CANCER Research UK has launched its annual Little Star Awards across the North-East.

Relatives and friends of young cancer patients or survivors from across the region who deserve special recognition are being urged to nominate their Little Stars in the run up to Christmas.

The announcement of the awards, in partnership with fashion retailer TK Maxx and backed by stars including Wayne Rooney, coincides with the release of new figures which show that more youngsters are surviving the disease.

During the last 40 years over 15,000 more children in Britain have beaten cancer than would have done if survival had remained the same as in the 1970s.

Thanks to research and improved treatments, overall survival has doubled in the last 40 years and three-quarters of children with cancer are now cured compared to only a quarter in the early 1970s.

Last year 19 children in the North-East received a Little Star Award. Recipients get a trophy, a £50 TK Maxx gift card and a certificate signed by celebrities.

Sixty-five children are diagnosed with cancer every year in the North-East but the figures released today underline there is hope for the future.

Survival for leukaemia in particular has risen from 33 per cent to more than 85 per cent of children in Britain surviving for at least five years.

Cancer Research UK scientists at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research in Newcastle are investigating the rogue cells that fuel acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), the most common type of childhood cancer, one of 21 research centres funded by the charity.

TK Maxx has raised £13.2m for the charity since 2004.

The Little Star Awards are open to all under-18s who have cancer or who have been treated for the disease in the last five years.

To nominate a Little Star visit cruk.org/littlestar