Following the huge success of last year’s Bonniest Baby photo competition in which 330 babies delighted our readers, it’s on again, and this year there will also be a Sponsors’ Choice category.

In Sponsors’ Choice, our sponsors who provided the prizes will independently vote for who they think is the cutest bub and the winner will receive a trophy and prize.

The Bonniest Baby photo competition will run throughout the next few weeks, with the first photographic sessions to begin next week.

Just bring your baby in to our Gazette office at 291 Windsor Street, Richmond to be photographed by Kylie Pitt, pay $3 entry fee and fill out an entry form. You will receive a free copy of the photo when they are processed. Only photos taken by The Gazette can be used in the competition.

All entry fees will go to Hawkesbury Hospital’s maternity ward. The Gazette hopes to raise $1000 for a pulse oxymeter used to measure the oxygen saturation of mothers’ blood after they have had a caesarean. From last year’s competition fees The Gazette gave a cheque to the hospital for $1000 for an oxygen analyser.

There will be four heats, with the first crop of babies in The Gazette of November 7, then November 14, 21 and 28. The 12 finalists will be published on December 5, with the grand winner and Sponsors’ Choice babies being announced on December 12.

There will be great prizes each week and the grand winner will receive a trophy, a $250 voucher to spend at Bubs and Tots in Windsor and a $100 account from Sydney Credit Union. Weekly prize sponsors include $100 vouchers from Richmond businesses Bonnie Boutique and Everything Baby.

So bring your baby along to the first session next week or one of the sessions in the following three weeks. The Gazette would recommend mothers try to come the first or second week, as the last two weeks of photographic sessions were very crowded last year.

A voting form will be published in each week’s Gazette for you to vote for your favourite baby for that week. You can vote as many times as you like, but all vote forms must be originals from a Gazette. First, second and third winners will be decided by number of votes received.

And one lucky voter will receive $100 courtesy of The Gazette, so it’s not just the babies who benefit!

Photographic sessions at The Gazette office, 291 Windsor Street, Richmond will be held on Wednesday, October 31 from 2-4pm and Firday, November 2 from 9-11am. No need to book, just show up.