June 2, 2012 – Lagos, Nigeria – Nominees for the 2012 Nigerian Entertainment Awards were officially announced at the Nominees Gala event on Friday, June 1 at the Federal Palace Hotel, in Lagos, surrounded by industry colleagues, entertainment executives, friends and well wishers.
Click here to view pictures from the event.
The strictly by invitation/RSVP black-tie event kicked off with the arrival of guests at about 8pm, all nicely dressed and suited up for what promised to be a great night of class and entertainment. In attendance were well celebrated artists such as the Chocolate City crew – MI, Jesse Jagz, Ice Prince and Brymo, Waje, Sound Sultan, eLDee, Omawunmi, Sam Klef, Chidinma, Flowssick, Rayce, DJ Sose, DJ Jimmy Jatt, to name a few. Also representing for the Nollywood and Gollywood movie scene were Juliet Ibrahim, Ramsey Nouah, Omoni Oboli, Majid Michel and a host of other celebrities and media personalities.
Host duty for the night was entrusted to seasoned compere, popular OAP and host of CoolFM’s The Road Show, Freeze, who made sure that from the start of the event, to the official announcement of the nominees in all twenty-seven categories, to the wrap up, there was never a dull moment; as he made seamless transitions and kept the crowd fully engaged and entertained. The President of the NEA, Tope Esan, announced the nominees with the assistance of Omo Sandra Idugboe, Juliet Ibrahim and Kendra Etufunwa. An event dedicated to celebrating the entertainment industry’s finest would not be complete without ovation worthy performances, and so artists like Chidinma, Vector, Rayce and Eddie Kim took to the stage to perform a few numbers, with latest fan sensation Iyanya closing out the night with his performance. Guests were treated to VIP lounge hosting by event sponsor, Hennessy.
The Nominees Gala event is the official kick-off to the Nigerian Entertainment Awards currently in its 7th year, held annually in New York City. The awards are based entirely on fans votes, and so fans are encouraged to vote online and via SMS. Online voting begins on August 1, while fans in Nigeria can vote via SMS now. By texting ‘NEA AwardCategoryNumber Nominee Name’ to 32051 you can help your favorite entertainer win that award. The 7th NEA Awards is scheduled to take place in New York, from August 31 – September 2, 2012 and the winners will be announced at the show.
The organizers of the NEA Awards are thankful to all sponsors of the Nominees Gala event – Federal Palace Hotel, Hennessy, Cool FM Radio, Virgin Atlantic, ConnectNigeria.com and Arik Air – for helping to put together such a great event. We appreciate the support, and look forward to continued partnership for years to come.
For all things NEA fans are encouraged to stay up to date by tuning in to Cool FM 96.9 (Lagos), the Official 2012 NEA Awards radio partner. Also follow the NEAs on Twitter @NEAAwards and ‘Like’ the Facebook page ‘NEA Awards’
