The Bulawayo Arts Awards (BAA) have been rebranded to Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards after they received a $20 000 worth of sponsorship from the United Refineries Limited (URL) brand.
The Bulawayo based personal care and value added agro-products manufacturers unveiled the sponsorship package at media briefing on Tuesday.
URL chief executive officer Mr Busisa Moyo said their involvement in the awards which are now in their second year is meant to promote the consumption of local products.
“We wish to promote the consumption and use of locally made products. There are artists who are spending their morning in the studio hoping that the Zimbabwean public, the people of Bulawayo will consume the products that they make in their studios,” said Moyo.
Some of the sponsors that have come on board include ZOL Zimbabwe, Centre for Innovation Technology (CITE) and Proton Bread.
Speaking at the same event, one of the organisers Mr Raisedon Baya said they have received overwhelming response from the public.
“We had over 2000 online nominations from the public via our website and we had 255 physical submissions which had supporting material.
“We had 135 nominations in the music sector, theatre we had 7 nominations, film we had 25 nominations, Literature we had 15 nominations, fashion we had 18 nominations, poetry we had 10 and comedy we had 8 nominations, photography we had 6 and schools we had 15,” said Baya.
Baya also applauded the quality of products submitted for consideration saying it has improved from last year`s edition.
The list of nominees will be released on April 27, 2018 while the awards ceremony will be held on May 26, 2018 at the Large City Hall.
