In February 2009 nominations were open to find Australia’s first ever “local premmie heroes”. The awards were created by parents of premature babies as a way to pay tribute and thank the amazing Australian’s who volunteer their time supporting families after the birth of their premature children.

After many nominations and a hard task ahead we are thrilled to announce the winners of L’il Aussie Prems “Local Premmie Hero Awards”.

We wish to thank everyone who was nominated for their hard work and hope you continue to support our families. With your help the NICU/SCN journey is that much easier.

This years winner is Sophie Smith. Sophie is the mum of triplet sons Henry, Jasper and Evan born prematurely in 2006 and who sadly lost their fight for life. To honour their memory Sophie and her husband Ash have together raised more than $250,000 to purchase life saving humidicribs for the Royal Hospital for Women in Randwick.

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 for over 17 years.

To read these amazing stories please visit our winners page