Margaret Aspinall, the chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, received the accolade on their behalf at a ceremony held in London on Monday.
A 27-year battle for truth and justice led by the families, survivors and campaigners saw new inquests into the disaster of April 15, 1989 return a verdict of unlawful killing earlier this year.
“The mothers, sisters, daughters and aunts deserve to be recognised as our Special Women of the Year for working tirelessly for 27 years to establish the truth of what happened at Hillsborough,” said Jane Luca, chair of Women of the Year.