The South Tyneside '12-year-old who sang to 200 people to help needy families have more food

Savannah Boak, 12, from Jarrow, performed to help raise money for families around Jarrow and Hebburn to have extra meals during the 6 weeks holidays .

She had to sing in front of a packed audience of 200 people in Hebburn along with other performers.

But thanks to their efforts, more than £1,300 was raised and now Savannah is hoping to add to her repertoire of successes by winning a Best of South Tyneside award.

Mum Stephanie, 40, nominated her for the Young Performer of the Year category and said: “She has a real passion for singing and enjoys performing as often as she can. She loves to sing Country and pop music.”

She said Savannah, who goes to Jarrow School, was ‘very excited’ when mum told her she had been nominated.

Savannah has never entered the competition before but Stephanie added: “As well as singing solo she sings as part of The Unstoppable Choir and was lucky enough to perform at the Metro Radio Arena last December supporting Channy Thompson.

“She also sings alongside her sister Sheridan and they have both recently performed at The Customs House as part of the South Tyneside’s Got Talent – Unsung Heroes night.”

Savannah joins a growing list of entries in this year’s awards but we want more.

We want to know about the unsung heroes, community champions, inspirational children and fantastic sports people for this year’s awards which will be taking nominations until Friday, August 30.

That’s loads of time to put forward your favourites – and once we pass that deadline, the judges will meet to draw up a shortlist in each amazing category on September 3.

Then it is on to the grand finale which will be held on Thursday, September 19 at the Roker Hotel.

The Best of South Tyneside awards, this year, have the support of Sunderland and South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust, Tyne Coast College, Barbour, JML, Harlow Print, UTS, and Warmseal.

Watch out for more details on them in the days and weeks to come.

In the meantime, let’s start that process of honouring all those unsung stars.

There are plenty of categories to choose from.

Get your nomination in as soon as you can as that way, you know you’ve put an unsung hero in the running for honours.

To nominate, please send us the full name, phone number and email address, of the person you wish to nominate and the category you want to nominate them for, along with a brief description of why they are worthy of an award.

And if you are submitting an entry in the Young Performer category, send us a video of them performing.

Send your entries by email to: [email protected] or to https://www.bestofsouthtyneside.co.uk.

THE CATEGORIES.

Green Champion of the Year.

Child of Achievement.

Fundraiser of the Year.

Entrepreneur of the Year.

Local Hero Award.

Sporting Excellence/Young Sportsperson of the Year.

Sports Team of the Year.

Community Champion.

Student of the Year.

Community Group.

Small Business of the Year.

Large Business of the Year.

Child of Courage

Young Performer of the Year.

Lifetime Contribution.

Special Recognition.