Christians in Swaziland cancel poetry award, making themselves sworn enemies of poetry-lovers everywhere

Troubling news today in Swaziland. The Association Of Christian Artists In Swaziland (or ACASWA) has decided to cancel the poetry category in their popular Glory Awards this year, citing a lack of submissions as their excuse.

"The sudden changes might be a setback to some gospel artists in the poetry category who had already collected entry forms from the ACASWA office.

"Most of the artists who have shown interest in taking part in this year’s event are said to have collected the entry forms as of Monday.

"It was also confirmed that the category was replaced by the Best Mass Choir Category. When the categories were announced, this category had not been included.

"The Best Mass Choir award was scooped by Growing Faith Mass Choir in the 2004 awards.

"This means mass choirs like Redemption Mass Choir, Youth Ablaze, Mbabane Divine Youth and Alliance Choir will now be eligible to take part in this year’s awards.

"It was also gathered that one of the reasons that led the executive committee to decide on scrapping off the poetry category was the fact that there were very few artists, if any, that had recorded poetry albums in the country." (from The Swazi Observer).

So far, there has been no official statement from the office of HM King Mswati III, but if he is a good and thoughtful ruler who loves poetry, then it's my guess he must be totally pissed off.