Pitcher Awards shortlist announced

The organisers say the in-person event will return in 2023, however, all programmes for 2022 will still proceed online.

The Pitcher Awards entries were judged by six independent juries. The six jury categories include Channel, Craft, Digital, Entertainment, Good and Heritage. The Craft category is new for 2022, but according to the organisers, the category has performed well, competing favourably with other older categories in the awards in terms of the number of entries.

CEO of Chini Africa and chairman of the festival, Nnamdi Ndu said, "Overall, we see progress in terms of quality of entries. It was quite heartwarming to hear the jurors say repeatedly, 'the standards have gone up this year'. We hope this will be sustained and that African creativity will begin to get the respect it deserves on the world stage".

King James and Ginger Pictures from South Africa were both shortlisted.

The Heritage category includes entries in Film, Audio, Print, Design and Outdoor and Activations. The Channel category includes entries in Use of Media, Use of Data, Use of Insights and Strategy, PR and Reputation Management and Integrated Campaigns; while the Digital category covers works in Social Media, Messaging, Apps, Websites, Novel and devices as well as the Integrated Digital campaign, newly introduced this year.

The Good category includes subcategories for work done by nonprofit organisations, a second subcategory includes works done by for-profit organisations. Entries in Entertainment were submitted under Entertainment Film, Live Events, Sports, Comic Skits, Use of Music and Music Video.

The final winners of the Pitcher Awards will be announced during the Pitcher Awards Show which will be streamed online at 4pm WAT on 21 May.

To see the full shortlist for the Pitcher Awards, go here.