By Bob Aston
The Kenyan Blog Awards
2016 winner’s gala event at Radisson Blu Hotel in
Nairobi on May 14, 2016 provided a glimpse of the growth of the Kenyan Blogosphere
and particularly the rise of women bloggers as they scooped majority of the 19
awards presented during the evening.
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| BAKE Awards winners pose for a photo |
The day arguably belonged
to Jackson Biko who won Kenyan Blog of the Year Award as well as Best creative
Blog through www.bikozulu.co.ke. Since
2012, the Kenyan Blog Awards has
annually recognized and awarded exceptional Kenyan bloggers and good content
creation in the Kenyan blogosphere.
Safaricom Ltd was the
title sponsors for this year’s awards. Other sponsors included EatOut Kenya, Xpose,
Samsung, Coca Cola, Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), Uber, and Meta.
In attendance included
Dr. Kate Getao from the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.
She is also the author of Flakes in the Daily Nation Saturday Magazine. Others
included Dennis Itumbi, Director of Digital Communication in the office of the
President, Blogger Boniface Mwangi, and social entrepreneur Zawadi Nyongo.
Besides feting exceptional bloggers, the gala event also sought to
promote and highlight the fantastic range of Kenyan culture through the African
dress code. Most of the bloggers donned Kitenge,
kanzu, khanga, kente, Nigerian fashion, Ankara
among others.
Host Mr. Bonney Tunya,
CNBC Africa (East Africa) noted that the award dispelled his earlier notion
that bloggers mostly wear hoodies and spend a lot of time looking for internet
bundles.
Each of the winners
received Samsung Gear VR, Kshs 5,000 worth of airtime and either Samsung Galaxy
A5, Samsung Galaxy J7 or Huawei GR5 phone. Some of the winners also received
Meta membership. Kaluhiskitchen.com
which was the best Food Blog also received dinner for two invite at Tatu Restaurant
Fairmont, the Norfolk, and two round trip tickets to Mombasa on Jambo Jet.
The Best Kenyan Blog
winner received a Huawei Mediapad 10 tablet, Samsung Gear VR, Kshs 10,000 worth
of airtime and Meta membership.
As the evening progressed
one thing became clear, most bloggers do not have time for small talk. Either
they prefer the comfort of their mobile phones or laptops. This was particularly obvious as most of the bloggers spent more
time on their phones tweeting about the event and ensuring that #BAKEAwards was
trending throughout the evening.
Most of the winners
exhibited preference to writing than small talk, although farmerstrend.co.ke, the winner of Best
Environmental/Agricultural Blog took it a notch higher by only greeting the
bloggers during his acceptance speech and disappearing from the podium as fast
as he had arrived.
In keeping with the
tradition of entertainment, ghafla.co.ke
representative received the best Entertainment/Lifestyle Blog Award while
donning sandals and an African attire that resembled pajamas.
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| Host Bonny Tunya reading the names of the Best County Blog nominees |
The Best County Blog of
which Laikipia Rural Voices
had also been shortlisted went to lifeinmombasa.com.
This marked the first time that a blog from Mombasa County has won the award.
The highlight of the Best County Blog was Host Bonny Tunya struggling to
pronounce the name Laikipiaruralvoices.blogspot.com.
The Kenyan Blog Awards
has been a journey that kicked off with the launch of the submission phase on
January 8, 2016. Kenyans online were required to submit their blogs or those of
their favourite bloggers for consideration in the award. With the close of the
submission phase on February 10, 2016, a group of judges sifted through 4,899
blog submissions in 19 categories. The judges then selected five blogs per
category.
Voting for the five blogs
per category then started on 1st march and concluded on 1st May. The
culmination of the awards was the gala event, which saw 19 bloggers rewarded
for their exceptional work.
The Kenyan Blog Awards is
an initiative of Bloggers Association of Kenya
(BAKE). The award recognizes the efforts of exceptional bloggers by
rewarding those who post on a regular basis, have great and useful content, are
creative and innovation.
Below is the full list of
the 2016 Kenyan Blog Awards winners
- Best Technology Blog- http://www.techweez.com
- Best Photography Blog- http://benkiruthi.com/blog3/
- Best Creative Writing Blog- http://www.bikozulu.co.ke
- Best Business Blog- http://bizna.co.ke/
- Best Food Blog- http://www.kaluhiskitchen.com
- Best Environmental/Agricultural Blog- http://farmerstrend.co.ke/
- Best Fashion/Beauty/Hair/Style Blog- http://luciamusau.com
- Best Political Blog- http://info.mzalendo.com
- Best New Blog- http://theycallmedaktari.com/
- Best Corporate Blog- http://ihub.co.ke/blog
- Best Topical Blog- http://mummytales.com
- Best Sports Blog- http://www.futaa.com
- Best Entertainment/Lifestyle Blog- http://www.ghafla.co.ke
- Best Education Blog- https://creativesacademy.wordpress.com/
- Best Travel Blog- http://www.safari254.com
- Best Health Blog- https://couchhealthandfitness.wordpress.com
- Best County Blog- http://lifeinmombasa.com/
- Best Religious or Spirituality Blog-http://ernestwamboye.blogspot.com/
- Kenyan Blog of the Year- http://www.bikozulu.co.ke
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