

Now, was the movie, Beasts of Nation a breakthrough for young Attah? Didn’t his breakthrough with just one movie earned him several international awards? Didn’t that movie create opportunities for him/her to receive other roles?

The Jury must come out to give us a valid reason why they did not nominate Abraham Attah in that category. I stand to be corrected but I doubt any of these people nominated in the category Abraham Attah should have also been nominated in have had any breakthrough with these movies that they’ve featured in.

Did Wiyaala and Shatta Wale obtain any other roles after the movies, they were featured in? What other movie did Ophelia Dzidzornu and Queen Star get feature in after playing roles in the movie/series they’ve been nominated with below? The board has some explaining to do.

Golden Discovery

Afia Odo-Beautiful Ruins Ophelia Dzidzornu- The Cursed Ones Queenstar Anaafi-YOLO Wiyala- No Man’s Land Shatta Wale- Shattered Romance Lynn Bentil- Shampaign

What Happened To Yvonne Nelson’s “If Tomorrow Never Comes”? I love watching movies and because of the nature of my job, even watching any movie can earn me money. I know for a fact, Yvonne Nelson didn’t succeed with her premiere of “If Tomorrow Never Comes” last year even after premiering it the second time. Her movie performed badly at the box office just like Shirley’s “Grey Dawn” but that does not take away the beauty and amazing storyline of the movie.

Yvonne Nelson worked really hard on the movie and it’s one that deserves to win some nominations. She won actress in a leading role at last year’s Ghana Movie Awards and earned some 3 or so other nominations. Since the Golden Movie Awards is not a popularity award, I was expecting to see Yvonne Nelson nominated in “Golden Actress (Drama) “ & perhaps “Golden Overall Movie”.

I am not certain, if it’s simply that Yvonne Nelson did not submit her works to be considered for nominations or the board just felt, her works were not qualified to be nominated.

And what about Kafui Danku’s Splendid Acting In “I DO” I personally think, the board did Kafui Danku a great disservice by not nominating her in the “Golden Actress (Comedy)”. Let’s be frank, “I Do” was the second biggest movie for 2015 and anyone who had the chance to watch the movie, would tell you, Kafui Danku was a hilarious “hooker” in the movie. She did marvelously well and we enjoyed her scene.

I mean, why nominate Nana Mensah with episode 28 Of An African City in a major category like “Golden Actress(Comedy”? It’s inappropriate to nominate her in a major category like that with an online series, when there are categories for tv series?

If I had my own way, Nana Mensah should be taken off that category and replaced with Kafui Danku.

Nominees For Golden Actress (Comedy)

Ahoufe Patri- Kalybos In China Yvonne Okoro- Ghana Must Go Nana Mensah- An African Ep2018 Rose Mensah (Kyeiwaa)- Obroni Wawu No Beasts Of Nation I wouldn’t say much about this one. The board perhaps feels, the budget for the movie was way too big and any nomination it got, would guarantee an automatic win if nominated.

Please share your personal sentiments with me to know what you also think. I am waiting on response from the jury of the Golden Movie Awards Africa to know why things ended up this way.