The Social Media Awards, Africa’s premier awards for
social and digital media with nominations spanning four categories and drawn
from across the continent took place on the 24th of January 2015 with some of
the people that really matter in the Social
Media World in attending.
The event which was hosted in Lagos, Nigeria, recognized and rewarded
excellence, creativity and impact of social media on human Socio-Economic
development, through its tools and various available platforms by individuals
and organizations as such across the continent.
There was also a second part which preceded the awards ceremony which
obviously was the highlight of the evening, hosted Africa’s best in diverse
sectors to discuss, analyze and forge a new development path for Africa through
social media.
The awards considered specific social Platforms like; Facebook Page of the
Year, Twitter Handle of the Year, Influencer of the Year (Considering LinkedIn,
YouTube, Google+ and Instagram.
For the case of individual achievement in social
media, the selection boards looked at Blogger of the Year, Social Media
Personality of the Year, Social Media Hero. Not forgetting local campaigns and
brands, it was obvious Hashtags of the Year couldn’t be taken out. Others earmarked
for recognition were Brand of the Year, App of the Year and Best Rated Platform
of the Year.
Before I share with you on the various nominees and
winners of the various categories, here is a quote from the organizers;
“With 4 major categories and 15 awards, the SMAA is
a genuine, timely intervention for promoting distinctive creativity, peerless
innovation and pervasive developments on the African continent through the best
use of social media platforms and the rest of the social web”.
Now WHO WON WHAT?
HASHTAG OF THE YEAR
#TheNiteTalk Kenya -
#letsnotpretend Ghana
#choice4life Nigeria
WINNER:
#TheNiteTalk (@Lt_Caesa)
Financial Institution
Stanbic IBTC
Nigeria
KCB Group
Kenya
Access Bank
Nigeria
WINNER:
@KCBGroup
Brand of
the Year
Raha 2.0
Tanzania
Jumia-Nigeria
Nigeria
Vodafone Ghana
Ghana
WINNER:
@rahaFIBER
Best Rated
Platform
All 4 Women South Africa
Nigeria Trade Hub Nigeria
Bizcommunity.com
South Africa
WINNER:
@Nigeriatradehub
App of
the Year
ICOW
Kenya
Afrinolly
Nigeria
MPesa
Kenya
WINNER:
@Afrinolly
 |
| AFRINOLLY - APP OF THE YEAR |
The awards also recognized best use of social media institutionally and here
are they:
Private Sector
Informer East Africa
Tanzania
DHL Africa
Kenya
Popi Media
South
Africa
WINNER:
@DHLAfrica
Non-Profit
Stand to End Rape Nigeria
WINNER: @StandtoEndRape
Government/Public
Sector
Republic of Rwanda Ministry of Youth and ICT
Rwanda
Kenya National Youth Service
Kenya
Ekiti State Government
Nigeria
WINNER:
@myictrwanda
Start-up/MSME
Adforumco Nigeria
AIM Group Tanzania
TVyangu Kenya
WINNER: @adforumco
Influencer of the Year
(
LinkedIn,
YouTube,
Google+,
Instagram), which had the following gunning for the award,
The Love Tour KE
Kenya
Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo
Nigeria
X-tian Dela
Kenya
Had
@slumphotography
picking up the plaque as winner in that category.
Then came
Twitter Handle
of the Year
@jimitewe – Jimi
Tewe
Nigeria
@XtianDela – X-tian Dela
Kenya
@omojuwa – Japhet Omojuwa
Nigeria
 |
| TWITTER HANDLE OF THE YEAR - @JIMITEWE |
I was actually rooting for Omojuwa to win based on
the impact that handle had made over the year but let’s not take it away from
Jimi Tewe, some wonderful things came out of that handle. Check out his ThankYou message to the world after being declared winner.
Facebook Page
of the Year was won by Barefootlaw
from Uganda (@BarefootlawUG ) and if you want to know who its
competitors were, find them below
All4 Women
South
Africa
Barefootlaw
Uganda
Comedy Central Africa
South
Africa
Call them the flagship awards of the night, the following won the top awards of the evening .
Social Media
Hero
Japheth Omojuwa
Nigeria
Michael Hlatshwayo
South Africa
Xtian Dela
Kenya
WINNER: @big_MIKE_ayooba
Social Media
Personality of the Year
Ayari Yassine
Tunisia
Japheth Omojuwa
Nigeria
Luyando Haangala
Zambia
WINNER: @yassayari
Blogger of
the Year
 |
| BLOGGER OF THE YEAR |
Philip
Etemesi
Kenya
Ogunsaya Jide
Nigeria
Ben
Kiruthi
Kenya
WINNER: @Benkiruthi
Congratulations to all
the winners and the other nominees, wishing you all better luck in the next
awards session. Hope you don’t stop being an impact on society and Africa as a
whole with all the good things you do with all your social media platforms. Africa
no doubt is the future.
You can also find me on
most of the various social media platforms;
