SHE'S The Journal's Liberty Belle! Little Liberty Jane Connell has scooped the top prize in our immensely-popular Child of the Year competition.

The 22-month-old bundle of fun, one of nearly 400 youngsters who took part, ran away with the title - chosen by readers.

And as the child under two who polled most votes, Leigh lass Liberty now goes on to the national finals of the Newsquest Media Group/Wellbeing competition. That carries a fabulous family holiday prize, £200 in spending money and a photo-shoot with renowned children's photographer Sandra Lousada.

DALE Turton stands alone as the girls take centre stage in our popular Child of the Year competition.

The lively six year-old, who hails from Leigh, was the only boy in the top six.

He collected a handsome share of the votes in our reader poll.

Our competition had two age groups (0-4 and 5-8) with three winners from both groups.

Second to Liberty in the younger age group was three-year-old Ebony Jane Gardner, of Leigh, while one-year-old Atherton cutie Olivia Rose Kesterton was third.

Our 5-8 winner was Atherton lass Emily Morgan, who is six.

In a close competition she finished just clear of Melissa Colgan, 5, of Atherton, with Dale in third place.

First prizes are 20"x16" framed portraits from PandA Photographic Services, Atherton.

The second prizewinners collect 14"x11" framed portraits and the third a 10"x8" framed portrait.

And all six winners will receive £20 shopping vouchers from Tesco at Crabtree Lane, Atherton.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.