NEWPORT mum Emma Pugh is the winner of our Marvellous Mum competition.

Mrs Pugh, 33, from Bettws, was nominated by her 17-year-old step-daughter Chantelle who wrote a touching letter to the Argus.

Mrs Pugh was chosen as the lucky lady and she and her family will enjoy a lavish five-course carvery at Cardiff's Marriott Hotel today with overnight accommodation.

They will also have full access to the hotel’s state-of-the-art leisure and gym facilities - which include a 16 metre swimming pool, a spacious spa pool as well as steam room and sauna.

In her letter, Miss Pugh explained how her step-mum was just 19 when she took her on when after meeting dad Jason.

She wrote: “Her and my dad became very close and had a really strong relationship. I loved Emma from the day I met her.”

She said Mrs Pugh was working and living at home with her own parents and treated Jason and Chantelle to clothes and holidays.

The teenager said: “I had never experienced this before. She was so caring and full of love for me. It was like Emma had always been a part of my life.”

She said she and Mrs Pugh went everywhere together and the teenager admits this must have been a lot for her new step mum to take on.

“Most girls at 19 would still be partying but Emma was willing to give this up for me and my dad," she said.

Miss Pugh said her family was complete when Mrs Pugh gave birth to her sister Sophie, now seven.

But she said Mrs Pugh still made sure she spent time with her too and was always there to talk to.

“Mum was always there on parents evenings, plays, school concerts. She never missed them," she said.

The teenager is currently studying childcare at Coleg Gwent, Nash campus, but said she would not have got there without the encouragement she received from the stepmum she calls mum and said she wants to make her proud.

Miss Pugh entered the competition after seeing an advert in the Argus She said that as a student she would not be able to afford to treat her mum to this sort of prize but wanted to show her how much she appreciates what she has done.

Mrs Pugh, an administration worker, said it will be lovely for the whole family to spend some time together today.

“It’s great that she’s taken the time to do it for me," she said.

Mrs Pugh met her stepdaughter when she was five-years-old.

She said: “It was alot to take on but I didn’t think of it at the time. It was always Jason and Chantelle wherever we went. They had an excellent bond.”

Mr Pugh said he has an "amazing family" and said his wife and oldest daughter are like sisters.

“They have their girly nights in and I have to go out” he joked.