We’re all set to honour the real heroes

It promises to be an amazing evening of drama, tears and lots of cheers as the Best of Wearside Awards reach their grand finale.

We’ll be there to bring you all the latest developments from the ceremony at the Stadium of Light.

There are 11 categories covering everything from the ever-popular Fundraiser of the Year section to the Community Champion.

There will be high emotion as we hear the amazing stories of all the children in the Child of Courage category.

There’s awards to be handed out for our Local Hero, Green Champion, Volunteer of the Year, Sporting Achievement winner and Community Group of the Year.

Watch out too for the announcement of our Child of Achievement winner and our Student of the Year.

And on top of all of that, we are expecting some amazing surprises on a night when emotions are bound to run high.

The event is made possible thanks to our incredible backers. They are headline sponsor BGL Group, partner sponsor Gentoo and category sponsors Stagecoach, Calsonic Kansei, Audi, and Northern.

The Stadium of Ligh is the venue and it has been a magnificent backer of the competition for years.

We will have a reporting team there to bring you all the latest developments on social media tonight. Why not keep up with the action on the Sunderland Echo Facebook page as well as by following us on Twitter, using the hashtag #Echobest.

And watch out for a further report on all the winners in tomorrow’s Sunderland Echo, with the first photographs from the night.

The coverage does not end there either.

Make sure you order a copy of a special supplement - filled with interviews, more photographs and lots more reaction to the awards.

It will appear in the Sunderland Echo on Wednesday, April 3.

Tonight promises to be a night to remember - a night when heroes from across Wearside and County Durham get the praise they truly deserve.