Entries were open for the award in December 2013 and closed on 15 January 2014, the films for submission must have been produced, premiered and/or released between May 2012 and December 2013.[6][7] Over 500 films were submitted for the awards from 40 countries across the world;[8] the nomination process involved five stages before the best 30 films were shortlisted for nomination. Before this edition, there used to be a ten-man jury to determine the nominees but it has been increased to fifteen.[9]
The nominees for the 10th Africa Movie Academy Awards were announced on 2 April 2014 at Emperor Palace, Johannesburg, South Africa,[10] the main event which was initially scheduled to be held on 26 April 2014 has been shifted to 24 May 2014 and will be held at Gabriel Okara Cultural Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa, Nigeria. This is the first time the award will be held in May as previous ceremonies had always been held in the month of April.[1][11]Of Good Report received the most nominations with 13; The Forgotten Kingdom and Potomanto came in second with 9.
Danny Glover presented the Best Film award to the film Of Good Report.[12][13] The AMAA winners for 2014 will be part of AFA's cinema project in East Africa.[9]
Since the 9th Edition of the awards, there has been subaudible public uproar regarding the host country of the 10th landmark ceremony as it was rumoured that South Africa has been bidding to host the event for quite sometime. AMAA officials didn't issue any statement on the rumours until December 2013 when the founder, Peace Anyiam Osigwe came out at a Lagos press briefing on 19 December 2013 and stated "you will hear from me on January 1".[9] It was later revealed that both South Africa and Malawi have been bidding to host the event, but Osigwe stated that it was turned down as it would be difficult to tell the Nigerian people that the 10th AMAA ceremony will be held outside Nigeria.[9]
Lydia Forson and Kunle Afolayan was selected as the year's Face of AMAA.[9][18] According to Osigwe, the two were chosen because they understand what AMAA stands for and its visions.[9] As AMAA Ambassadors, they will be travelling around the world to carry out various activities for a period of one year.[19]
Renamed and discontinued categories
To mark the 10th edition of the award ceremony, some changes have been employed in the AMAA categories; Nelson Mandela Madiba Africa Vision Awards has been introduced to be received by any film that captures vision of the category. Best Film in African Language was renamed to Sembene Ousmane Awards for Best Film in African Language while the Best Short Film Award category is now called Efere Ozako Award for Best Short Film. This development is to immortalize some exceptional African great men who have contributed to the growth and development of the film industry. The category Best Film by African Living Abroad has been cancelled while a new category Best Director First Feature Film has been introduced to encourage young and upcoming film directors.[6][8]
People's Choice Awards
People's Choice Awards (PCA) system was announced in December 2013; This will allow the public to vote for their bests from past winners in all the categories. This is different from the regular jury-based categories and will be awarded separately. Voters will have opportunity to win prizes ranging from phones, iPads and a car.[19] AMAA@10 has also made available a $10,000 reward for three Journalists who can give the best three reports on AMAA in the last nine years. the first prize gets $5,000, while the second and third prize get $3,000 and $2,000 respectively. Winners would be determined through the depth and accuracy of the report, how well they understand the AMAA brand and the style of writing.[9][20]
