After 302 nominations, 6681 votes and hours of checking and vetting we have reached the climax of the 2021 Zim Blog Awards! Over the past 3 editions we have learnt and grown and we were pleased to see that the quality in content creators has grown with us.
This time around we have 5 recurring winners and 20 new winners from the previous editions. A positive sign for us symbolizing the growth of our creative industry. It may also be a silver lining from the pandemic, as it allowed creatives time and opportunity to discover, reinvent, create and improve.
The category that has experienced the most growth is the personal blog category. Growing by 15% this edition and 8% the previous edition. Personal blogs are proving to be a great place for one to express their creativity. Often we see content creators use them to write about their personal experiences covering various topics, from book reviews, mental health, fitness, food, relationships, politics, sports and social issues, but they really don’t niche down to a specific topic. Plenty of the personal blogs are a mixed bag of well crafted content. This category continues to be the most competitive every year.
We’ve been saying this for 3 editions straight. We need more people to diversify into other categories. There are categories which had zero submissions. I guess in time it will change by itself. #ZimBlogAwards
— #ZimBlogAwards (@zimblogawards) February 17, 2021
On the opposite end there are categories that have not grown as much and some having no more than 3 viable nominations or no nominations at all. Photography, health and fitness, travel, food and drink, spiritual and religion, automotive, education, family and parenting, hair and beauty, humanitarian, relationships and dating, are just some of the categories that received low numbers of nominations. There is a big opportunity for content creators to niche out of their personal blogs and dominate other categories.
A pleasant feature for us this year was to see nominations for the corporate blog category. Signs that the local corporate world is investing more into content creation and the consumers are appreciating it enough to nominate their favourite corporate blogs.
Active voters this year grew by 10%. This is not just positive news for us as a Tribe but it also means that the amount of people who have taken an interest in content creators have also increased.
Our award selection process has also evolved over the years, from the process, the technology and also incorporating the feedback we have been receiving from stakeholders. Special mention to our tech partner for this year Afrikaizen who developed our nominations and voting platform from the ground up. We also launched a free resource detailing our processes when it comes to conducting the #ZimBlogAwards and also offering insight on how content creators can step up their content creation game to also snatch an award. You can download it and read about it in detail here.
Over the years, we have taken note of all your feedback and we have come up with a FREE ebook on how you can maximise your chances of winning at the #ZimBlogAwards
— #ZimBlogAwards (@zimblogawards) February 1, 2021
You can download the FREE ebook on our website here: https://t.co/4HWfxbacIb pic.twitter.com/cbzzkUpFxB
These awards have been teaching us a lot as an organization and we plan to put this knowledge to good use. We have exciting developments planned post-awards as we continue to commit ourselves to the development of content creators and the creative industry in Zimbabwe. The only way is up from here, for both ourselves and the content creators because we are all the Tribe Of Influencers.
Without further ado here’s the list of the 2021 Zim Blog Awards winners and links to their platforms.
Zim Blog Awards 2021 Winners
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| BEST ARTS AND CULTURE | Zimbo Son |
| BEST BUSINESS AND FINANCE | The Entrepreneurial Magazine |
| BEST CREATIVE WRITING | Tudzaa |
| BEST ENTERTAINMENT | 263 Culture |
| BEST FASHION AND STYLE | Thick’N’Stylish |
| BEST PERSONAL BLOG | Impilo Nje |
| BEST SELF-DEVELOPMENT/MOTIVATIONAL | Motimagz Magazine |
| BEST WOMEN AND GIRLS | iNgudukazi Magazine |
| BEST TECH/DIGITAL/SCIENCE | Techzim |
| BEST SOCIAL ISSUES AND POLITICS | Kubatana |
| BEST AUTOMOTIVES | Drivetorque |
| BEST EDUCATION | HeyAnci |
| BEST FOOD AND DRINK | Zimbo Kitchen |
| BEST LIFESTYLE | Kicking it with Mimi |
| BEST MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION | Mumhanzi Media |
| BEST RELATIONSHIPS AND DATING | Life and Things with Faithpanashe |
| BEST SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION | Hallelujahmag.com |
| BEST TEEN BLOGGER | Highs and Lows |
| BEST CORPORATE BLOG | BPO Zimbabwe |
| BEST HAIR AND BEAUTY | Runako Connect |
| BEST HUMANITARIAN | According to Stewie Le Savage |
| BEST TRAVEL AND TOURISM | Tanaka Travels |
| PODCAST OF THE YEAR | Feeling Station |
| VLOGGER OF THE YEAR | Kumbirai neRutendo |
| BLOGGER OF THE YEAR | Zimbo Son |
How do we see categories with few bloggers grow? What happens to the space of personal blog because it may need substrata clusters in the future.