PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DIAMOND TV PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR AWARDS 24
Lusaka, 11th November, 2024
Following the successful holding of our annual Diamond TV Personality of the Year Awards (the POTYAs) on Thursday, 7th November, 2024, our reputation as a corporate entity has come under unjustified and malicious attack. Some of our hard-working members of staff who have expended and continue to demonstrate diligence and professionalism in building and consolidating our brand have not been spared from these attacks.
We take great exception to these unjustified attacks and our lawyers have been promptly instructed to institute legal proceedings against identified individuals.
Over the years, we have sought to build an outstanding and customer responsive brand identity in the conduct of all manner of activities around our business. The creation and subsequent introduction of the POTYAs is no exception to this brand value commitment.
As a business, we continue to hold ourselves accountable to the highest ethical standards in modern broadcasting.
The introduction of the POTYAs further resonates with our drive to pioneer innovative approaches to media delivery in Zambia. At all times, this is done in the context of uncompromising adherence with professional ethics, integrity and transparency. In line with this commitment, our viewers and various stakeholder are invited to appreciate the following as mandatory standard procedures in our organization of the POTYAs:
a) The process starts with members of the public nominating their favorite personalities through a highly secure, cloud-based Saas system. This system is hosted off-site, outside of Diamond TV premises. As such it ensures a robust data integrity and security.
b) After close of nominations, entries are reviewed by a panel, with support from an independent council panel of adjudication. Essentially, this combined effort evaluates submissions based on key criteria, including the number of nominations received, the nominee’s contributions during the POTYAS calendar year, and their relevance to the respective category.
c) Following this review, a shortlist of nominees is announced for each category. The process then advances to the public voting stage, during which individuals vote for their preferred nominees using the same secure cloud-based system. After the voting period ends, results are tallied, and winners are determined for each category.
d) To ensure accuracy, fairness, and credibility, the entire process is independently audited by private auditors, with the oversight of the independent council panel of adjudication further reinforcing the integrity of the awards.
e) Further, there are 6 categories that are a preserve of the POTYAs Council. The council deliberates on who the nominees are and select a winner. These categories are technical categories that include; acting, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, lifetime achievement, and music video directing. The these technical categories are not open to public voting; nominees and winners are selected by the council.
With the above stated, we are confident that our applicable criterion in the organization of the awards across the board resonates with our commitment to remain a beacon of credibility, professionalism and innovation in the media landscape. We urge our viewers and various stakeholders to dismiss the unwarranted attacks with deserved contempt.
Signed,
Management
