August 23, 2011 – It’s down to the wire for Africa’s hottest artists and music videos with the just-released list of nominees in the 2011 Channel O Music Video Awards! Artists from Angola, Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Namibia are all in the running for this year’s awards.

This time around, the only Original.African awards feature multiple artists with two or more nods – making it an open field for nominees in the 14 categories as they make a bid for the votes of Channel O viewers throughout the continent!

This longstanding, public-voted awards event sees a massive 10 videos in contention for the hugely prestigious Most Gifted Video of the Year award – ensuring it’s a tough choice for fans.

Among the strongest bids is Kenya’s STL, whose “Lookie Lookie” has been nominated 3 times for Most Gifted Female Video, Most Gifted Dance Video and Most Gifted Video of the Year.

Alongside her is Ugandan artist, Navio whose “Keep Moving” is up for Most Gifted Video of the Year as well as Most Gifted Male Video and Most Gifted Hip Hop Video.

Also making a play for attention is hotshot South African artist Zakes Bantwini whose “Wasting My Time” clip has earned him a nod in the Most Gifted Video of the Year category as well as Most Gifted Male Video. He is up against one of Africa’s undisputed heavyweights in both categories in the form of Nigeria’s D’Banj with his “Mr. Endowed (Remix)’ featuring Snoop Dogg.

In the Most Gifted Newcomer category, Nigeria’s Wizkid is vying for the title in a field that includes South Africa’s AKA, Uganda’s Keko, Nigeria’s Ice Prince, Zambia’s Zone Fam and South Africa’s Kwesta in one of the most exciting categories at this year’s event.

Most Gifted Hip Hop Video meanwhile has Collo (Kenya) toughing it out against Jesse Jagz featuring M.I. and Ice Prince (Nigeria), Proverb featuring Lungelo (South Africa), Navio (Uganda) and AKA (South Africa).

In addition to STL’s success, another female has also made an impact on a music scene dominated by male artists. South Africa’s Lira has a double nomination for the video “Phakade” in the Most Gifted Video of the Year and Most Gifted Female Video categories.

Also making a splash over the past year on Channel O is Samklef’s “Molowo Noni” featuring Wizkid, D’Prince and Ice Prince. The video from the Nigerian and his collaborators is in the running for Most Gifted Video of the Year.

Samklef’s “Molowo Noni” has also earned a nomination in the Most Gifted Duo, Group or Featuring Video category. Other videos vying for this hotly contested category are Angolan Paul G featuring Akon’s “Bang It”, Jozi’s “Electric Avenue” (SA), Tanzania’s AY featuring Ms. Triniti’s “Good Look”, Slikour (SA) featuring various artists’ “Dubula (Remix)” and HHP, Teargas and Liquideep’s “Born For This” (SA).

Most Gifted African Southern Video sees Zambia’s C.R.I.S.I.S. running against Liquideep (South Africa), Cabo Snoop (Angola), Khuli Chana featuring JR (South Africa), and L-Tido featuring K.O. (South Africa).

Most Gifted African West Video is another category pitting Africa’s big name stars against each other for the votes of fans. Up for this award are Naeto C (Nigeria), Flavour (Nigeria), D-Black featuring Dr. Cryme (Ghana), 2 Face (Nigeria) and Asa (Nigeria).

Rounding off the regional categories is Most Gifted African East Video which sees P-Unit/Mimmo (Kenya), Jaguar (Kenya), AY featuring Ms. Triniti (Tanzania), Keko, Radio and Weseal (Uganda) and CPWAA (Tanzania) in the running.

This year’s Channel O Music Video Awards nominees list gives excellent insight into the growth, diversity and world-class talent currently making a mark on the African music scene.

Whether it’s well established artists like Nigeria’s 2Face (up for Most Gifted Video of the Year and Most Gifted African West Video for “Only Me”) and Mozambique’s Lizha James (Most Gifted Female Video and Most Gifted Dance Video for “Gotta Move On”), or those flying the flag for Most Gifted Ragga Dancehall (Samini; Wyre/Cecile; Black Dillinger; Nazizi), there’s something for all music fans to get passionate about and vote.

Another closely watched category is Most Gifted Afro Pop Video which has J-Martins featuring Fally Ipupa (Nigeria/Congo) up against Shaa (Tanzania), Theo (SA), Jaziel Brothers (SA) and Flavour (Nigeria).

The competition is as strong in the Most Gifted R&B Video category where G2 featuring Trez Agah (Mozambique), Loyiso featuring Kuli Chana (SA), Banky W featuring M.I. (Nigeria), Jamali (SA) and Leanne (SA) are all eyeing the prize.

Voting for the 2011 Channel O Music Video Awards opens on Friday 19 August and closes midnight (CAT) Thursday 27 October 2011. Visit www.channelo.tv to cast your votes via web or WAP. You can also vote on MXit and SMS (send your favourite artist’s code to +27 83 920 8406). You can vote in all 14 categories as many times as you want, but only ONCE per hour.