THE winners of this year’s Happy Tots 2019 competition have been decided.

Voted for by the public, readers of The Northern Echo got the chance to pick their favourite photo in three categories – nought to 18 months, 18 months to three years and three to five years. The winning child in each category receives a professional photo shoot.

The Northern Echo received hundreds of entries but here are the winners.

For the nought to 18 months category the winner was 14-month-old Elijah James.

Elijah’s father, Jamie Yorke, said he entered the competition in the hope of using the entry as a keepsake if he won. He said: “I was over the moon when I found out. I have told his nana and we’re all really pleased.

“It’s one of the best photos I have of Elijah so I thought I would put it in.

“We’re going to put it in a memory box for him so he can look back at it when he gets older.”

Winning the 18 months to three years category was Nancy Pearl Potts, aged two.

Her mother, Marie Shaw, said Nancy’s whole family were delighted.

She said: “I was ecstatic when I found out. I told Nancy’s dad and texted her nana. We’re all pleased to bits.

“Nancy is really cheeky, always smiling and always laughing. We’re all dead happy about it.”

And in the three to five years category the winner was four-year-old Imogen Martin. Imogen’s mother, Sam Walker, said: “It’s just a nice thing to have. It was a nice surprise to get the notification she had won.

“When we told Imogen she was really happy. We did it for a keepsake to show her in years to come that she had been in the paper and its something to look forward to showing her when she’s older.”

The Northern Echo's editor Hannah Chapman said: "Congratulations to our three winners, and a big thank you to all those who entered the competition."