THESE are the top 10 beautiful babies in the 0-9 months age category that readers voted for in their thousands in the Worcester News Baby of the Year 2005 competition.

Their proud parents will now be eagerly waiting for the nail-biting presentation ceremony to discover if their baby has won the prestigious title and some top prizes.

A staggering 49,079 votes were counted for this year's competition, smashing last year's haul of 25,000.

Readers will be able to see the top 10 in the 10-18 months category in tomorrow's paper and the finalists in the 19-36 months group on Wednesday. A panel of judges has the hard task of whittling these down to one winner and two runners-up in each category.

The baby who captures the judges' hearts will be crowned Baby of the Year 2005.

Last year, Freya Spain fought off the competition to win the title and the 19-36 months group.

Parents Maria and Jonathan Spain, of Attwood Place, Warndon Villages, Worcester, said the three-year-old's 'all round cuteness' won it for her.

The prizes this year are bigger and better than ever before.