The bonniest of them all is little Ella

Little Ella Connolly-Kirkbride is a very bonny baby indeed. And that's not just the opinion of her mum and dad: that's the opinion of the Westmeath Examiner readers who voted Ella tops in our Bonny Baby competition.Almost 60 babies were entered in the competition at the recent Mothers and Babies show at the Mullingar Park Hotel, and the public were given the chance to vote for their favourite baby using coupons printed in the Westmeath Examiner.Winning baby Ella is daughter of Stephanie Connolly and Garrett Kirkbride, Glenmore Wood. For Garrett's family - from Manchester - Ella is a first grandchild, while for Stephanie's parents, Helen and John Connolly of Newbrook Grove, she is a 26th grandchild!Stephanie, who works for the HSE at the Lough Sheever Centre at St Loman's Hospital, says Ella, although just eight months old, already loves music - and loves trying to dance. Garret is the manager of the Spar shop at Ardleigh.Ella loves getting her picture taken, and her favourite toy is her little bear, Missy; when she returned to the Westmeath Examiner offices last week to get her photograph taken, she was a big hit with the front office staff.As winner of the competition, Ella has won her parents studio time with John McCauley, one of Mullingar's premier photographers.The runner-up baby in the competition was Clíodhna Fitzpatrick, from Ranaghan, Castlepollard, daughter of Sinéad and Tommy Fitzpatrick.Dale Greenwood, Celtic Media Group group business manager, said: "We were delighted with the response to this competition - and so too were the parents, each of whom got a beautiful picture of their baby - completely free of charge."Such was the success of this year's competition that the Westmeath Examiner is already looking forward to making it an annual event.