Yaw Darling, reigning Unsung winner
Charterhouse, organisers of the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA), has rolled out selection criteria to aid new artistes who wish to be nominated for the Unsung Category of this year’s awards.
Created by Charterhouse, the initiative is designed to identify and support fast-rising talents who have not yet achieved mainstream recognition, with the winner gaining a performance slot on the main awards night.
Instituted in 2014, the Unsung Category seeks to also project a recording and performing artiste whose consistency, impact, and audience connection outweigh their current level of industry recognition.
According to the selection criteria, the individual must be a recording artiste with original music, active performer with evidence of live performances, at least one official music video or visualiser, engaged fanbase (community over numbers), with consistent artistic output and growth impact without matching mainstream recognition, as well as public support during the Unsung Call for Entries. The final selection is competitive and curated, and the individual must be available for TGMA nominee activities.
MzVee emerged as the very first winner of the Unsung Category in 2014, beating artistes like Strongman, Epixode, and Eno Barony.
Since then, the likes of Dark Suburb, Adomaa, Kuami Eugene, Kelvyn Boy, Kula, Teflon Flexx, Nanky, Gambo, DSL, Kwesi Amewuga, and Yaw Darling have won from 2015 to 2025 respectively.
By Prince Fiifi Yorke