A York woman has been named Inspirational Influencer of the Year thanks to her posts on Instagram.
Acomb resident Justine Hughes won the award at the Yorkshire Blogger Awards ceremony in Leeds on Friday.
She was nominated for her work as a content creator or influencer via her Instagram account @justineupnorth.
Justine won the award by a landslide of votes, with voters leaving comments such as “I’m always in awe of how amazing she is,” and “For standing up for the North and being so wonderfully honest”.
Justine said “I’m just so grateful to every single person who voted for me.
“The internet can be a challenging place with a lot of negativity and if I can inspire just one person in a positive way, then I’m happy.”
Justine can regularly be found blogging her experiences in and around York and is passionate about using her digital platform for good.
She first gathered a following on Instagram raising awareness for the plight of small businesses who had fallen through the cracks of financial support during the Coronavirus lockdown.
She also launched a petition calling on former Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Philip Allott to resign from his post, following the furore over his remarks about Sarah Everard.
It gathered over 16,000 signatures and played its part in Allott’s eventual resignation.
Justine took a break from social media at the end of August, saying she “had a lot to deal with behind the scenes”.
But she has since returned to Instagram, highlighting a variety of topics, from donating to food banks to caring for house plants to her 16.5K followers.
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