The Local Premmie Hero awards are the brainchild of the L'il Aussie Prems online support website and are proudly sponsored by L'il Aussie Prems and Practical Parenting magazine, and supported by Bub Hub.

"It is an honour for us, as a community of parents, to be able to pay tribute to those people who go out of their way to make things easier for families travelling the often difficult road that premature birth can bring." said Julia Toivonen, founder of the L'il Aussie Prems website and mother of two premature babies.

"All the nominees were inspirational which made the judges decision that much harder but the 3 winners for 2009 have achieved so much and we can't wait for next year's awards," said Julia.

Sophie Smith is now being acclaimed as the winning nominee in the inaugural Local Premmie Hero awards - Australia's first award to publicly recognise and honour the kindness and hard work of individual volunteers within the local premature baby community. These ordinary yet extraordinary people make a huge difference to the lives of families dealing with the challenges that come when their child is born too early, both during their hospital stay and beyond.

Awards were also presented to Karen Cuthbert, who lovingly sews tiny clothes for the smallest premature babies and gives them away to families around Australia, and Julie Clarke, who has been instrumental in founding support groups for parents of premature babies and helping other parents to do the same. 

Sophie Smith is an inspirational mother. After enduring the enormous personal tragedy of losing her three sons who were born prematurely in 2006, she set out to honour their memory by running a half marathon. Her aim was to raise enough money to enable the Royal Women's Hospital in Randwick to purchase a single life-saving state-of-the-art humidicrib.

Sophie's mission touched a chord and motivated so many people that in the last two years she, her husband Ash and their team of runners have raised over $250,000, enough to buy not just one but ten humidicribs, ensuring that many of Sydney's tiniest and most fragile babies will benefit from this mother's compassion for years to come.

Sophie is now being acclaimed as the winning nominee in the inaugural Local Premmie Hero awards - Australia's first award to publicly recognise and honour the kindness and hard work of individual volunteers within the local premature baby community. These ordinary yet extraordinary people make a huge difference to the lives of families dealing with the challenges that come when their child is born too early, both during their hospital stay and beyond.

Karen Cuthbert is no ordinary mum. As well as caring for her own six young children, the tireless Karen also finds time to sew exquisite little gowns and blankets for the benefit of some of Australia's most premature babies.

Karen's sewing machine produces a never-ending stream of beautiful garments in the most cheerful fabrics she can find, designed to meet the needs of babies in intensive care and warm the hearts of those who care for them. Since Karen started sewing her little garments she has donated more than 220 gowns across Australia.

Karen sends her gifts of love to families across Australia, most of whom she will never have the opportunity to meet. Her thoughtfulness and generosity have lead to her recently being nominated for a "Local Premmie Hero" award by one of the many people touched by her kindness. Karen shyly comments "I know what it is like to have a child in hospital, and I am more than happy to send families a gift and bring a smile to the faces of those with sick and premature babies around the country."

Julie Clarke has a premature son who was born at 27 weeks in York, England, 25 years ago. She realised that there was no support available and soon started a support group. This group is going very strong today and Julie and her husband attended the group's 25th anniversary ball last year.

Upon moving to Australia, Julie found that there were no support groups in NSW and approached the Director of Nepean NICU (her local Hospital) to ask if they would support the idea. Julie lead a small founding committee of 6 NICU parents and Nepean Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Parents' Support Inc was formed in 1992.

Julie has worked tirelessly over the last 17 years and has always been involved, many of those years as President. Julie has been (and still is) a mentor to NNICUPS Parent Support Team. She trains new members to the Support Team and is always available to offer advice should a difficult situation arise.

Her second goal is to fundraise for the NICU and over the years, the Committee has raised about half a million dollars. The most amazing thing about this is that Julie is involved in everything that the Committee decide to do. No matter what the activity, she is the first to volunteer. She is truly passionate about helping others and making a difference.

Another major achievement of Julie's is initiating the construction of "Hope Cottage" which is a home away from home for country NICU parents. Julie has helped thousands of people throughout NSW (and, of course, in England). She has started a legacy but she does not want any fanfare or attention and she is a local hero!!