Toby Daniels, Founder, Social Media Week;
Fred Swaniker, African Leadership Academy Founder and
Eric Chinje,
Chief Executive Officer, African Media Initiative (AMI) are amongst
eminent professionals announced as members of the Advisory Board and
Jury respectively for the Social Media Awards Africa (SMAA).
Upon
successful completion of the nomination phase, the planning team for
the Social Media Awards Africa has formally announced the members of the
Jury and Advisory Board. In a statement from the SMAA Secretariat, ‘We
are really pleased with the overwhelming response and enthusiasm of
organisations and individuals across the continent’.
Judging
the 2014 edition of the awards are: Fred Swaniker, Founder &
Executive Chairman, African Leadership Academy; Eric Chinje, Chief
Executive Officer, African Media Institute; Ken Banks, Founder,
kiwanja.net;
Hetal Shah, Director Operations, Mara Group of Companies; Francis
Ebuehi, Vice President, VAS, Airtel Nigeria; Dr.Kasirim Nwuke, Chief,
New Technologies & Innovation, UNECA and Louis Onyango Otieno,
Director, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft Africa.
Others
include: Thebe Ikalafeng, Founder and Chairman, Brand Africa; Abubakar
Suleiman, Executive Director, Strategy & Finance, Sterling Bank
Plc.; Ryan Silberman, Chief Operating Officer, Popimedia, South Africa;
Dele Fatunla, Communications Co-ordinator, Royal African Society,
London; Obi Asika, Founder, Dragon Africa; Duncan Onyango, East Africa
Director, Acumen; Odo Effiong, Special Adviser Communication Technology
Development – Cross River State Government; Muyiwa Moyela, External
Relations Lead, IBM West Africa, and UdoJude Ilo, Nigeria Director,
Open Society Initiative for West Africa.
Members of the Advisory Board serving to oversee the entire process are:
Abdul Tejan-Cole, Executive Director, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA);
Toby Daniels, Co-founder and CEO Crowdcentric;
Ini Onuk, Lead Consultant/CEO, ThistlePraxis Consulting;
Tunji Lardner, Executive Director, West African NGO Network and Prof.
Francis Nyanmojoh, Head of Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town.
The
Social Media Awards Africa initiative was unveiled at a closed event on
Tuesday, September 30, 2014 to a cross section of media professionals
and social media influencers in Lagos, Nigeria. Nomination into 4
categories opened on October 1, 2014 at
www.smaafrica.com until midnight on October 27, 2014.
A
total of 923 nominations were received during the nomination period as
follows: Personality Based (468), Platform Specific (266), Institutional
(115) and Indigenous (74). Also in the window period, over 5.5 Million
Connections, at least 821,886 Retweets and 29 Million accounts were
reached through all 22 social media platforms where the messages were
promoted.
Winners will be announced and celebrated at the ‘Night of Virtual Wonders’ holding on December 6, 2014 in Lagos, Nigeria.
Each
winner will take home a cash prize of $1,000 USD and SMAA Plaque. Other
benefits such as: Social Media Training, Access to memberships and
attendance of Social Media events, Publications on Social Media and
Complimentary advertising on Social Media Africa Portal.
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