By Kundai Marunya
Local blog, The African Hip Hop Blog continues to shine, this time on a continental level winning an award for the Best Blog About Africa at the second African Blogger Awards.
The blog which was founded by a Zimbabwean, Ross Hagan in 2008 while he was a student at Rhodes University record its second award after winning the Best Online Media at the 2014 Zim Hip Hop Awards and being nominated the Best Media at the 2014 edition of The Zim Achiever’s Awards that were held in London.
The blog’s achievements can be attributed to its immense growth over the years, now boasting with six writers in five countries with plans to secure three more scribes before the end of the year. The website is now run by Hagan, together with Phil Chard (both Zimbabwean) and Twaambo Haamucenje (a Zambian based web designer).
“This is an incredible honour” said Chard, “it is very reassuring to know that people outside our community recognise all the hard work we put in and all those sleepless nights were not in vain.
“ Everyone on the team has worked extremely hard to get the blog to this point and without them The African Hip Hop Blog would not be what it is today”
Hagan, who is now based in London said, “A lot of work has gone into winning this award. There have been many long nights learning how to code and building relationships with artists to help build this brand.
“We have all invested a great deal of time, effort, and money into getting this blog to where it is today and I thank the African Blogger Awards for recognising our effort.”
The African Blogger Awards, are now in their second year aiming to highlight the best blogs and social media influencers from around the continent.
This year the awards received over 1,000 entries in 36 categories.
The awards gauge metrics such as audience size, blog relevance and how far the blog’s content resonates outsides its own community.
After measuring all these factors a panel of judges ruled that The African Hip Hop Blog was deserving of the award’s most coveted prize, formerly known as Best African Blog.
