At just five-years-old, Amyra Sheikh has completed an impressive six charity runs and raised a whopping £2,000 for charity.
She is determined to help those who are unwell or less fortunate than herself and recently ran to raise money for Children's Cancer North. Now the selfless schoolgirl has won a national award for her efforts at a special PAW Patrol awards ceremony in London.
The PAW Patrol Awards celebrates children around the UK who have overcome personal challenges, achieved amazing feats, and have shown outstanding bravery or kindness. Amyra, from Newcastle, was one of just six children to be honoured with an award following thousands of stories from families detailing the brave, brilliant and often moving accomplishments of their children.
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Attending the ceremony at London's Soho Hotel, Amyra scooped 'The Marshall Award for Community Hero'. Each award was named after one of the characters in the children's programme, Paw Patrol.
Her mum, Nazmin Akthar, said: "Amyra is only five years old so she naturally has a limited level of understanding of what poverty means, or about serious illnesses such as cancer. However, she knows enough to understand that those affected – and their loved ones - need our support.
"She has shown empathy and a desire to want to make things better and as adults, I feel we have a duty to encourage these values so that young children can grow up to make positive differences in the future. For me, the nominations themselves are an opportunity to encourage these behaviours.
"The PAW Patrol awards are also a way to raise awareness of issues and a way to encourage not only the winners but their peers too."
The event was held on October 8 and hosted by celebrity presenter, podcast host and mum-of-three Vogue Williams, who was joined by her own children and a host of celebrity families including Lauren Goodger, Shelby Tribble, Imogen Thomas and Patricia Bright.
Parenting site Netmums helped select six overall winners across the different categories, which included an award for kindness, courage, leadership and caring for the planet. Each category was based upon PAW Patrol characters' key character attributes of the popular.
In addition to a VIP trip to London, the winners were presented with their awards by their favourite Paw Patrol characters and were also gifted Paw Patrol toys and a ticket to Nickelodeon Land.
Nazmin said: "Whilst academic achievements are very important and should of course be celebrated, sometimes this can be at the expense of other equally important achievements and actions making a difference within our communities. It is very important to instil critical thinking and good citizenship in individuals from a young age and I was pleased to find that the PAW Patrol awards are focused on just that - promoting positive values and attributes such as leadership, courage and community spirit."
She added: "I was very impressed with how welcoming and accessible the award ceremony was for all; it was tailored to be suitable for children and it was clear that a lot of care had taken by the organisers to ensure families were as comfortable as possible.
"The sweetest moment for me was when Amyra ran to Skye to give her a hug after receiving her trophy – she was over the moon at being able to meet the PAW Patrol characters. It was also a very humbling experience to hear about all the winners and their very amazing achievements at such a young age.
"They are all incredibly inspiring and it gives me a lot of hope about the future of the world after seeing a group of such kind, courageous and caring heroes."
Alongside Amyra, the winners included five-year-old Hari, from Newham, London, who won The Rubble Award for Courage for showing tremendous courage in the face of the diagnosis and treatment of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. Hari has endured gruelling treatment for the last 18 months, during which he lost the ability to walk.
Through sheer determination he remarkably got back on his legs and is now a keen cyclist reaching the top of high hills.
Esme, aged four, from Pembroksehire, Wales, won The Skye Award for Kindness. Esme lives with a condition called Neurofibromatosis Type 1 and has decided to help people with similar conditions by fundraising over the last few years for Nervetumours UK via sponsored slides, pop up shops, raffles and even donations of her own items.
The Ryder Award for Sporting Achievement was won by four-year-old Milo from Northern Ireland, who has bravely overcome the physical restrictions of his Hypotonic Cerebral Palsy to win a running race at his nursery’s sports day! Milo's condition leaves him needing a wheelchair for longer distances, but after all his treatment was cancelled during covid, Milo's family took it upon themselves to create their own physiotherapy obstacle courses at home.
Milo bravely persevered and over time he learnt to stand, then walk and then to run.
The Chase Award for Leadership was won by nine-year-old Sennen from West Sussex, who has been raising money for brain tumour charities and helping to build awareness around brain tumours since her dad was diagnosed in 2018. At the age of five she organised a 32-person 2k fun run raising over £5,000 and more recently has introduced the annual "wear a hat day" at her school to raise further funds and awareness.
And finally, The Rocky Award for Caring for Our Planet was won by five-year-old Zakariya from Nottingham, who lives by Rocky's motto "Don’t lose it, reuse it!", often using left over items such as cardboard boxes to make new toys. He looks after the planet every day by helping to litter pick in his local community and reducing single-use plastic.
Speaking about the awards, Vogue Williams said: "It has been an honour to be involved in the PAW Patrol Awards this year. The children are truly inspirational and I’m so proud and humbled to be able to shine a spotlight on their achievements at this fantastic ceremony today."
Venetia Davie from Paramount said: "The 2022 PAW Patrol Award winners embody the bravery and sense of adventure of the characters that we all know and love from the show. It's an honour to be learn more about the special little heroes and to provide them with the recognition which they so deserve.
"Seeing the smiles on their faces and the sense of pride that both they and their families feel when they received their awards from their favourite PAW Patrol Pups today was magical!"
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