Peter Willis, Chairman Peter founded the Pride of Britain Awards in 1999 and has run it ever since.
Mark Austin The Emmy-award winning journalist is ITV's mean news anchorman after joining ITN in 1986 and specialising in foreign affairs.
Sarah Brown As well as being wife of the British Prime Minister, Sarah is an author who is involved in many charities for children, women and families.
Simon Cowell The hugely successful music mogul, who is now internationally famous as a television personality, is patron of the charity Against Breast Cancer.
Sir Terry Leahy As one of the country's most successful businessmen, the Tesco chief executive has developed the UK's top retailer into a global brand. He joined the company as a marketing executive in 1979.
Orin Lewis and Beverley De Gale The couple won a Pride of Britain award in 2006 for saving lives by founding an organisation, the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust, to find vital black donors for bone marrow transplants.
Dr Hamish Meldrum The Chairman of the British Medical Association, who was elected to his post in June 2007, is a GP from East Yorkshire.
Fiona Phillips The journalist and broadcaster is the main presenter on GMTV. She raises money for Alzheimer's charities after her mother died of the disease.
John Terry Captain of England and Chelsea, John is one of the best defenders in the world. He's pledged to donate all his England match fees to charity.
Michael Todd The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester joined the police force in 1976. He is also Vice President of the Association of Chief Police Officers.
Richard Wallace Richard has been editor of the Daily Mirror since 2004. He was GQ Editor of The Year in 2006.
Sandra Walton Sandra was Pride of Britain Teacher of 2002 for turning around one of the worst performing schools in the country.
Juging day
Simon Cowell exhaled deeply and shook his head in disbelief. "It's just incredible," he said. The prolific music producer - who is never usually lost for words when he appears on TV - was almost speechless at the judging panel for Pride Of Britain 2007. The person who succeeded in silencing the infamous critic was hearing details about one of the finalists. At just 12-years-old, Robert Dunn saved his entire family from a crazed knifeman by holding a door shut while the man hacked through it with a meat cleaver. "It was like something out of a horror film. I can't believe he's only 12," Simon added.
Meanwhile, fellow judge, England and Chelsea football captain John Terry, was bowled over by 15-year-old Megan Blunt's courage in overcoming cancer and writing a book to help other young people. "To know you only have a 50 per cent chance of survival, but refuse to give up is remarkable enough," said John. "To actually try to make things better for other people is just amazing." Simon and John were two of the judges who were humbled by the difficult task of selecting the 2007 winners.
The panel sat at the Dorchester Hotel in London in August 2007 to decide on the majority of awards. They made their decision from a shortlist of entries. Our research team had spent months assessing around 25,000 stories, which included nominations from the public, charities, the emergency services and the Ministry of Defence together with stories during the previous year in national and local press.
A number of awards were not decided by the national judging committee. GMTV viewers and Mirror readers voted online for the GMTV Emergency Services winner. The ITV Carer Of The Year was decided by a public phone poll in each region before the national judging committee chose the overall winner. Also, the Prince's Trust Young Achiever award is selected by the Trust's own judging panel, which is chaired by their chief executive, Martina Milburn.
Two categories - Inspiring Personality Lewis Hamilton and JK Rowling's Special Recognition award - were voted for by readers of the Mirror. GMTV's Fiona Phillips, who has been involved with the awards for five years, said, "I always think, ‘Surely it can't be as good', but every year I'm amazed all over again." Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy summed up the ethos of the awards. "It's about ordinary people who make quiet contributions," he said. Simon Cowell added, "It's certainly a refreshing change from pampered celebrity award shows."
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