A stepmother who pledged to care for two children as if they were her own has won a Mother of the Year award.

Whitney Roach won the The Continental Society of Bermuda competition after her 7-year-old stepdaughter Vida Roach wrote an essay on why her "bonus parent“ should get the accolade.

Vida, a Primary 3 pupil at Victor Scott Primary School, Pembroke, wrote: “When I was younger, my mom moved to England and from the time my dad met my now step-mom she has looked after me like I am her own.

“When she moved in with us, she would watch me while my dad worked, take me to church and come to all my events.

I know who my mom is, so after she moved in I started to call her ’munchkin’.”

Vida wrote that Ms Roach had later married her father and at the wedding she called Vida and her brother to the front and promised to care for them.

Vida added: “She did not go to the hospital to have me but she loves me like she did, she cares about me like she did, she made a choice to love my dad, brother and me and I think she deserves this reward.”

Ms Roach said she was “excited and overjoyed” to win the award.

She added: “It definitely affirmed that I was doing the right thing in my walk as a ’bonus parent’.”

Ms Roach thanked Vida for her praise and her husband for choosing her to be a part of his children's lives.

Step-mom and daughter were given gifts at Victor Scott’s virtual assembly yesterday morning to mark the win.

The Continental Society is an international service organisation set up to promote the welfare of children.