Five-time Telly Award-winning music competition and docu-series The Mic: Africa – the first interactive TV format born on the Continent – has announced its winning artists for Season 3, sponsored by African telco giant, MTN, with promotional support from its ayoba app. Nigerian singer Neky Ngwe has become the first woman ever to win the top prize in The Mic: Africa contest.
She emerged from a tight competition of fans voting in the Take Back the Mic (TBTM) app with three weighted final votes from Country Captains, taking her combined score over the top. Neky wins the show’s top cash prize and a VIP trip for two to Dubai. She will also appear in an MTN Metaverse Concert later this month with other The Mic: Africa artists.
Also breaking ground this year, 8 of out of 10 local filmmakers who shot the semifinalists’ video profiles were women, highlighting the phenomenal depth of female creative talent on the Continent.
The other winners include Ethiopia’s Rumiii and Hiwot Admasu sharing the TBTM Honors Prize for best Artist/Filmmaker duo, Morocco’s Drunk Panda with the Founder’s Prize, award-winning Nigerian filmmaker and media CEO Chichi Nwoko winning the Golden Reel Prize, and the Fan Favorite Prize going to rapper J93 of Tanzania.
Season 3 brought the series’ total media impressions to 1.1 Billion, with broadcast distribution on Premium Free Satellite TV across the whole of Sub – Saharan Africa, with an audience reach of 40 Million, and a global audience tuning in at tbtm.app.
This year’s show brought stiff competition between an array of talent spanning the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.
Three Celebrity Mentors from across the diaspora helped guide the talent with both heartfelt encouragement and unvarnished feedback: Hip Hop legend and trailblazing Death Row rapper, Lady of Rage; David Kau, South Africa’s leading standup comic, and renowned Nigerian Music Executive, Bizzle Osikoya.
The Mic: Africa seeks to connect African music, arts and culture with a new generation of fans around the world. Ghana-born Founder & CEO of TBTM Studios, Derrick N. Ashong (“DNA”), launched the TBTM app to reward consumers for discovering and amplifying the hottest new content.