Congratulations to our friends and favorite follows as well as the other 2016 African Blogger Award winners :
The winners of the annual African Blogger Awards have been announced, with the competition receiving over 2,000 entries from across the continent, more than doubling the number of entries from 2015. The awards saw particularly strong growth in entries from West Africa. I am so happy that a lot of the winners include fellow, hospitality friends and amazing accounts we follow on Twitter and Instagram.
Entries were open in five main categories including Africa’s Top Blogger, Top Instagrammer, Top Twitter Profile, Best Facebook Page and Top YouTuber, as well as across 20 sub-categories. Categories that saw the highest growth in entries included the Top Blog in Africa category which grew by 191 percent compared to 2015, and the Marketing, Media and Brandcategory, which grew by nearly 80 percent.
“This is the third year we’re running the African Blogger Awards competition, and every year we not only see an increase in the number of entries, but also in the quality of world-class content that the social media influencers are creating and sharing across their various platforms,” says Murray Legg, Global Head of Strategy for Webfluential and co-founder of the African Blogger Awards.
The winners in the five main categories are:
- The best blog about Africa is Africa on the Rise from Nigeria
- The best Instagrammer in Africa is Gareth Pon from South Africa, for the third consecutive year
- The best Twitter personality in Africa is JJ Omojuwa from Nigeria
- The best Facebook profile in Africa is Xtian Dela from Kenya, who was the 2015 best Twitter personality
- The best YouTube channel in Africa is Chris Rogers from South Africa
The 2016 African Blogger Awards were sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This year saw the addition of three new categories – Women and Girls Empowerment, Public Health and Social Issues and Active Citizenship. The winners and runners up in these categories came from Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, emphasizing the importance that online and social media play in highlighting social issues across the continent.
Winners in the three new categories are:
- Women and Girls Empowerment: Mummy Tales from Kenya, followed by Araba from Nigeria
- Public Health: Nigeria Health Watch from Nigeria, followed by Ghana Health Nest from Ghana
- Social Issues and Citizenship: Africa on the Rise from Nigeria, followed by Circumspecte from Ghana
“The Gates Foundation extends its congratulations to the winners in these three categories. The work you are doing to highlight both the great successes and continuing challenges facing African development is highly commendable. Your work has sparked conversations around sensitive issues and you have helped increase accountability in critical sectors like public health,” said Dr Ayo Ajayi, Africa Director for the Gates Foundation. “Perhaps the most powerful role that a medium like blogging plays is that it provides a platform for a diversity of voices. People on this continent are now actively sharing their own stories and that’s a very positive and powerful thing.”
Fashion and Beauty: Nancie Mwai from Kenya, followed by Fancy Pants from South Africa
- Food and Drink: Drizzle and Dip, followed by Pass the Salt, both from South Africa
- Hobbies and DIY: Lazygamer, followed by Homeology, both from South Africa
- Lifestyle: Naa Oyoo Quarterly from Ghana, followed by Inspired Living from South Africa
- Marketing, Media and Brand: Moses Kemibaro from Kenya
- Music: Texx and the City from South Africa, followed by African Hip Hop Blog from Zimbabwe
- Personal: Caffeine and Fairy Dust, followed by 3 Kids, 2 Dogs and 1 Old House, both from South Africa
- Personal Health and Wellness: Healthable, followed by Health Save Blog, both from Nigeria
- Photography: ByJono, followed by Drizzle and Dip, both from South Africa
- Sports: Complete Sports from Nigeria, followed by Turf Empire from South Africa
- Technology and Gadgets: PixelVulture, followed by Vamers, both from South Africa
- Travel: The Travel Manuel, followed by The Incidental Tourist, both from South Africa
- Youth Culture: Melenial, followed by Book of Swag, both from South Africa
Winners in each category receive a commemorative trophy and a web banner announcing their achievement that they can leverage on their winning platform and across their personal social networks.
“Our hearty congratulations go to the winners of the 2016 African Blogger Awards, all of whom are great examples of how Africans are choosing new ways to communicate and consume content,” says Legg. “They are leapfrogging traditional media and historical constraints, and setting a new status quo in social commentary, information sharing and interaction across borders, democratising access to information in the process. It is indeed an exciting time to be a part of the digital universe in Africa.”
About the African Blogger Awards
The African Blogger Awards provide an impartial measure of the reach, resonance and relevance of an influencer channel, and winners are chosen based on scientific metrics, rather than through peer nominations and voting.
Entrants are required to register their online properties on Webfluential, the platform that give brands and the marketing industry, including advertisers, public relations agencies and media buyers, an independent measurement of the most relevant online and social influencers to include in their campaigns.
The copy for this post was sourced from African Blog Awards and is aimed at being an informative news post. For More info on the awars: info@africanbloggerawards.com
