Social Media Awards Africa (SMAA)

AMI and Development Diaries Announce Social Media Awards Jury and Advisory Board

 The African Media Initiative (AMI) is partnering with Development Diaries Ltd/GTE to present The Social Media Awards Africa (SMAA) – a premier continental initiative established to recognize and celebrate excellence, creativity and impact of social media.

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.

The Social Media Awards Africa is sponsored by:
Sterling Bank Plc
AIESEC Africa
West African NGO Network (WANGONeT)
Zisat Technologies
FAN Milk
Beat FM
African Media Initiative