The winners of the first annual African Blogger Awardshave been announced.
Entries were open in four main categories including the Best African Blog, Best African YouTube Channel, Best African Instagrammer and Best African Twitter profile, as well as across 36 sub-categories. The competition saw 520 entries from 27 African countries, marking the first time that influencers across the continent competed against one another.
Winners were chosen in two of the four main categories with the best blog in Africa going to Kenya's Niaje, South Africa's Gareth Pon taking the best Instagrammer in Africa accolade and no winners were selected in the Best Twitter Personality or Best YouTuber categories.
The 36 sub-categories included sectors such as Advice, Fashion and Beauty, Events and Nightlife, Education, Sports, Political, Technology and Gadgets, and Youth Culture among others. The Techie Guy (South Africa) took the top honoursin the Advice sub-category and Nigeria's Techloy won the Business sub-category.
Marketing and Media, Automotive, DIY Blog, Entrepreneur, Expat, Health and Beauty, Political, Religious, or Food and Drink categories also had no winners.
"The competition received entries from all corners of the continent including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Benin, Mali, Morocco, Togo, Cameroon, Malawi and Eritrea, to name a few, with the diversity of nationalities being a clear indication that social media influencers across Africa have welcomed the opportunity to be measured quantitatively against their peers," says Murray Legg, co-founder of the African Blogger Awards.
Entrants were required to register their online properties on Webfluential, a platform created to 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 calibre of entries into the Awards reveals how social media marketing is growing in influence across the continent," says Mike Sharman, co-founder of the African Blogger Awards. "The entrants' combined audiences total over 5.6million blog visitors, 10.2 million Twitter followers, 2.5 million Instagram followers, with YouTube channels offering a combined 75 million views."
The most popular entry categories were Entertainment, Lifestyle, as well as Technology and Gadgets, reflecting the most common interests of connected Africans. "This shows us that readers want to know about the latest lifestyle trends, the opportunities to be social in real life and online, and they want to stay up to date with the technology that makes all of this possible," says Sharman.
Winners in each category receive a commemorative trophy and a Web banner announcing their achievement that can be personally-leveraged through their social network.
"The huge success of the first African Blogger Awards bodes really well for next year's competition, where we aim to partner with a headline sponsor as well as sponsors in the various categories to expand the competition's reach even further. Congratulations to all of this year's winners. We look forward to seeing and 'measuring' your continued success," concludes Legg.
The next African Blogger Awards will be held in February 2015.
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