At the award ceremony tagged, ‘Night of Virtual Wonders’ in Lagos, Nigeria, 15 winners – from the 43 finalists representing all the 5 regions of the African continent except Central Africa – emerged at the maiden edition of The Social Media Africa Awards.
Award winners are: Ben Kiruthi, Kenya – Blogger of the Year, Ayari Yassine, Tunisia – Social Media Personality of the Year, Michael Hlatshwayo, South Africa, Social Media Hero, Jimi Tewe, Nigeria – Twitter Handle of the Year, Barefootlaw, Uganda – Facebook Page of the Year, The Love Tour, Kenya – Influencer of the Year, Republic of Rwanda Ministry of Youth and ICT Rwanda, Government/Public Sector, DHL Africa – Private Sector, Stand to End Rape, Nigeria – Non-Profit, Adforumco, Nigeria – Start-up/MSME, KCB Group, Kenya – Financial Institution, Afrinolly, Nigeria – App of the Year, #TheNiteTalk, Kenya – Hashtag of the Year, Raha 2.0, Tanzania – Brand of the Year, Nigeria Trade Hub, Nigeria – Best Rated Platform.
Three of the continent’s favourites earlier tipped to clinch awards, Xtian Dela from Kenya and Japheth Omojuwa from Nigeria; both with 3 nominations and Vodafone Ghana with 2 nominations across different awards did not emerge winners in all nominations despite overwhelming support from fans and followers.
The Social Media Awards Africa, #SMAA is poised to recognize and reward excellence, creativity and impact in the use of social media tools and platforms by individuals and organizations in Africa. This year featured 15 awards across 4 categories which recorded over 3,000 entries accounting for about 923 nominations.
The #SMAA was presented by Sterling Bank and supported by: African Media Initiative (AMI), AIESEC Africa, West African NGO Network (WANGONET), Beat FM, Fan Milk Nigeria, Zisat,Trace TV, and ONTV.
