Local content creators will for the first time be recognized for their influence in society at the inaugural Zimbabwean Blog Awards set for the 9th of March 2018 at Moto Republik in Harare.
According to the organiser, Kudzanai Thondhlana of the Tribe of Influencers, nominations for the awards began on the 1st of January 2018 and 30 categories were made available for content creators such as bloggers, vloggers, and podcasters.
“We have decided to have these categories to ensure that everyone had a category they fell under. We wanted to be very inclusive,
“Grouping them by their niche will show us which ones need more people to go into especially for aspiring bloggers that aren’t sure what to blog about, this gives them options,” said Thondlana.
He added that all entries submitted will go through the public voting segment with content creators having an opportunity to mobilize their followers to vote for them.
“The public vote will serve two purposes, that is to get the masses involved in the process, this will demonstrate how vibrant the blogging industry is in Zimbabwe,
“The second purpose is to measure the level of influence that the nominee has, Can they convince their loyal followers to vote for them? Do they even have a following? This is how they prove it, through the public vote of the competition,” added Thondlana.
The top four finalists with the most public votes from each category will be shortlisted to go into the final round of the competition which will be adjudicated by a panel of qualified experts.
“The judges will be looking at five things for their criteria, which are Usability, Design, Marketing, Analytics, and the Content itself,
“Each judge is an expert at one of the other and that is how we will come up with a winner,” explained Thondlana.
“We have received 400 nominations and since our website is down we are extending the nominations to the end of the month,
“The winners will announced on the 9th of March 2018 at Moto Republik and this will also be a networking event,” added Thondhlana.
The judges include Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe Programmes Manager, Faith Ndlovu, Mike Tashaya, Simukai Whande, Zenzele Ndebele and Charles Muzonzini.
Final nominations for the Zimbabwean Bloggers Awards will be on the 25th of January 2018.
