ANN7's South African of the Year 2014 Red Carpet

Title card for ANN7's SOuth African of the Year Awards 2014 Red Carpet Special

It has been an event months in the making and last night, September 6th 2014, ANN7's inaugural South African of the Year Awards took place.

The first event in the buildup to the awards show was the highlights of the prior evening's nominee's dinner, which was also attended by president Jacob Zuma. Though the programme was originally slated for a 6pm start time (shown on the DStv programming guide as such and also by various ANN7 personalities on their respective Twitter accounts on the actual day), the special aired at 5pm, meaning many who expected it to air at pm would have missed out

Liezle Wilson, Clement Manyathela and Avumile Qongqa hosted ANN7's South African of the Year Awards' red carpet special that aired 30 minutes before the start of the actual #SATY2014 Awards

The red carpet show went on air at 7pm with Buzz ANN7 anchor Liezle Wilson, Clement Manyathela, and Avumile Qongqa welcomed viewers to the Sandton Convention Centre. It is evident from the beginning that the red carpet special is not live, instead comprising of smaller segments recorded throughout the early evening with various guests, which is not necessarily bad considering the amount of interviews included in the special.
 

Miss South Africa, Rolene Strauss, talks to Clement Manyathela on the Red Carpet at ANN7's SATY 2014

The first guest on the Red Carpet Special was none other than reigning Miss South Africa, Rolene Strauss, who also appeared on the main show

As interviews were being conducted on the red cart of ANN7's South African of the Year Awards, the camera would cut to pictures of guests arriving at the Sandton Convention Centre for the Awards.

The exterior of the Sandton Convention Centre was all decked out for ANN7's South African of the Year Awards

 

9 Year old Afeefah Patel and her family speaking on the red carpet of ANN7's Inaugural South African of the Year Awards. Her parents stated they were very proud of their daughter. Afeefa said it was amazing meeting President Zuma at the prior evening's nominees dinner, a prime example of how these awards not only recognises people for their contribution to society but also motivates them to work harder.

At this point the fact that the show was not live had become a problem: people that had spoken on the red carpet before entering the actual theatre were then shown getting out of their car on the outside of the venue before entering the red carpet section

ANN7 Prime anchor, and co host for the evening, Chantal Rutter-Dros (In a David Johan Dress) along with her husband speaking to Clement on the South African of the  Year Red Carpet. Says her on stage dresses are by Black Coffee and that she feels "beautiful" in those dresses

A view of the ANN7 South African of the Year Awards Red Carpet at the Sandton Convention Centre

One thing the special lacked and could do with was to have tags for the guests they are speaking to as viewers would be unfamiliar with many of the nominees if they wanted to, say, follow them on social media or so to find out more about their work.

ANN7 Sports Editor, formerly of eNews, Edwin Kgaswe played door man for the night

Another Young South African of the Year nominee,

Young South African of the Year nominee, and subsequent winner, Dr Sandile Kubheka, speaking on the red carpet.

The first, and only ad brak for the ENTIRE EVENING took place at 7:15pm. Up to this point all nominees echoed the same sentiment of being thankful for the recognition they have received.
When asked, most guests feel as if Bonang Matheba, co host for the evening, will win Trendsetting Celebrity of the Year.

Parents of yet another Young South African of the Year nominee, pianist Kyle Shepard, on the ANN7 South African of the Year Awards Red Carpet. Kyle was unable to attend the event due to being on tour outside of the country at the time of the awards. The mother mentioned that all nominees stayed at the same hotel where international superstar Nicole Scherizinger stayed.

ANN7's midmorning/early afternoon anchor, Abigail Visage, interviewing a guest. As seen in one of the first pictures, she was not meant to be a part of the red carpet coverage, though her contributions were quite well done (though her attire might not be, uhm, event appropriate)

One thing that I did not enjoy about the red carpet was that the presenters tried to make the whole event about the performances, which, though is nice, is not the primary focus of the evening. Every guest on the red carpet was asked who they were looking forward to seeing perform on the actual event and when someone mentioned names and one name was not Nicole Scherzinger, the presenters went and reminded them that she would be performing. If the awards take place again in the future, the presenters need to focus on the actual nominees and their work and not whatever celebrtiy will be performing. the celebrity will always get another platform to showcase their talents, but not all the nominees will have that same opportunities.

The representative of Dr Imtiaz Sooliman (Nominee in the Spirit of Humanity Award category at ANN7's South African of the Year Awards) was the first person to actually speak about the work the organisation does. He mentioned Dr Sooliman was currently working in Gaza.

Representative of Lucas Sithole, a wheelchair tennis personality, and nominated in the sports person of the year category at ANN7's South African of the Year Awards

Strictly Come Dancing SA host Katlego Moboe enjoying himself on the red carpet of ANN7's South African of the Year Awards AT THE SAME TIME that his show is being broadcast on SABC3

Mafikizolo, who was nominated, and subsequently won, Trendsetting Celebrity of the Year at ANN7's South African of the Year Awards. The duo also performed in a "battle" with Mi Casa

The host of I Am South African, the main show in the SATY 2014 campaign, Hulisani Ravele. She said the awards "represent all that is South African." She feels that as a host, your duty is to be in between, facilitate conversation, teach people and learn yourself and that the journey left her inspired. She also felt that the best is yet to come. [I personally feel it was a real shame that she was completely ;eft off the actual awards ceremony considering that she has basically been the face of the show]

The presenters of the red carpet signing off. From left to right, Liezle Wilson, Clement Manyanthela and entertainment editor Avashnee Vendiar. The oddest thing about this picture is that the three presenters that signed off from the red carpet special didn't all exactly sign on, see the pic above.

And like that, the red carpet special of ANN7's inaugural South African of the Year Awards has come to an end, the presenters have said goodbye and everything, and then... another guest...

And if that was not enough, the first few interviews re aired, leaving viewers confused as the main show had to start already. Added to this was when Clement mentioned that the show will be going "live" at 7pm, despite the fact that it was 7:36pm already. Thanks editing team...

Either way, it was not a bad red carpet special, though there is growth room for the future both in quality and duration as well.
The near total lack of mention of Social Media was a welcomed refresh from the usual builup shows awards have these days plugging twitter as if they are paid to.

Main show analysis here