Our Baby of the Year competition gets under way today

The Express & Star has launched its Baby and Toddler of the Year contest and today parents are being given the first chance to have their youngster’s picture taken by our official photographer.

Entry is free and open to parents/guardians within the E&S circulation area with a child aged five or under.

Our photographer will be at intu Merry Hill between 9.30am and 4.30pm from Monday, July 23, until Saturday, July 28, and from 10.30am until 4pm on Sunday, July 29. They will be near Debenhams in the Lower Mall and the last photo will be taken at 4.15pm Monday to Saturday and 3.45pm on Sunday.

People can take their children to be photographed at the Mander Centre in Wolverhampton between 9.30am and 4.30pm between Monday, July 30, and Saturday, August 4. The photographer will be in the lower mall by the former BHS store.

Parents can bring along their children along to be photographed by our professional photographer with vast experience of capturing the perfect smile and will then be invited back to choose the best picture to appear in for the supplement. If they cannot attend to choose, one will be selected for them.

The children will be split into four age categories; 0-9 months, 10-18 months, 19-35 months and 3-5 years. Readers will be invited to vote for their favourit e picture and decide who they think is the area’s cutest baby or toddler. There will be a winner in all brackets, with a £500 for prize for each category and extra £250 for the the overall winner. To vote, simply choose your favourite from all the entries.

The photographs will also be featured in the Express & Star on Wednesday, September 12 and on the website.

Once you’ve chosen, picked your winner,cut out the special vote tokens which will be printed each day in the Express & Star newspaper until October 13 and complete a Voting Tokens Return Form. The deadline for returning tokens is October 19.

• Find out more by visiting www.baby.expressandstar.com