Prince Harry joined a host of celebrities to recognise the courage of children coping with serious illness or complex conditions at the fifth annual WellChild Awards last night.

Also honoured at the prestigious, ceremony run by WellChild – the national charity for sick children - are dedicated doctors, nurses, teachers, brothers and sisters who have gone the extra mile to make a difference to the lives of sick children.

With hundreds of nominations received from across the country, the difficult job of choosing winners is given, each year, to a panel of judges.

That panel consisted of members of parliament, leading health professionals and others with an interest in children’s health, such as Joanne Bannatyne – mother of two and wife of WellChild Patron, and benefactor, Duncan Bannatyne who has also attended the past two Awards ceremonies.

WellChild’s Director of Programmes, Linda Partridge, is also a member of that panel. She explained: “This year we have received hundreds of incredible nominations with amazing stories of bravery and moving accounts of care and support."

This year’s winners in the Bravest Children categories are:

• Alex Burke (aged six) from Manchester who doesn’t dwell on the speech and learning problems caused by having a condition where tumours grow on nerves in his body, but remains cheerful and is always thinking of other people.

• Aimee Humphries from Bristol who was an inspiration to everyone showing amazing willpower through the challenges and setbacks of her tough treatment regime in battling against a rare genetic condition, Nieman Pick Type C, and unrelated liver cancer. Aimee died in September 2009 aged five.

• Kelsey Trevett (aged seven) from Watford who has an amazingly positive attitude and determination to get on with life as normal, despite losing the sight in both his eyes following repeat cases of cancer of the eye.

• Alexandra Emery from Coventry who bravely dealt with a degenerative neurological condition - constantly smiling, never complaining and determined to engage with life as fully as possible. Sadly Alexandra passed away in July 2009 aged eight, only weeks after learning about her Award.

• Keir Mills-Watt (aged nine) from Stirlingshire, whose positive and cheery outlook makes him a constant source of inspiration to everyone who meets him and helps him face the pain and many challenges caused by Cerebral Palsy and Dystonia.

• Jessica Redfearn (aged 11) from Ashford, Kent who fought back when a stroke at the age of nine left her unable to walk or talk and now works hard raising awareness about strokes in children.

• Lyndon Longhorne (aged 13) from County Durham, a true fighter, who doesn’t let anything get in the way of his ‘can-do’ attitude – not even the fact that doctors had to amputate part of both his legs and hands to save him from a near fatal bout of meningococcal septicaemia as a baby.

• Shelbi Grist (aged 15) from Portsmouth who has had many complex medical problems since birth but always puts other first and strives towards her dream representing her country in wheelchair basketball.

• Brett Glover (aged 18) from Cheshire, who despite living with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, uses his great sense of humour to support his family and to help other young people face painful medical procedures with the same courage and spirit as he has.

• Christian Smalley (aged 19) from Northamptonshire, who bounces back again and again from serious illness as a result of having Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy, always smiling and looking out for others.

Two other young people, Lucy Tutton (aged eight) from Bristol and Ashley Oldham (aged 15) from Manchester, will also receive awards for being outstanding carers to their seriously ill brothers and sisters.

Winners in the adult and professional categories are:

• Best Nurse, Heather Carrick from Glasgow

• The Best Medical Team, Kings College Hospital Limb Reconstruction Unit from London

• Best Doctor, Dr Ed Wraith from Manchester

• Best Community Practitioner, Julie Chambers from Northern Ireland

• Best Allied Health Professional, social worker Gemma Downes from Oxford

• Best School Professional, Irene Renwick from Edinburgh.