14th March, 2016
Funsho Arogundade
Uche Pedro, Nigerian blogger and founder, Bella Naija, has won the coveted orange blimp as the “Best Blogger – Africa” at the recently held 2016 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards.
At a star-studded awards ceremony held at the “Fabulous” Forum in Inglewood, California, Uche beat fellow bloggers Sylvia Kamau (“Style by Sylvia” – Kenya), Aisha Baker (“Baked the Blog” – South Africa) and Theodora Lee (“Theodora Lee” – South Africa) to take home a coveted KCA ‘blimp’ trophy.
Uche and her fellow nominees Sylvia, Aisha and Theodora flew into the U.S. a few days ago to attend the star-studded event.
“Wow! This is such an amazing moment for me and the BellaNaija brand. Thank you to my husband Bode, our wonderful children and our families. BellaNaijarians and BellaNaija team – we made it! Thank you for all the votes and positive vibes. Thanks Nickelodeon for the opportunity and to my fellow nominees, you are an inspiration! To everyone out there with a dream, this is a testimony to never give up, be a rebel with a purpose and vision,” Uche remarked after she received her awards.
Hosted by country music superstar and coach on The Voice, Blake Shelton, this year’s event saw kids from all over the world celebrate the best of everything they love in pop culture.
The festivities kicked off with Shelton getting hosting pep talks from celebrity friends including Adam Levine, Pharrell Williams, Nick Jonas, Selena Gomez, Chewbacca and BB-8.
After being alerted that the Storm troopers were trying to take over the 2016 Kids’ Choice Awards, Shelton jumped into action and battled his way onto the show stage via a super-charged chair from The Voice.
During the show, singer-songwriter Charlie Puth and hip-hop star Wiz Khalifa performed a medley of “One Call Away” and “See You Again”, right before taking home the blimp for “Favourite Collaboration”. Rapper Silento appeared at the night of Kids’ Choice Awards to sing his mega-hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” and DNCE closed the show with a performance of their chart-topping single “Cake by the Ocean” that ended with an ultimate slime dousing of the audience.
The 2016 Kids’ Choice Awards proved to be a mega slime fest, from kids in the audience awarding Shelton with an epic finale sliming, to Jace Norman dumping a bucket of green goo on John Stamos, to Fifth Harmony getting drenched after their win for Favourite Music Group, and Shelton welcoming Jason Sudeikis and Josh Gad to the green side.
This year’s show put the power of choice in the hands of kids at home with an interactive digital experience like never before. Kids had the opportunity to choose what happened live during the show by casting votes to see four different outrageous moments play out: Shelton and Norman pranking DNCE with toilet paper in their dressing room; Cameron Dallas getting super soaked in slime; Shelton donning a unicorn outfit; and the stage environment changing to underwater.
The Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards will be screened on Nickelodeon (DStv channel 305) and Nicktoons (DStv channel 308) at 16:30 CAT on Wednesday 16 March.