Help us to celebrate this city's unsung heroes

Hong Kong has many unsung heroes. The social worker who puts in a 12-hour day to provide support to underprivileged elderly people; our doctors and nurses; the hairdresser who offers free haircuts for those who can't afford one; the firefighters who put their lives at risk.

Through sheer tenacity, Tsang Tsz-kwan, who is blind, hearing-impaired and lacks sensitivity in her fingers, excelled in this year's Diploma of Secondary Education exams after learning to read Braille with her lips.

Today we tell the story of Hong Kong swimmer Aaron Zweig, 17, who last week returned from Jerusalem where he won medals at the "Jewish Olympics", the Maccabiah Games. Yet in 2004, Aaron was fighting for his life when a virus affected his heart. Complications led to his right leg being amputated.

As part of its Celebrating Hong Kong initiative, the South China Morning Post today launches The Spirit of Hong Kong Awards to celebrate such unsung heroes.

Over the next two months we would like nominations from you, our readers. There will be 11 awards, the first 10 all judged on the same criteria by our panel of judges, chaired by former chief secretary Sir David Akers-Jones. The awards can be given to one individual or a deserving team of individuals. The 11th award recipient will be voted for by you and called the Sino Spirit Award.

"This is our way of celebrating Hong Kong and engaging and thanking the Hong Kong community as we celebrate the South China Morning Post's 110th anniversary," said the Post's Editor-in-Chief Wang Xiangwei. "We hope the awards will bring out the best of Hong Kong at a time of economic and political uncertainty."