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Tuesday 17 May 2016

Women reign supreme during BAKE Awards

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.
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.
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
  1. Best Technology Blog- http://www.techweez.com 
  2. Best Photography Blog- http://benkiruthi.com/blog3/
  3. Best Creative Writing Blog- http://www.bikozulu.co.ke
  4. Best Business Blog- http://bizna.co.ke/
  5. Best Food Blog- http://www.kaluhiskitchen.com
  6. Best Environmental/Agricultural Blog- http://farmerstrend.co.ke/
  7. Best Fashion/Beauty/Hair/Style Blog- http://luciamusau.com
  8. Best Political Blog- http://info.mzalendo.com
  9. Best New Blog- http://theycallmedaktari.com/
  10. Best Corporate Blog- http://ihub.co.ke/blog
  11. Best Topical Blog- http://mummytales.com
  12. Best Sports Blog- http://www.futaa.com
  13. Best Entertainment/Lifestyle Blog- http://www.ghafla.co.ke
  14. Best Education Blog- https://creativesacademy.wordpress.com/
  15. Best Travel Blog- http://www.safari254.com
  16. Best Health Blog- https://couchhealthandfitness.wordpress.com
  17. Best County Blog- http://lifeinmombasa.com/
  18. Best Religious or Spirituality Blog-http://ernestwamboye.blogspot.com/
  19. Kenyan Blog of the Year- http://www.bikozulu.co.ke

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