Carol Vorderman and Ashley Banjo praise heroes of The Mirror's Pride of Britain Awards

Hosted by Carol Vorderman and Ashley Banjo, the 26th Pride of Britain awards will be a star-studded affair. But the real stars are the extraordinary winners, who represent the very best of everything British. And the winners are:

Personal trainer Javeno is transforming the lives of disabled, ill and elderly people with free sessions at his specially-equipped J7 Gym in Manchester - established in 2016.

Since he was 16, when he offered to train a boy in a wheelchair who was struggling in the gym, Javeno has been devoted to creating a friendly and inclusive place where people can improve their physical and mental health.

Javeno, 40, who has a dedicated section at J7 for everyone from elderly clients to cancer patients, stroke victims and people with dementia, said: “When you include people you empower them.”

Football coach Asha, 46, a mum-of-three, took a coaching course at Aston Villa wanting to use the sport to protect youngsters from gangs and give them opportunities.

And in 2016 she founded Dream Chasers FC in Small Heath, Birmingham, an area with one of the highest rates of knife crime in the country.

Now Dream Chasers is also a community hub, giving young people a safe space and opportunities and offering services like English lessons for migrant parents. It also has a Ladies’ Community Hub. Asha said: “Our work changes lives and that’s what keeps me doing what I do.”

Breast cancer survivor Leanne, 30, was 15 when she launched a community-focused dance company to help people facing challenges, saying dance saved her after experiencing childhood sexual abuse. The Movement Factory uses dance to help young people develop their physical and mental wellbeing in a safe community space.

Londoner Leanne, who got the cancer all clear in 2016, also started an award winning cancer support charity Black Women Rising, after realising the stigma existing around the disease in the Black community - raising over £1million to fund support and advice.

She said of surviving cancer: “The worst part of the journey was actually finishing treatment. Your healthcare team go away and you're sort of left.”

Marcus AKA The Hull Boy fought back from a suicide attempt, aged 15, and this year became the first under 18 to run the entire length of the UK - from Land’s End to John O’Groats - raising £164,560 for Mind.

Marcus was 12 when he became a carer for his dad, with dementia. But his own physical and mental health plummeted. He developed type 2 diabetes, depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and intrusive thoughts.

After hitting rock bottom, he started walking, then jogging.

In April 2024 he ran a mile a day, raising more than £8,000 for Mind - then raising £19,590 running a marathon.

Marcus documented his UK long run on social media, to inspire others, saying: “I promise you, every road may have speed bumps but you’ll get over them. Mental health is such a big thing.”

In September 2023, when Georgie, then 15, was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma - a rare cancer in the bones and soft tissue - she donated her tissue to Cancer Research, then raising more than £15,000 for hospitals and charities.

Throughout her treatment, which included 14 rounds of chemotherapy and 33 of radiation, Georgie gave out cards with kind and encouraging messages to fellow patients, known as ‘pocket hugs’ and even dressed up as Spider-Man to cheer up a four-year-old radiation patient.

Georgie, 17, of Androssan, Scotland, who has raised more than £55,000 for others, went into remission in July 2024, but the cancer returned earlier this year. She said: “I have lots of fundraising planned and lots to look forward to.”

Zach, 14, left with cerebral palsy and epilepsy after a brain injury at birth, raised money for the Epilepsy Society by walking laps of his garden in the 2020 lockdown.

But sick trolls bombarded him with flashing images to try and trigger a seizure, after the charity celebrated his challenge online. Undeterred, he successfully campaigned for legislation to protect people with epilepsy online.

And Zach’s Law was introduced across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in September 2023, making it a criminal offence to troll anyone with epilepsy to deliberately cause a seizure, carrying a maximum five year jail term.

Zach, who’s now raised more than £20,00 for the Epilepsy Society, has since launched a petition to make public transport more accessible for disabled people. He said: “I will carry on campaigning because I want to make a difference.”

Luke, 12, had all his limbs amputated after contracting meningococcal meningitis septicaemia in 2019 - spending six months in hospital and enduring 23 operations.

Now he’s raised thousands of pounds for children with disabilities, through fundraising feats like climbing 656ft in 2023 to the summit of Embsay Crag, near Skipton, raising more than £26,000.

In 2024, he climbed Pen-y-ghent with his mum Christine and brother Harry, 15, meeting his dad Adam and a team of 19, who were climbing the National Three Peaks and Yorkshire Three Peaks. They raised almost £20,000 to help fund prosthetics for Luke and help other child amputees.

He and his school friends then matched the 22 mile distance of an adult kayak challenge led by his dad, using rowing machines and treadmills, raising more than £7,500 of their £30,000 target. Luke said of his past ordeal: “You should concentrate on the future.”

Created by three music teachers at an additional needs school in 1995, the Ups & Downs theatre group based in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, is for young people with Down syndrome and their families.

Now led by Lorna Leggatt, whose son Ellis, 26, has been a member since he was five, Ups & Downs offers inclusive activities including music, dance and drama to around 70 members - who have Down’s syndrome or a sibling with the condition.

Lorna says of their annual week of sell-out concerts showcasing their talent: “The audience come thinking that they are just supporting a local charity but leave completely amazed and moved.”

His mother’s sudden death on Christmas Day saw Harry, then 11, spiral into truancy, mental health problems, addiction and homelessness.

At his lowest, Harry, 24, from Coventry, was helped by local homelessness charity St Basil’s and discovered The King’s Trust Get Started in Outdoor Leadership programme, delivered in partnership with Coventry Outdoors Education and Adventure Service.

Thriving in the outdoor environment, he landed a job with C.O.E.A.S. Now supporting young people facing difficulties, through outdoor activities, he aspires to run his own therapy-based coaching service.

He said: “I didn’t have many role models or access to the support I needed when I was younger. I’m passionate about getting up every morning and providing just that for the next generation.”

These police officers overcame sword wielding attacker Marcus Arduini Monzo, who had already murdered Daniel Anjorin, 14, on April 20, 2024, in Hainault, east London.

Drug-fuelled Monzo crashed a van into a house, hitting a pedestrian, before going on the rampage with a samurai-style sword.

PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield and PC Cameron King were the first police officers to confront Monzo, but he nearly severed PC Mechem-Whitfield’s hand.

Cornered on a driveway by other officers, with pepper spray proving ineffective, Inspector Moloy Campbell - who had rushed to the scene from his station's morning briefing and did not have his TASER - used his baton. But Monzo sliced through his body camera and his hand, almost severing his thumb.

Other officers subdued Monzo - who was later jailed for 40 years - with multiple TASER charges. Insp Campbell said: “When I challenged Mr Monzo, I knew it may be the last decision I would ever make.”

Horrified by images of suffering, in 1993 Sally Becker, an artist, went to war torn Bosnia to help. Tasked with taking aid to a hospital, she found herself evacuating sick and injured children in an old Bedford van.

She’s now devoted more than three decades to helping thousands of children in besieged areas, including Kosovo, Northern Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Gaza. She was shot by masked gunmen in Northern Albania and survived an attack by ISIS militants in Mosul.

In 2016 she founded Save a Child, a British charity providing medical treatment for children in conflict areas. And she later launched a mobile telemedicine programme connecting local doctors with a global network of paediatric specialists.

She said: “We have saved thousands of children in Afghanistan thanks to our pediatric experts in the UK and Sweden.”

Tune into the Daily Mirror's Pride of Britain Awards on Thursday October 24 at 8pm on ITV.