Western Bureau:

Negril, considered by many as Jamaica's entertainment capital, has added an exciting innovation to its enviable profile, with the creation of the Negril Entertainment Awards (NEA), which will see outstanding members of the sector being honoured annually.

The awards, the brainchild of entertainment enthusiast Denzel Scott, will have their inaugural staging on Friday at the MXIII Lawn, located in the West End Road area of the resort town.

'Best of the best'

"A person can work all his life and be good at what he does, but to be told by his peers that he had been the best goes beyond anything I can imagine," said Scott. "My vision is for the NEA to play an integral part in the lives of everyone who parties in Negril or comes here to throw a party."

The awards, described by Scott as the "best of the best", will cover events staged between January 1 and December 31 each year. This year's event will be hosted by deejay Kiprich and will include 31 categories, among them Best Local Artiste, Best Dance Group, Sound System of The Year and Selector of the Year.

Quality over quantity

"As a rule, the award has placed quality above everything else, including quantity," said Scott. "For example, Event of the Year or Best Party/Dance is not based on events showing the largest turnout, but would have also conveyed a general sense of satisfaction amongst patrons turning out, be incident-free and be of the highest quality."

According to Scott, all the nominees for this year's NEA have already been notified of their selection, but no winners will be declared until the night of the awards.

"The award has been creating quite a buzz, as there is now great anticipation among both nominees and other sector players," said Scott. "Our aim is to offer patrons a night of great entertainment ... it is going to be a night when the country's favourite resort takes centre stage."