HER smile melted the hearts of our panel of judges and it hasn’t changed a bit.

Megan Lamb is still the apple of her parents’ eye and has blossomed since she won the Child of the Year crown in 2005. She walked away with the title after wowing judges with her big brown eyes and beaming smile.

Megan, who attends Foxhills Junior School, Ashurst, scooped the title on the day she turned two, beating more than 700 entries.

Parents Samantha and Brian are as proud today as they were nine years ago when they got the call to say she had won.

Samantha, from Totton, said: “We were just so proud of her. Really ecstatic, I couldn’t believe it.”

Now Megan is a bonny ten- year-old and on the verge of going to secondary school in September.

Now the search is gearing up to find this year’s winner.

Next month we will be launching this year’s competition to find our Child of the Year 2014. This year’s trophy is of special significance as it marks the 20th year of the compettion being sponsored by the Marlands shopping centre in Southampton.

That is where our bonnie babies and gorgeous toddlers will gather to take part in a series of photographic sittings where the winning portrait will be captured.

After that the vote is thrown open to the public to vote for their favourite which will give our panel of judges a shortlist of finalists from which they have to choose the winner.

Our winning child will not only be crowned the Child of the Year but will also win vouchers to spend in the stores at the popular shopping centre.