The Mshale Community Awards are designed to recognize outstanding African individuals, groups or businesses that have made an impact in the African immigrant community and the community at large in the United States. In this spirit, Mshale presents four types of awards biennially. Around the United States, African immigrants are attaining remarkable achievements and successes while profoundly improving the communities they live in. They run businesses, climb the corporate ladder, graduate the most from universities in relation to their numbers and yes, run for political office. Awards are presented in four categories: Community Leadership, African Business of the Year, Student of the Year and Friend of the Community Award. All of the categories except for Friend of the Community Award are voted upon by the community. The Mshale editorial team invites nominations in the Friend of the Community Award but makes the final determination on the winner. The concept for awards and the four award categories were inspired in part by Mshale newspaper founder Tom Gitaa, who said at the time “it’s something I have always envisioned Mshale doing since we are an important institution in the community.”