The South African Cultural and Creative Industry Awards (CCIA) is an initiative that affords an opportunity for creatives and South Africans to honour the best amongst us, to acknowledge the wisdom, voice and experience of the creative community and its indomitable positive influence on the country’s nation building project and its ability to inspire the world.

“Amongst several reasons, these awards are intended to intentionally lift up, support the creative and cultural riches that join people together, nourish the spirit, liven up communities, inspire and create a vibrant nation, to also benchmark ourselves against the best in the world as we do them, to create a truly special moment” Minister Zizi Kodwa

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture wishes to announce the release of the rules and guidelines for the call for nominations and can be found on the website Cultural and Creative Industry Awards – South Africa Honors its Brightest Stars (cciawards.co.za)

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture entities such as National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), National Heritage Council (NHC), South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), Design Committee, National Library of South Africa, Art Bank, industry experts and an auditing company carefully conducted a nit tight process to formulate the CCIA’s rules and guidelines to ensure that the proper and competent stakeholders are directly involved to describe the merit and characteristics of the CCIA’s and that inclusivity, openness, transparency, fairness are what portrays the process and the Awards.

The Strategic Benefits:
▪ Can boost the reputation, setting winners apart from the rest. Boost their morale by highlighting their achievements. Signalling to the world that they are the best among the best, thereby affirming their held credibility.
▪ To have a mega award platform in these cultural and creative industry awards to engage with other likeminded creatives and sponsors, clients, and audiences to building stronger meaningful relationships.
▪ Increase awareness and profile of the winner’s individual offerings, attracting more attention from media, potential partners and sponsors while creating international marketability for South African creatives.

The CCIA’s comprise of eight (8) categories and thirty awards (30)

1. The Heritage Site Category (x3 Awards)
▪ Outstanding Museum Award
▪ Outstanding Archaeological & Historical Site Award
▪ Outstanding Cultural Landscape Award

2. The Visual Arts & Craft Category (x3 Awards)
▪ Outstanding Visual Artist Award
▪ Outstanding Curator Award
▪ Outstanding Crafter Award

3. The Literary Works Category (x4 Awards)
▪ Outstanding Children Fiction Book Award
▪ Outstanding Book, Fiction Award
▪ Outstanding Book, Non-Fiction Award
▪ Outstanding Publisher Award

4. The Audio Visual & Interactive Media Category (x6 Awards)
▪ Outstanding Film Fiction Award
▪ Outstanding Documentary Film or TV Series Award
▪ Outstanding TV Drama Award
▪ Outstanding Actor TV and Film Award
▪ Outstanding Animation Award
▪ Outstanding Gaming Award

5. The Design & Creative Services (x4 Awards)
▪ Outstanding Fashion and Textile Designer Award
▪ Outstanding Graphic & Multimedia Designer Award
▪ Outstanding Product Award
▪ Outstanding Architecture and Interior Designer Award

6. The Performing Arts Category (x5 Awards)
▪ Outstanding Theatre Production Award
▪ Outstanding Dance Production Award
▪ Outstanding Musician Award
▪ Outstanding Actor in Theatre Award
▪ Outstanding Performance Award (Poet, Comedian)

7. The Ministry (Discretionary Category) (x3 Awards)
These awards are decided, announced, and presented by the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture.

Lifetime Achievement Award
▪ Bestowed to someone with 20 years or more of documented achievement and outstanding contribution over the individual’s whole career to the South African creative industry and internationally.

Internationally Recognised Artist or Group Award
▪ This award is presented to an artist or group that has received international recognition, exhibited, and performed on international platforms for five years and more.
Artist with Disability Award
▪ This award is awarded to a person with a disability who has achieved excellence in their craft within the creative and cultural industries.

8. The People’s Choice category (x2 Award)
Breakthrough Artist Award
▪ This award is awarded to a ‘Newcomer’ in the industry that is creating or producing brilliant work.

Online Creator of the Year
▪ The award is voted for by the public intended to honour and recognise the most influential online voices and content producers across the widest range of categories including lifestyle, finance, travel, comedy, fashion, technology and more.

We will be reevaluating our processes to better reflect the dynamic nature of the sector and how it evolves as we continuously improve over time.

This is a starting point for this unprecedented integrated award platform. The CCIA’s categories will be voted by nomination review committee of experts and certified by an auditing firm, which are intended to safeguard a specific genre’s integrity and to serve as additional checks and balances.

For the full list of rules and guidelines for the inaugural CCIA’s Awards, which were put together on and passed by the Nominations Committee click here Cultural and Creative Industry Awards – South Africa Honors its Brightest Stars (cciawards.co.za)

CALL FOR SUBMISSION CLOSING DATE THURSDAY, 29 FEBRUARY 2024

ENDS

For enquiries:

Mr Evile Dukashe, Project Management │Cell: 072 772 4664│Email: eviled@dsac.gov.za

Media enquiries:
Ms Zimasa Velaphi, Head of Communications and Marketing │Cell: 072 172 8925 │Email: zimasav@dsac.gov.za