THE votes are in and the public have spoken, your childcare educator finalists will go into a final poll to decide who is the best in the North Burnett region.

Out of seven nominees, three passionate and caring individuals have come out on top, through votes cast last week by our readers.

The hunt for the overall winner is almost over as we ask our readers to cast their final votes for their favourite childcare worker in the poll below.

Make sure to cast your votes soon as this poll will close at 9am on Friday, November 20.

VOTE HERE:

The Central and North Burnett Times spoke to the three finalists on why they believe they were nominated and why they love their role within their local community.

Take a look at what they had to say and cast your votes below:

Paula Hawkins - Mundubbera Family Daycare

Running her daycare business from home in Mundubbera, Paula Hawkins has been a childcare worker for nearly 20 years and has been doing family daycare for over two years now.

Ms Hawkins said she aims to provide a safe and secure educational program for the children and her efforts have been reflected in the number of votes she received.

"I've been doing it for years and built up a reputation with the families and the kids in the area," Ms Hawkins said.

When asked why she loves her job, Ms Hawkins said she enjoys the connection she makes with each child.

"I love helping children shape their future to be doing the right things and educating them," she said.

"Not just educating them on reading and writing, but life skills and things they will use in life later on."

Ms Hawkins said she receives messages from children she has looked after in the past, who are now 18 or older.

"They were actually texting me over the time saying 'Ms Paula, we saw you on the poll and voted for you,'" she said.

"They bring back memories to me saying 'remember when you did this, that taught me how to deal with this later in life.'

"It does have an influence on their life afterwards, it's not just during time in childcare."

Ms Hawkins points out that childcare educators do not get enough recognition on an everyday basis.

"There's a lot of educators out there that really deserve recognition as well," she said.

Taryn McCarthy - Director of Gayndah Early Learning Centre

Becoming one of the youngest directors ever at Gayndah Early Learning Centre, Taryn McCarthy said she has only been working there for just over a year.

"It was a couple of my friends that nominated me," Ms McCarthy said.

"I've sort of achieved this spot in just under a year."

Ms McCarthy said she "absolutely" loves her job as a childcare educator.

"Just watching the kids grow developmentally and physically and watching them achieve every day, learning new things every day," she said.

Becoming a babysitter during the school holidays as a teenager, Ms McCarthy said her love for children stems from her younger years.

"I've sort of just grown into it and thought this job is for me and I continued with it," she said.

"Everywhere I go, kids always seem to say hello to me, I must be a friendly face,"

Deb Crawford - Mundubbera Family Daycare

Deb Crawford is another nominee who runs her own business through Mundubbera Family Daycare, but rents a separate house for the childcare centre.

"I've always had a love and passion for children," Ms Crawford said.

Only recently starting up in the last six months, Ms Crawford moved over from aged care work.

"Just needed a change and I've always loved children so I thought, why not," she said.

Ms Crawford said he favourite part about running her own daycare is being able to play with the children and observe their development.

"Watching them grow and learn and having fun basically," she said.