Prizes presented to winners of the Grantham Journal Cute Kids 2023 competition

Canvases featuring the faces of Grantham’s cutest kids have been handed over as prizes to their adoring parents.

The youngsters were entered into the Journal’s Cute Kids competition earlier this year.

Their pictures were taken in Grantham clothing store Matalan by photographer Andy Nield, of The Photography Company.

Pictures were published in the Journal and readers were asked to vote for their favourites.

We announced the winners last month as Ophelia-Alice Lebedeva in first place, with a prize of a 20ins x 16ins canvas of the winning picture.

The second place prize of a 16ins x 12ins canvas went to Nell Overton and in third place, winning a 12ins x 8ins canvas, was Hudson Spencer.

Ophelia-Alice’s mum, Emma Goodson, said: “Ophelia-Alice’s dad, me and our families feel so proud of her for winning.

“She’s our little beauty and we are grateful to everyone who voted for her.”

Nell’s mum, Taylor Overton, said she was “totally surprised at first”.

She added: “As a mother, you always think your own child is beautiful but it was so lovely to see that other people thought she was cute, too!

“My husband and I are very proud parents and look forward to watching Nell grow and thrive.”

Hudson collected his prize with mum Bianca Spencer and dad Joe Spencer.

Joe said: “It feels fantastic and really great to win the canvas. It was a nice surprise.

“Next year we will try for number one.”

Congratulations to all three of our Cute Kids 2023.