Maso Awards are Malawian music award show that was established in early 2019 to celebrate entertainers and other minorities in music, film, philanthropy and fashion. Maso awards are a brainchild of MASO Enterprise which is a company founded by Augustine Mukisi, Beaton Ndawa, Fedson Mwadala and Mphatso Tembo and handles event management and branding,graphics and social media management, web design...[1][2] The event takes place in Malawian major cities and it is featured by performances from artists. They are one of the major Malawi's local music industry awards. The awards recognizes Malawian music from all genres, including gospel. The awards also promote culture and encourages people to showcase their talents. The awards categories are split into male and female.[3][4]
History
The Maso Awards started in the early 2019 by the Maso Enterprises aiming at promoting of local music talents within the country. The CEO of the awards is Augustine Mukisi.[4][5][6] The winners receive a gold-plated statuette.
The 2023 annual ceremony took place at BICC (pictured) in Lilongwe[2]
Artist of the Year
The Artist of the Year award is the highest and most prestigious of the awards given at the event given to the artist(s) following votes by the general public as having the highest audience appeal, online streaming, popularity and radio play. To be chosen as the artist of the year, the artist must have a released hit single/album during the year under review to be eligible.[6]
List of ceremonies
2019
The 2019 inaugural ceremony took place in Blantyre.[2]
2021
The 2021 physical events took place in Lilongwe on 17 December 2022 after two years of holding the events online.[7] The Maso Awards had over 13 categories. The Male Best upcoming of the year awards were given Driemo while the female was Niekay. The Best album award went to Phyzix for his album titled "Flaws". The Lifetime achievement were given to Lucius Banda, among other winners and categories.[8]
2022
The 2022 Awards were expanded and had 16 more categories with at least 10 non-musical.[9][10] The awards took place in Blantyre at Amaryllis Hotel on 26 November.[11][12][8]
2023
The 2023 ceremony took place at Bingu International Conference in Lilongwe where more than 135 artists were nominated in 35 categories for the awards.[4] Out of the total of 35 categories, 32 were permanent where as three were temporary with their addition to reflect the theme of the awards. Among the winners were Sir Paul Banda who took home the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Maso Humanitarian Award for the social media influencer were given to Pemphero Mphande.[13][14][2] Among notable artists that won were Zeze Kingstone among others.[15][16]
