Budding Ghanaian female musician, Wiyaala has along with industry big guns, Sarkodie, EL and Manifest made it to the list of nominees for the maiden All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA).

The event which will take place in Lagos, Nigeria on Sunday, November 9, 2014 also has some well-established African artistes such as Angelique Kidjo, Mafikizolo, Davido, P-Square, 2Face, Don Jazzy, Fally Ipupa, Tiwa Savage and Zahara as nominees.

Wiyaala had four nominations with her song,Rock My Body which features Dancehall artiste, Jupita in the Best Female Artiste in West Africa; Most Promising Artiste in Africa; Best African Reggae, Ragga and Dancehall; and Revelation of the African Continent.

Sarkodie was nominated for Best Male Artiste in West Africa with 'Adonai' while EL and Manifest were both nominated in the Best African Hip-hop category with 'Ayayaa' and 'Someway Bi' respectively.

Another Ghanaian, who was nominated, is Bro Philemon. His collaboration with Morris Baby Face on It Is Well got him a nomination in the Best Male Artiste in African Inspirational Music category for AFRIMA 2014.

The nominees’ list of the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, was unveiled this week during a world press conference held at Protea Hotel Leadway, Lagos, Nigeria addressed by the Executive Producer and President of AFRIMA Mike Dada, Director Brand Communication & Sponsorship, Matlou Tsotetsi, Chairman, International Media Committee, Steve Ayorinde and Co-Producer/Country Director, Nigeria, Kingsley James and others.

Matlou Tsotetsi said at the press conference that that the jury panel adhered strictly to the entry submission requirements while being guided by AFRIMA’s core values of FACE IT; Fairness, Authenticity, Creativity, Excellence, Integrity and Transparency.

“The adjudication panel of jurors consisting of experienced names in the continental and global music industry were in Lagos in July to evaluate the submitted works," she said.

"The entries that made the laid down criteria and qualified on merit were shortlisted based on their scores, and this was sent to our Kenya-based auditors who then tabulated these scores. The result is what we are presenting today,” she added.

On his part, Mike Dada said the AFRIMA voting online platform will open on Tuesday, September 30 for the five-week voting process, while encouraging the public, fans and followers of African music to visit the AFRIMA website, www.afrima.org, to view the nominees in the 30 categories of the award and vote for their favourite artiste (s).

“For the 2014 edition, the award project opened entries on May 15 and closed the submission of entries on July 21 in the process receiving a staggering total of 2,025 works for assessment submitted by African music industry artistes, professionals and journalists,” Dada said.