2023-2024 under review: How the performance of female artistes at TGMA has declined drastically
Recognising and rewarding the top performers in the business, the Telecel Ghana Music Awards are one of the most reputable and prestigious music awards in the nation. They are held every year.
The award programme has primarily been dominated by men since its inception, and female artists have had difficulty keeping up with their well-known male counterparts.
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This GhanaWeb feature compares the 2023 and 2024 Ghana Music Awards to examine the drop in female performance.
Gospel singer Piesie Esther took home two awards at the 2023 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards—Gospel Song of the Year and Best Gospel Artiste of the Year. Record/audio Engineer of the Year went to vocalist Gyakie, bringing the total number of female winners to three.
In sharp contrast, no female artist took home any honours in a category that featured both male and female competitors in the 2024 edition, despite the fact that there were many nominations for female artists.
Wendy Shay and Efya each had three nominations for the 2024 TGMA awards; Gyakie and Abiana received five; Joyce Blessing, Adina, and Diana Hamilton each had two.
It was disappointing that none of the female singers won an award, with men overwhelmingly taking home the honours despite their nominations.
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This calls into question how hard working female artists are trying to compete with their male counterparts for national awards.
Concerns have also been raised regarding the alleged male-heavy makeup of the Ghana Music Awards board, despite the fact that the members’ identities have not been made public.
The popular award scheme has three voting patterns: public, board, and academy. The public votes on some categories, and the board, academy, and public votes on others. The public votes on some categories are combined, and the public votes are not used for the determination of some categories that fall under the Industry Awards category.
2018 saw the prestigious Artiste of the Year award go to the late Dancehall artist Priscilla Opoku Kwarteng, better known by her stage name, Ebony Reigns. In 2021, gospel musician Diana Hamilton also took home the honour.
In spite of these successes, their performance in the music industry seems to have declined between 2023 and 2024.
The performance of the female artists at the 2025 TGMA is still to be seen.
