Beginning from this year, the Ghana Music Awards ceremony will be repackaged and presented as major event that will project and promote Ghana, her culture and music to the rest of the world, the organizers of Ghana Music Awards (GMA) event have hinted.

?Building on the initiative which was broached last year, the 2006 event will run as a festival with various activities and concerts featuring major Ghanaian and African artistes. The event will span over a period of eight days?, the Event Director, Mrs. Theresa Ayoade stated.

The awards ceremony is arguably the most important musical event on the Ghanaian social calendar and according to the Events Director, ?GMA seeks the best for music industry and will therefore strive relentless to constantly improve upon our achievements?.

Mrs. Ayoade has invited stakeholders and anybody who has some contributions to make towards the improvement of the awards ceremony to approach the organizers to share new ideas. ?As we begin preparations for this year?s event, we would be delighted if you could share your time and experience with us to plan and present a more successful event?.

The Categorisation/Nomination Committee is expected to begin sitting on Friday, January 20 at the MUSIGA Hall in Accra.

The Committee will be charged with various responsibilities. They will be expected to ensure that entries received, fit into the set criteria such as the period of release and lyrical contents. The committee members will also be tasked to place the entries into the appropriate categories, and also respond to general enquiries from the public with regards to the categorizations and nominations.

Some of the songs expected to dominated this year?s awards are ?Otoolege? by Ofori Amponsah, ?Mete Ase? by Noble Nketia, ?16 Years? by Mzbel, ?Aso? by Kwabena Kwabena, Francis Adjei ?Akode Biara?, Lucky Mensah?s ?Old School?, and ?Goosie Gander? by Wutah. Pray, Jane & Bernice, Diana Asamoah, Esther Smith and Fred Oware can also pull some surprise.

Music producer/distributor, Big Ben, executive producers Lisarf, G-Strings and Wayoosi also have strong claims for awards. Sound engineers Appietus, RoRo and Jay Q will rub shoulders for the top award in the sound engineering category.

Who will be the artiste of the year? What song will be the top song of the year? And which group will be the group of the year? All these important questions will be answered on the awards night, the date for which is yet to be announced.

Hopefully there maybe little or no controversies this year. Controversies have in the past marred the Ghana Music Awards but last year?s was devoid of disputes and the organizer has vowed to cut tiffs out of the award completely.