Viasat1’s Bedroom Diaries of a Black Woman nominated for UN-Based Award in Sri Lanka

Bedroom Diaries of a Black Woman from Ghana  is nominated by an international jury of ICT experts to enter the next round of the 2013 World Summit Award (WSA) in E-MEDIA AND JOURNALISM category. BEDROOM DIARIES OF A BLACK WOMAN will compete against almost 500 outstanding e-Content products and applications from 168 countries in front of the WSA’s Grand Jury from Aug. 29 to Aug. 31 in Estonia’s capital city, Tallinn. Bedroom Diaries Of A Black Woman (BDOABW) is a refreshing new approach to examining norms and challenges of the 21st African woman while tackling challenging topics and issues many are too scared to address.  It is modern, fresh, positive, passionate, and trustworthy and stands out from the crowd. It is particularly exciting for its creative approach to integrating social media with TV and radio. Each episode on TV is preceded by an interaction on Twitter from 7pm for an hour, followed by the TV series at 8pm-9pm, then followed by a radio show on XFM 95.1 from 9pm-10pm on Thursdays and then a Saturday morning show from 9am-12pm every weekend. This cross platform approach allows viewers and listeners to interact and contribute to the topics being discussed in each episode. In order for fans of the show to interact on the site, they must like the BDOABW  (facebook) FB page, follow BDOABW on twitter to be followed back by the series characters. Once this occurs, BEDROOM DIARIES has got fans full attention. Fans communicate directly to each other, follow other fans, write blog posts and share photos.   The topics addressed are central to women’s lives, including career, relationships, and self-esteem and reflect the urban middle-class African reality.  It all started off as a blog in 2003 and with an over night success, it became a video blog, radio show and a TV blog show. In June 2013 it started airing as a full length TV series on one of Ghana’s entertainment channels – Viasat 1. Bedroom Diaries Of A Black Woman is a scripted reality drama. The series follows the friendships and relationships of five female women with celebrity guest appearances by well-known and loved personalities.  In the two months since it went on air the series has attracted a huge following in the 18-34 year demographic. This ability to speak to young adults (who not surprisingly are mainly men!) creates a huge opportunity for positive influence, which is often delivered via the celebrity guests.  With over 134,000 followers on facebook XFM and over 35,000 active listeners and  ‘engagers’, the radio platform has become one of the most talked about shows in Accra. However the audience is already global, attracting interest from ‘afropolitans’ around the globe.}   Creator and producer Benny Bonsu said, “I am overly elated with the news and happy that our series has been recognized on the international level. We really appreciate this recognition and nomination by Dorothy K Gordon and look forward to the outcome.”   In the first round of the international competition, an online jury will now valuate the ventures, creating a shortlist of 15-20 projects in each of the eight categories.   After this, in a three-day process in late August, the WSA Grand Jury, consisting of international renowned ICT experts and industry leaders, will meet in Tallinn/Estonia to evaluate the submissions from the remaining nominees and select the 40 best products. The jury members of the Grand Jury come from all continents and have backgrounds in the creative industries, telecommunication, advertising, journalism and research, as well as in teaching. National partners such as the Estonian ICT Cluster will host the jury. Finally, the 40 world’s best e-Content applications (5 products in each of the WSA categories) are selected to present their products in front of an international audience in Colombo/Sri Lanka from Oct. 23 to Oct. 25. The categories of the World Summit Award (WSA):   e-Government & Open Date   e-Health & Environment   e-Learning & Science   e-Entertainment & Games   e-Culture & Tourism   e-Media & Journalism   e-Business & Commerce   e-Inclusion & Empowerment   BEDROOM DIARIES OF A BLACK WOMAN is nominated in E-MEDIA]]>