NAIROBI -- TikTok, a short video-sharing platform owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, awarded last weekend TikTok creators from across sub-Saharan Africa for the immense talent and creativity they brought to the platform in the past year.

TikTok's inaugural award ceremony took place in Nairobi, Kenya's capital, following a highly competitive eight-day-long public voting process on the app across Southern, West, and East Africa.

Boniswa Sidwaba, TikTok's Content Programing Lead, Sub-Saharan Africa, said that the award ceremony is TikTok's way of recognizing storytellers, creativity, and the positive impact all creators bring to the TikTok community.

"We are thrilled to be celebrating our creators who have been a driving force behind some of the exciting trends for 2022. With these inaugural awards, TikTok aims to give creators in sub-Saharan Africa the recognition they deserve and to encourage them to tell the African story while spreading joy at all times," Sidwaba said.

Sidwaba revealed that the winner of the Top Creator 2022 Sub-Saharan Africa was Dennis Ombachi, popularly known as @theroamingchef from Kenya, while the runner-up was Charity Ekezie, popularly known as @charityekezie from Nigeria.

She added that the winners of the Top Creator Awards for West, Southern, and East Africa were @e4ma from Nigeria, @Pilot_onthegram from South Africa, and @natasha_gwal from Kenya, respectively.