- Global Voices Summit 2012 - https://summit2012.globalvoices.org -

Kenyan Bloggers Competition: Meet the Winners

Categories: Announcements, Kenya

Global Voices [1] offered six bloggers based in Kenya the opportunity to attend the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2012 [2] for free.

To compete [3] for one of the six spots, Kenyan bloggers had to write a blog post of 500 words or less on the topic “How citizen media can help ensure peaceful elections in Kenya in 2012-13.”

Fireworks over Mombasa, Kenya [4]

Fireworks over Mombasa, Kenya (Oct, 2005) Photo by Zahir Mirza on Flickr (CC-BY-2.0)

The winners:

1. Evalyn Githina [5]
“If we are armed with accurate information, tools and resources to amplify our outreach we can do a great deal to make sure that all citizens are well informed on the process and the issues. Knowledge is power and we need to make sure that all who want to participate do so. The more empowered the citizens are, the less likely they will be to fall for those who want to mislead them into using violence to get their voices heard.”
Read Evalyn's complete post here [6].

2. Kenneth Mwangi [7]
“The mainstream media failed Kenyans during the last elections because they failed to dissolve the tension that was amongst the general population and avert the aftermath. All they did was give a handful of politicians all the airtime who in turn misused it to propagate hate and violence. Citizen media can do the exact opposite. Citizen media can tell the story from the regular people's perspective because that in my opinion is the most important side when feeling for the pulse of a nation.”
Read Kenneth's complete post here [8].

3. Baron Shitemi [9]
“The beauty with blogging is that with internet enabled mobile phones, people will read from anywhere. They will discuss it wherever. Those in social media will share to their friends and followers. The networking it creates is formidable. It has an incomparable opportunity to create and sustain change.”
Read Baron's complete post here [10].

4. Moses Wasamu [11]
“Citizen media can play an effective role in ensuring we have peaceful elections because of the fact that they understand better the terrain where they live, unlike the mainstream journalist who is being send to a far away station for the first time to cover the elections. They are also well known to people in their locality.”
Read Moses'complete post here [12].

5. Steve Banner [13]
“In informal settlements and slums such as Kibera, where the post Election Violence was at it’s peak, the rise of Citizen journalism has helped in information gathering and sharing. Hence becoming a vital tool to spread the message of peace among the youths, who are mostly the target by politicians in carrying out negative vices and violence in the community.”
Read Steve's complete post here [14].

6. Ephraim Kenyanito [15]
“While many Kenyans are unsure of whether there will be peace during Kenya’s elections of 2012-13, it seems that the online community is trying to encourage the citizen media to play a proactive role in encouraging peaceful elections and not just reporting on the outcome of the elections.”
Download Ephraim's complete post here [16].

The competition was judged by GV Sub Saharan Africa Editor Ndesanjo Macha [17], Kenyan Blogs Webring Founder Daudi Were [18], and GV Managing Editor Solana Larsen [19]. Congratulations! And thanks to everyone who participated.