Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) Board has removed Jay Bahd from the ‘New Artiste of the Year’ category of the upcoming 2023 VGMA awards
New Artiste of the Year category which had Jay Bahd’s inclusion also had artistes such as Ewura Abena, Lasmid, Chief One, DJ Azonto, Malcolm Nuna and DJay.
This move follows a petition made by broadcaster and VGMA Academy member Austine Woode onJoy FM’s Twitter Spaces last month where he described Jay Bahd as ‘not new’ to the scheme.
Austine defending his stance mentioned that Jay Bahd earned nomination for ‘Sore’ in 2021 in the the Best Collaboration of the Year with Yaw Tog and thus cannot be nominated for New Artiste of the Year in this upcoming 24th Edition of the VGMA Awards.
VGMA Board in a press release announced revoking Jay Bahd’s nomination from the category after review by their team and have communicated same accordingly to Jay Bahd and team.
One of the submissions made, which has generated high public interest, is Jay Bahd’s inclusion in the Best New Artiste category. After deliberations, the Board agrees that Jay Bahd is not new to the scheme, because of his shared nomination on Yaw Tog’s ‘Sore’ for Collaboration of the Year in 2021.
This means, he’s not eligible as a nominee for the Best New Artiste category of the 24th Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. The error has been corrected, and Jay Bahd and his team have been informed accordingly. The inconvenience is deeply regretted, they wrote.
This move by the VGMA board was warranted by this year’s one-week provisional window earmarked to correct errors and omissions in nominations prior to the event which is scheduled to come off on May 6, 2023 at the Grand Arena of the Accra International Conference Centre.
Some fans of Jay Bahd have also mentioned that the decision by the VGMA is bias and double standards as they recount Malcom Nuna being nominated for some category in the past during VGMA awards but also included in the New Artiste of the Year category.
