BAKE, Bloggers’ Association of Kenya, has announced the dates for its 3rd annual Kenyan Blog Awards that will be culminate in a final event on the 4th of May 2014. The whole awards process from nomination to awarding will begin on 10th January 2014 and end on May 4th 2014. The aim of the awards is to reward bloggers that post on a regular basis, have great and useful content presented in a creative and innovative format.
The Kenyan Blog Awards 2014 has 2 new categories i.e. “Best Health Blog” category and a “Best County Blog” category which will raise the total number of categories from the current 15 to 17.
To submit blogs into the competition, individual bloggers, readers, and fans of these bloggers should visit blogawards.co.ke/submit to submit the blogs they like onto the portal for consideration.
The first blog awards were held in 2012 and they rewarded bloggers in 14 categories anmely; best technology, photography, creative writing, business, food, agriculture, fashion, politics, sports, general and corporate blogs as well as “tweeps” of the year. 300 blogs were submitted and 10,000 people voted. The gala event to award the winners was held on 5th May 2012 at Nairobi Serena.
The 2nd edition of the awards were held in 2013 and rewarded bloggers in 15 categories including ‘Lifestyle/Entertainment’, ‘Blog of the Year’ & ‘Travel Blog’ as added categories after removing the two Twitter categories i.e. Best Individual Tweep & Best Corporate Tweep. Over 500 blogs were submitted and 50,000 people voted in the 2013 event. The gala event to awards the winners was on 4th May 2013 at Southern Sun Mayfair Nairobi.
This year’s Blog Awards timeline is as follows:
- Submissions – will take place from January 10th to February 10th 2014 and will be accepting submissions in the competition’s 17 categories.
- Judges Choose the Best 5 – February 12th to February 28th 2014 will see judges comprised of bloggers and media experts will decide on the 5 blogs that advance to the next round in all 17 categories. These are the blogs that will be in the running to win a BAKE Kenyan Blog Award.
- Online Voting – Public ballot voting opens on March 1st and closes on April 30th 2014 with a change in voting system; this time round, one can only vote once per category.
- Winner Announcement – This will be made during a gala event on May 3rd 2014.
This year’s blog categories are as follows:
- Best Technology Blog – covering technology matters like social media, internet usage, consumer electronics, mobile phones, tech startups
- Best Photography Blog – showcasing original photos or have photography related content.
- Best Creative Writing Blog – featuring original creative writing in the form of poetry, book reviews, fiction and essays.
- Best Business Blog – focus on business content like business development, entrepreneurship, startups, stocks, investments, banking etc
- Best Food Blog – focus on food, cooking tips, restaurants, wines and recipes
- Best Environmental/Agricultural Blog – focus on the environment and agriculture.
- Best Fashion/Beauty/Hair/Style Blog – highlighting current trends in fashion, beauty and style.
- Best Politics Blog – covering political issues in Kenya.
- Best New Blog – Outstanding Blogs that were set up from January 24th 2013 onwards.
- Best Corporate Blog – Blogs that are run by brands/companies.
- Best Topical Blog – Blog with a clear niche that is not represented in any of the other categories.
- Best Sports Blog – any blog featuring sports content.
- Best Entertainment/Lifestyle Blog – focus on Kenyan lifestyle and the entertainment industry.
- Best Travel Blog – Focus on Travel
- Best Health Blog – focus on healthcare and healthy living in Kenya.
- Best County Blog – focus on any specific County activities (featuring content from a specific County)
- Kenyan Blog of the Year – This is the best overall blog by a Kenyan.
