Top honour for Zimbabwean blogger

The African Hip Hop Blog, which was founded by a Zimbabwean in 2008, recently won the most prestigious title of “Best Blog about Africa” at the second edition of the African Blogger Awards (Online) held last Thursday.

The awards, which are now in their second year, aim 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.

The blog was founded in 2008 by a Zimbabwean, Ross Hagan, while he was a student at Rhodes University. Since then, the blog has grown immensely and now boasts six writers in five countries, with plans to secure three more before the end of this year.

The website is now run by Ross Hagan and former Bytron Mutare employee Phil Chard as well as Twaambo Haamucenje who is a web designer based in Zambia.

In an interview, Chad, said the award was “an incredible honour” and vowed to retain it in next year’s edition.

“This is an incredible honour. 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,” he said.

Hagan, who is now based in London, added: “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.”

This is the African Hip Hop Blog’s second award after winning Best Online Media at the 2014 Zim Hip Hop Awards.  It was also nominated for the same category in 2015 as well as a nomination for Best Media at the 2014 edition of The Zim Achiever’s Awards that were held in London. Manica Post