Teenager Samina Bashir has been nominated for the Best Future Citizen award for her commitment to helping young people stay on the straight and narrow in the Great Horton area of the city.

The 14-year-old, of Great Horton Road, is described as an “outstanding person” and a “hero” who has helped a lot of young people in her school and in her community.

She is well-respected for her personal touch, steering her peers away from vices such as smoking and anti-social behaviour.

According to her nomination, she has confronted gangs of youths and has made a “big difference to loads of people’s lives”.

On hearing his daughter was in the running for the award, Samina’s father Mohammed Bashir said: “I’m very proud. My daughter is doing very well.”

Family members said she was following in the footsteps of her late-grandfather who was the ‘go-to person’ in his village in Pakistan whenever anyone had a problem and wanted advice.

Samina has three brothers and a sister and is studying for her GCSEs at Belle Vue Girls’ School, in Heaton, Bradford. She told the T&A: “Recently I’ve been helping friends in the community with problems like smoking and fighting.

“I tell them what they are doing is wrong and explain to them why. They seem to listen to me.”

Her peace-keeping and intervention skills may come in handy in the future too.

She said: “I like computers, listening to music and reading books, and I want to be a police officer in Bradford when I leave school.”