Happy Days for the Teaching Awards! The Fonz wins £40,000 for his Favourite Charity

Henry Winkler, the legendary actor who plays The Fonz in Happy Days, has won £40,000 for his favourite charity, the Teaching Awards, in a competition asking the public to cast their vote.

The competition, run by Absolute Radio called 'Who's Calling Christian?' had a total of eighty nine celebrities contacting the presenter Christian O'Connell with an aim to win funding for their favourite charity. It began more than a fortnight ago and ended this morning after an intensive 24-hour vote.

Henry won for the Teaching Awards against four other finalists: Dawn French, William Shatner, Simon Cowell and Boris Johnson. He achieved one third of the votes (33.31%).

Henry is an ambassador for excellence in education and a patron of the Teaching Awards Trust. He is dyslexic and has written a series of children's books about a character called Hank Zipser, based on his own childhood experiences and aimed at supporting children with special educational needs.

On hearing that he had won the competition, Henry, based in Los Angeles, said: 'This is fantastic. I'm overwhelmed. I'm just so grateful to everyone who voted for me and for the Teaching Awards and you can all start your weekend knowing you've done a very good thing.

'To Jackie De Saulles, who was the first Teaching Award winner I ever met, who was my inspiration, thank you. The Teaching Awards really deserve it. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to win this for teachers.'

Sophie Byatt, managing director of the Teaching Awards said: 'It's the teachers that make the difference; there is nothing more important than getting a good education. It's the key to helping young people grow up to lead happy and fulfilled lives and it is the teachers that achieve this. We don't thank teachers enough for the essential work that they do, the Teaching Awards gives us all a chance to say thank you.'

Jackie De Saulles, a teacher at Howard primary school in Croydon, and winner of BT Teacher of the Year in a Prima School in London in 2005 said: 'Henry is such a lovely man who really understands the encouragement that children need and what it takes to be a good teacher. It's fantastic news and we are all thrilled for him and for the Teaching Awards.'

If you have an inspirational teacher go to www.teachingawards.com and say thank you by nominating them for a Teaching Award.

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