Organisers of the annual Legends of Nollywood Awards (LNA) have announced that the 2015 edition will hold on December 11th and 12th in Benin City, Edo State.
Founder of LNA and Managing Director of Royal Pictures Limited, Paul Obazele, said that apart from rewarding practitioners for their contributions to the growth and development of the vibrant film industry, the award has from the 2014 edition been refocused to reach out and celebrate the less privileged and physically challenged “some of whom do not have the opportunity to relax and watch these television and movie stars we are celebrating as much as they would like to”.
Obazele, a former president of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP) and the current president of the Edo Film Makers Association (EFMA) also stated that the award body will be extending a hand of fellowship to the International Christian Centre (ICC) Home for the Needy Uhogua, Edo State that is currently housing the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria as part of the reach out objectives of the award.
“If you were at the award ceremony last year; you will see how excited our physically challenged brothers and sisters were when they met face to face with legends like Patience Ozokwor (Mama Gee), Nkem Owoh and Alex Usifo. They also got branded gifts from them. It is this kind of good feeling that we want to achieve again with our proposed partnership with the ICC and other organisations in Edo State and its environs,” he said.
On this year’s awardees, Director of Operations of the awards Zack Orji said 28 legends will receive the LNA crest.
According to Orji “the awardees emerged out of a rigorous selection process and you can agree that they are worth celebrating for their contributions to the development of Nollywood”.
Established in 2012, the LNA seeks to celebrate the truly memorable and greatest achievements in Nigeria’s motion pictures history. It will be the first time that the three-year-old award will be held outside Lagos.
