The Croydon Guardian is calling on schools, colleges and youth groups to nominate the best of the borough’s youngsters for a Croydon Champions award.

The awards celebrate the everyday heroes who do extraordinary things, often with no, or very little, recognition.

This year, we would like to concentrate on the youth of the borough, who are often portrayed in a negative light.

We want to hear about the young people making a real contribution to their communities.

One of last year’s winners was campaigner Eliza Rebeiro. At just 14 years old she launched her Lives not Knives campaign after becoming appalled by the number of people she knew who had been stabbed or were carrying knives.

The teenager has been organising events and talking to school-children across the borough to discourage them from joining gangs.

Her Champions citation read: “Her role within the community and the message she is spreading has been inspirational. The events she has helped organise addressed very serious issues to some of this country’s senior policy makers.”

Sporting hero Bradley Ellis was a runner-up in the Sports Champion award.

He started his racing career age 10, and in his first year karting became a champion at club level and often used the playground of Hamsey Green Junior School for photoshoots.

Since then he has gone from strength to strength, winning the 2007 British GT Championship and vying for last year’s title.

Another Croydon Champions was the inspirational Adeola Kasali.

The 17-year-old suffers from sickle cell anaemia, a genetic condition which can cause extreme pain and permanent damage to organs due to a problem with red blood cells.

Adeola has had an arduous childhood while his friends enjoyed a normal life, battling strokes, brain haemorrhages and falling into a coma in 2002 after a severe chest infection.

His mother Temitope, proudly speaks about her fighter who never gives up.

These enterprising and inspirational youths impressed with their courage, ambition and dedication to their local communities.

Now we are on the hunt for more of Croydon’s young champions and throughout the year we will feature nominees, who will then be invited to an awards ceremony later in the year.

If you know of someone who fits the bill, nominate them using the form in this paper or online at croydonguardian.co.uk/champions.

We will be at the Whitgift Centre on Thursday from 10am to 3pm for the first Champions’ Roadshow, so come and sign someone up.