Boy, 12, the youngest ever finalist of Robert Burns Humanitarian Award

After the success of our Inspiring Britain series in 2017, ITV News has decided there is always time for good news - so we are continuing to bring you stories about people making a difference and inspiring others in their communities and beyond.

Mason Kidd is 12 years old. He has autism and Tourette's. And for the last year he has made it his mission to do acts of kindness for others.

Mason has one simple goal: he wants to make people smile.

Now the schoolboy’s good deeds have been recognised by South Ayrshire Council because he’s the youngest ever nominee for the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award.

Mason was originally inspired to do these acts of kindness by his brother Ross, who died just aged two, after a battle with cancer.

"Every photo I see of Ross, he is smiling," says Mason. "Even when he was ill he was smiling. That’s why I wanted to do 18 acts of kindness: to mark Ross's 18th birthday by making as many people as I could smile in his memory."

Mason used his own birthday money to buy gifts for all the babies in Ayrshire's special care unit. He took sweets in for nurses at the local hospital and doughnuts, of course, for the police.

"They loved the doughnuts!" Mason tells me. "I was worried if they didn't like the joke I could be put in jail. Instead they gave me a tour of the cells and I got to meet the police dogs."

Mason also raised £10,000 in just one month for the children's hospital that treated his brother.

"I thought they'd got a decimal wrong when they calculated the total. I couldn't believe it."

One of Mason's acts of kindness was to bring pizzas to the local fire station. So the next time Mason returned to bring more pizzas, the firefighters had a surprise for him: his own uniform, and a certificate of thanks from the team.

"I’m just pleased to know people like what I’m doing. My message for anyone watching is to just try to be kind to people. That way more people start being kind to you. It all comes around."

Mason treated dog walkers and their pets to free tennis balls. Credit: ITV News

Mason is from Cumnock - very much Robert Burns country. And Burns once wrote that kindness can outshine a diamond.

That sentiment lives on through Mason Kidd: one boy on a mission to make us all smile.

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