Prime Minister praises South Shields schoolboy who walked 100 miles

The South Shields nine-year-old never stops thinking of ways he can help the environment.

On his last birthday he got all of his family together to clean up Shields beach instead of having a party.

Before that, he did the Great British Spring Clean. Mum Natasha said: “He organised a big clean-up of our local dene and even got our councillors involved. “

On top of all that, he goes out litter picking most nights after school to keep his community litter free.

Natasha added: “He has organised several litter picks near where he lives. He is in the process of making ecobricks with unrecycleable plastics to keep it from going to landfill. He has even got a letter from the Prime Minister thanking him for his efforts.”

Natasha added: “He does all of this because he loves where he lives and cares about the environment. I think he is a great role model to all adults and children.”

But Daniel is no stranger to helping worthy causes.

Last year, he walked 100 miles for Sport Relief and that was when Britain was being battered by the Beast from the East.

He adopts an animal each year for Christmas and has been organising fundraising events since he was four.

All this has put Daniel in the running for a Best of South Tyneside Award and he joined a fast-growing list of entries. But we want more.

This year’s awards 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.

We will have much more on the finer detail of this year’s awards in the weeks to come.

But the most important thing for now is for you to get those entries in – and it is you the reader who can make all the difference.

We want you to get involved. You can do that by putting forward nominations for everything from sports team of the year to entrepreneur of the year, and community group to fundraiser.

The finale promises to be a fantastic occasion and we can look forward to it with the backing of a string of fantastic backers.

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.

To nominate, send your entries by email to: [email protected].

There are plenty of categories to choose from in this year’s Best of South Tyneside competition.

So take a look through and decide which one applies to your own favourite - and then be sure to nominate them using the nomination details elsewhere on the page.

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.

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.