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I've entered UK Blog Awards 2017!

Hey everyone,

So today is a special day…voting for UK Blog Awards 2017 is now OPEN!! For those of you who have followed me for a while now, you’ll remember that I was amazed to be SHORTLISTED as a Top 10 Finalist for Best Travel Blog in the 2016 awards. It was totally unexpected and I was blown away by the amount I support I received from my family and friends and of course my readers, as well as everyone else who took the time to vote for me! Being shortlisted as a finalist this year was incredible, but next year I am going to go all out and try to WIN the coveted title of Best UK Travel Blog at the 2017 awards! I need your help to do it though…

 

 

Voting is easy peasy and takes just 30 seconds! All you have to do is click here, enter your name and email address, select TRAVEL as the category, and then click VOTE! That’s it, it couldn’t be simpler, and the competition in my category is stronger than ever, so I need all the help I can get if I’m going to have any chance of being shortlisted, let alone winning. If you could pleaseeeee take the time to vote for me I would be eternally grateful and it would mean soooo much to me and my little blog, which is turning 3 next year – I can’t believe it!

Thank you to anyone who may have voted for me so far – I LOVE YOU! Voting closes on 19th December so please cast them as soon as possible! I’ll be Tweeting, Instagramming and Facebooking in between now and then to make sure you’re still voting 😉 nah don’t worry, I won’t bombard you, but I do need as many votes as I can get to be in with a chance of winning!

You know what to do… vote vote vote!

Love Jess x votenow-2-trans

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UK Blog Awards #UKBA16

 

I’ve recently returned from one of my blog highlights of the year, the fantastic UK Blog Awards which I was SHORTLISTED for as a top ten travel blogger! I attended the awards with my best friend and had a fantastic evening; the event was super-duper cool and was held in the stunning Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel. Organised in association with Debenhams, Odeon and Hills Balfour, the awards were also sponsored by EventTrees who transformed the ballroom into an enchanted forest wonderland to commemorate Roald Dahl’s 100th birthday year and the release of his latest film, The BFG. Although I didn’t win the coveted Best Travel Blogger award I still had an amazing time…here are my best bits!

The sponsors

 

Got my best dress on and my best friend by my side… UK Blog Awards 2016 let's DO thisssss! 👯🎉 #UKBA16

A post shared by Jess Buck|JourneyswithJessica (@jessica16_x) on

 

Hosted in association with Odeon, the awards were sponsored by numerous companies across the various industries the bloggers were being judged from. We had Debenhams representing the fashion and beauty section, Hills Balfour representing the travel section and BMW flying the flag for the automotive section. Some fellow bloggers were even chauffeured by BMW to and from the venue (lucky sods!) as a courtesy package – unfortunately I wasn’t able to experience this but, as we were staying in the hotel itself I didn’t think I could complain too much 😉

 

The venue

 

 

The awards were held in the swanky Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel which I had the pleasure of reviewing during my stay. The hotel is one of the largest in London, with over 1000 rooms laid out across 14 floors, and views across the whole of Westminster. With the event kicking off at 7pm sharp, we made our way from our room on level 12, down past reception to level minus two, the ballroom, where we were greeted by staff members and huge Blog Award banners – we definitely knew we were in the right place!

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Prosecco and canapes were thrust upon us as we entered the ballroom, and we were snapped by photographers and interviewed by journalists straightaway – oh the joys of arriving early! 😉 We had the whole of the ballroom floor and three large rooms to use throughout the evening which made us feel that extra bit special. Entertainment came in the form of a pop up cinema by Odeon (the popcorn was amazing) and a bubble show by Bubbleinc – such a fun concept and, seeing as I’m always in my own little bubble, I thought I might as well be in a REAL LIFE ONE!

 

Quite literally in my own little bubble ☁ ☁ #UKBA16

A post shared by Jess Buck|JourneyswithJessica (@jessica16_x) on

 

The speeches

The evening was kicked off with a welcome from our host, Kate Russell, journalist, reporter and author who won a UK Blog Award herself at the 2015 ceremony. Kate told us how her profile in the blogosphere has been heightened since her award win last year and how important it is for brands and bloggers to connect with each other in the ever changing world of social media.

 

Gemma Newton, founder of the event, was next to speak and she gave us a real insight into the blogging industry and how important it is becoming in today’s media. Gemma’s inspiring speech made all us bloggers think and take stock – she’s standing up for US and helping US to get recognised by experts, brands and industry professionals.. here’s to the gaining even more power in the industry over the next few years – bloggers unite!

 

The award categories

 

There were 18 categories in total, from weddings and photography to beauty and fashion to travel and lifestyle, with ten shortlisted bloggers in each sector for the individual and company entrants. There were over 150 bloggers nominated in each sector, so to be shortlisted in the top ten is massive achievement in itself!! I was lucky enough to be shortlisted in the individual travel section along with fellow TBloggers Vicki and Chris from Eat Sleep Love Travel, Lucy from Faraway Lucy and Ella from I am Ella. It was so strange to see all our names lit up on the big screen!

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Lucy and I met each other at Traverse16 – we got on like a house on fire and have remained firm friends ever since! This lovely lady was voted Highly Commended in our travel category and I was SO PROUD of her! Congratulations Luce you fully deserved the recognition – love you lots! <3

 

 

The dress code

 

Loved the dress I wore for my awards do on Friday.. Thankyou so much @officialrarelondon 👯👗 #london #rarefashion

A post shared by Jess Buck|JourneyswithJessica (@jessica16_x) on

 

We were under strict instructions to dress up as glam as we could when attending the awards; for the girls it was either cocktail or floor length dresses and for the boys it was suits all round! I’m so tiny that floor length dresses totally DROWN me so I thought I should opt for fun cocktail number to make me look at least a little glamourous! I chose a sassy little red dress by Rare London, I loved the fit and the style and felt it suited me down to the ground. Thank you Rare for a beautiful dress… I felt a million dollars in it!!

 

The social media exposure

Soo I got this little invite thru the post today.. 8 days and I'll be there! @UKblogawards #UKBA16 ✉🎉 #finalist

A post shared by Jess Buck|JourneyswithJessica (@jessica16_x) on

 

I have had an ENORMOUS amount of new interest in my blog since I announced that I was shortlisted for this years awards. I’ve been featured in two newspapers and have been interviewed by a local TV company to share my blog awards story. I’ve gained hundreds of new followers across all forms of social media and have made virtual friends with so many people! The weekly #bloghour Twitter chat has also meant that I’ve been actively involved with speaking to event organisers, sponsors, industry professionals and fellow bloggers in the run up to the big night. Thankfully #bloghour will still be running every Tuesday at 9pm so I’ll still get my weekly blogger fix! I’m so grateful for all the exposure that UK Blog Awards has thrown my way and I’ve absolutely LOVED being a part of such a fantastic experience.

 

As I’m sure you can tell, I had a truly wonderful time and am already keen to enter into next year’s awards in order to be re-shortlisted; my next aim is to WIN one of those shiny trophies! A big thank you to everyone for making the event such a success, from the hotel staff to the wonderful organisers. I left with a massive smile on my face, a goody bag and finalist certificate in my hand and a giddy feeling in my heart, although I’m pretty sure that had something to do with all the free Prosecco…. UK Blog Awards, it’s been a blast!

Love Jess x

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BIG NEWS… I'M A UK BLOG AWARDS FINALIST!

OHMYGODDDD I’M A FINALIST!!!

So if you haven’t guessed already by my excitable social media posts I’ve only gone and been shortlisted as a FINALIST in this years UK Blog Awards! Ahhhhhh!! This is such a MASSIVE achievement for me, both personally and professionally, so I felt this warranted its very own blog post…

Over 70,000 votes were cast across 18 different categories with over 100 individual entries in my travel category alone and I can’t quite believe that I’ve been made the top ten! My little blog barely has any online presence compared to some of my fellow nominees, some of which have over 10,000 Twitter followers alone!!

I never thought my little blog would even be noticed by anyone when I first started writing almost two years ago, and look how far I have come! I am so blessed to have support from such fantastic family and friends as well as my amazing readers! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to each and everyone of you who took the time to vote for my blog during the past few weeks- it means the absolute WORLD! <3

 

The glitzy awards ceremony in London will be held at the stunning Westminster Park Plaza Hotel -coincidentally I actually reviewed the hotels bar and restaurant last October! I absolutely cannot WAIT to get dressed up and get involved in a fantastic evening of networking and celebrating. I don’t think I have much of a chance of winning compared to some of the other fantastic bloggers in my category, including Faraway Lucy, Eat Sleep Love Travel & Absolutely Lucy, but a girl can dream huh?!

It will be an honour to just attend the ceremony and experience my first ever awards do and I will of course share it all with you every step of the way!

Thank you again, as always, for your continued support – UK Blog Awards I’m coming for you!!

Love Jess x

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UK BLOG AWARDS 2016!

UKblogawardsvotenow

Hey everyone,

I hope your first working day of 2016 has gone well! Mine went super quick (yay) and I’ve been dying to get home and write his blog post as I am SO EXCITED to share some big news with you all!

After deciding some time ago that 2016 was going to be my year I entered the UK Blog Awards (Travel Section) for the first time in the hope that I can add award winning blogger to my increasingly long website description and bio on all my social profiles.. doesn’t that sound AMAZING?! A girl can dream huh!

In all seriousness, I’m not expecting to win anything or even be shortlisted but I’ll be pray hoping that the exposure will boost my site and that it’ll give me a great opportunity to interact with even more fellow bloggers!

So, why am I writing about this now I hear you ask? Well, today marks the first day of VOTING for this fantastic award and I need YOUR help to get some votes for my little blog!! Any votes at all would be hugely gratefully received and voting will be running between now and 25th January at 9pm.

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Voting couldn’t be simpler and takes literally just a few seconds! What’s more, you can vote for my blog multiple times (yay) off multiple devices (yay again) but only one vote per device per day is permitted. So you could vote each day on your mobile, tablet AND laptop and treat me to lots of lovely votes! Please click here to cast your vote! I’ve also sneak cleverly dotted various VOTE NOW buttons throughout this post so it’s eyecatchingly obvious that you can vote vote vote!

There’s stiff competition this year for the awards, and I’m up against 100 odd other other talented bloggers in the Travel Section, including Jess from The Travelista, Sophie from Sophie’s Suitcase, Victoria from The Girl on the Move, Emma from Paper Planes and Caramel Waffles and Vicky from Eat Sleep Love Travel. I admire each of these travel bloggers hugely and am delighted to be in the same category as them. Best of luck to all of you guys too! <3

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Voting is now open so if you could find it somewhere in your heart to give me a little vote between now and 25th January I will be eternally grateful and it would mean the absolute world to me!

Don’t forget you can vote MORE THAN ONCE and I’ll be posting links and promoting this heavily on social media throughout January! Thank you in advance, you lovely lovely people!

Love Jess x

PS. Don’t forget to vote 😉

UKblogawardsvotenow

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