WHEN Natasha Stones entered her daughter Nikita-Louise into the 2014 Bonds Baby Search competition she never dreamed her little girl would win.
But that is exactly what the three-year-old from Munruben did last week, taking out the people's choice award in the three to five years category of the competition.
Nikita-Louise was just one of 16 winners in the nationwide competition, which attracted 63,000 entries.
Ms Stones said she was blown away when she found out her beautiful daughter had won.
However her happiness was momentarily dampened when she heard about and saw on the contest's Facebook page the nasty comments some parents had made about her daughter.
Nikita-Louise has Down syndrome and was one of two babies with Down syndrome to win.
Ms Stones said comments made about how her child looked and why she should not have won were shocking and cruel, but had only made her more determined to create awareness and educate people about Down Syndrome.
A friend of Ms Stones', in response to the criticisms, posted on Facebook a photo of Nikita with the words "Yes I have Down Syndrome and I won baby bonds search 2014 so what if I have an extra chromosome", which was shared more than 1000 times in 24 hours.
"I have had so many messages of support from around the world. It's great to know there are a lot more lovers than haters out there," Ms Stones said.
"The sky is the limit for what Nikita can achieve. Her win is a fantastic opportunity to show that not everybody is the same, there is not only one form of beauty and no-one should be bullied or discriminated against.
"I worry a lot about how the world will perceive Nikita in the future, how she will go with schooling and if she will be able to live a normal life, so for her to be accepted not only by friends of mine on Facebook but also Australia is a huge blessing."
For winning the contest Nikita-Louise received a $300 Bonds baby voucher and a trip to Melbourne next month, for a photo shoot with the other winners for advertisements in stores and catalogues.
