On the shortlist in the category of 'registered childminder for less than five years' are Jacqueline Deacon of Southend-on-Sea, Helen Benzie of Melton Mowbray, Susan Cox of Isleworth, Carol Anne Moore of Great Missenden, Joanne Cole of Stockton-on-Tees, Marie Gamble of Toxteth, Liverpool, Mary Goodger of Sittingbourne, Alison Emsley of Stoke Gifford, Bristol, Sian Cook of Haverfordwest, Linda Pavey of Burton-on-Trent and Janet Cross of Leeds.
Those in the 'over five years as a registered childminder' category are Patricia Heard of Tolleshunt D'arcy in Essex, Jane Dougill of Northampton, Angeline Cassell of Forest Gate, London, Jenny Ellis of Stevenage, Carolyn Hurst of Boarshaw, Manchester, Denise Penhallurick, Old Woking, Shirley Kent of Bodmin, Karen Moore of Welshpool, Jacqui Courtney of Nuneaton, and Susan Robson of Darley, North Yorkshire.
The winners, who will attend a ceremony in London on 14 February, will receive 1,000 and the parents who nominated them will receive 150.
