Winning an award, a blessing or a curse?

By Rosalia David

HAVE you ever taken a minute and thought about how winning that prestigious award can sometimes lead to nothing and sometimes even oblivion? 
Many would probably argue and persecute me for pointing it out, but it really seems like winning an award in Namibia brings nothing but trouble to some musicians while their music dream turns into an ultimate nightmare thereafter. 
There are a number of musicians who have scooped numerous awards in the past but looking at them today, they are hardly household names. 
Putting out names wouldn’t be fair, but I believe those that have fallen off the grid after winning awards was due to the fact that they were unequipped to cope with the pressure that comes with being in the limelight, often leading to making bad choices. 
It is obvious that an award will make you wonderfully happy for a night, however, don’t expect the winning to do anything for your career, maybe for a few it did, but it’s evident that numerous winners sunk to new lows after their NAMA victories. 
It is true that people have different personalities but some have struggled to recapture their former glory after winning an award. 
Could it be that to some it is tough to make a continuous career in the flourishing music business? Or is it just difficult to maintain one? 
Some say, winning comes with various factors that could play a part in why some musicians never follow up their initial NAMA success, such as bad choices, bad luck, and bad agents or letting the win get to their heads. 
On the other hand, I wouldn’t go so far as to call winning an award necessarily a curse or anything to do with black cats, broken mirrors and voodoo but definitely it is a tough cross to bear, as proved by some past award winners.