The London Afrocentric Community Association (LACA) will host its fourth annual Essence and Culture Awards (ECA) on Feb. 16. The ceremony aims to unite London's Black community by reThe London Afrocentric Community Association (LACA) hosted its fourth annual Essence and Culture Awards (ECA) on Feb. 16. The ceremony aims to unite London's Black community by recognizing the contributions of the nominees.

“We just felt that it was time to recognize people, and we felt we needed to be recognized,” said Colin Caleb, founder of the ECA.

The idea of ECAs got its start during the rise of the pandemic as an idea to uplift London's Black community.

“I approached a few businesses, and they said it was a good idea. The thing about those businesses is that they were among the hardest hit during COVID. So if they can reach out and do something, it sends a positive message,” Caleb said.

The awards span several different categories from business owners to local artists from the London community.

“We want to bring everybody together in one day during Black History Month and say, ‘Hey, this is our achievements,’ and it starts with the nominees. This year we had a record number of about 110 nominees, scattered across the categories,” said Caleb.

Diving further into the music side of the ECAs, there were numerous categories for artists in music as well as spoken poetry. The ceremony also featured the nominated talent doing live performances.

“We get to see a great display of talent through musical and spoken word performances. So, we always just highlight the performances that are going to take place because they're so diverse,” said Caleb.

The music awards section promotes artists who have contributed heavily to genres that are held dear in Black communities. Additional categories featured awards for Latin and Indigenous artists as well.

“We have got gospel choir, hip-hop, R&B, Indigenous and some Latin jazz, and all that stuff coming across and then the biggest category in terms of multiple genres is our Afrobeat and Afro-Caribbean world category,” said Caleb.

He added that they added a new category titled the New Horizon Award that highlights new talent.

Caleb mentioned that many of those who were nominated have strong ties to Fanshawe, like Dr. Mary Bamimore, who was nominated for two awards, and alumni Eze ‘The Finesser’ Egbukichi in the music categories.