The awards show, run by the VAVA Influence marketing agency, recognises the work of content creators in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.
This year there were the highest number of nominations to date — 25,000.
Awards creator Chloe Henning said she has been blown away by the interest in this year’s awards.
“It’s over triple the amount of nominations that we had last year and in previous years, so that is a record number of nominations for this year.
“We can really see that there has been a lot of anticipation for this event,” she said.
This year the awards featured several new categories, including Influencer for Good, which was won by Kate Grant, People’s Choice which was won by Sara-Lee Little, and Education which was won by Olivia McVeigh.
Chloe said she included the new categories to help highlight and encourage a wider range of content creators.
“Influence for Good has been launched to reward a creator who is using their platform to create a positive impact on the community,” Chloe said.
Kate Grant with her award
Winner Kate, from Cookstown, is a disability activist and model with Down’s Syndrome, and uses her platform to raise awareness and support others with disabilities.
“Education creator had a really good response rate. It’s a completely different demographic than our usual awards and when people think of influencers they think fashion, they think beauty, and this kind of steps outside that stereotype. We are really happy that we are able to celebrate creators from all different niches and backgrounds,” Chloe said.
Award recipient Olivia is a beautician from Dungannon with alopecia and endometriosis. She uses her TikTok and Instagram accounts to educate her thousands of fans on her conditions and provide support to help empower anyone suffering with alopecia or endometriosis.
Chloe hopes this year’s awards have highlighted the hard work influencers put into their content.
“Sometimes people have a bit of a negative idea in their head about influencers but I think we are really coming away from that.
“More and more businesses are labelling it as a core strategy in their marketing strategy.
“So there is a lot more that goes into it than some people might think,” she said.
Chloe said the awards are not just simply about who has the most followers and many of those shortlisted for awards this year were actually micro influencers.
“There were some people shortlisted this year that I didn’t initially know, but I think that goes to show you how wide the demographic is for influencers here in NI,” she said.
Chloe wants the awards to encourage others to take the leap in content creation.
“I mean there’s so many influencers that are shortlisted this year that were not on the scene last year.
“This is an ever-growing, ever-evolving community of people.
“It’s an open book and everyone who enjoys posting online does have that opportunity and there are very little barriers to entry too.”
Sara-Lee Little with her awards
The winner of this year’s overall award was Sara-Lee Little from Enniskillen.
Sara-Lee’s content centres around her life with her husband, Andrew and their daughter, Lottie.
She said winning was the last thing she expected.
“I feel really good about it but I didn’t expect it at all. I’m still shocked but it’s great to see it,” she said.
Sara-Lee said she is thankful for the support her husband has given her during her influencing journey.
“I do think I have to give a special shout to my husband and I feel like I would be nothing without him,” she said.
Sara-Lee is eager to continue creating content across Instagram and TikTok.
“It’s really nice to know that people like watching my videos, it makes me think I might be doing something right — so hopefully it keeps going that way and people keep liking what they’re seeing and something like this (the VAVA Award) is just the beginning,” she said.
Sara-Lee said she is grateful for her award and feels the VAVA Awards encourage and support influencers across the country.
“I feel the awards definitely bring a sense of appreciation to everything that influencers do. Sometimes I feel like maybe influencers get a lot of negativity, I don’t know, some people have some things to say,” she joked.