This archive report was first published on 29 July 2019.
On July 26, 2019, comedian Daniel Ndambuki, alias Churchill, unveiled the Taji Recognition Awards at the third edition of the International Africa Laugh Festival at the KICC in Nairobi.
The awards aim to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to the comedy industry.
The first recipients of the awards were comedian Njugush and NTV's Managing Editor Emmanuel Juma.
Njugush was surprised with the Taji Humour Recognition Award: Online Creator for his exploits on the digital space. He expressed his gratitude, saying, 'Wacha niseme napatiwaga Award lakini sijawahi pewa kama hii. I’m always treated as others. This means a lot. Thank you so much Churchill for recognizing what we do. For creating platforms for people like us ndio tujulikane na watu kama hawa na sisi tujisukume. I’m a really humbled.'
Juma was feted for his humorous weekly segment 'The Bull’s Eye' that airs every Friday on NTV. The award was collected on his behalf by NTV Production and Programming Operations Manager Justus Tharao.
Churchill explained the purpose of the awards, saying, 'We introducing something, an award we call Taji to recognize individuals who have done so much in this (comedy) industry. We just did our personal stuff, next year we will give the fans a chance to choose whom they think deserves to win.'
