HAYLEY Sophia Button, the BEN'S Child of the Year for 1998, had another big date to keep - to collect her prizes.

The four-year-old from Sharples captured readers' hearts in the first year the competition was handed over to the public to judge.

Her prize included a £1,000 seven night holiday to the Algarve, courtesy of competition sponsors Aquasun and Sunworld Sky Bargains.

Her prize also included a trophy and £250 from the BEN plus an enlarged framed portrait by Manor, Kay & Foley.

More than 10,000 votes were sent in by readers in a staggering response to the BEN handing over the judging to its readers.

Scooping

Hayley was the overall winner out of 849 entries submitted.

She also won the three-to-seven-year age group category.

The other winners were little George Andrew Platt, from Radcliffe, who won the birth-to-two age category, with £200 cash and a portrait photograph as his prize.

And eight-year-old Scott Burns from Breightmet won the eight-to-12 age category, also scooping £200 cash and a portrait photograph.

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