A seven-year-old girl who was born without any hands has won a national US handwriting award.
Anaya Ellick, from Virginia, beat 50 other youngsters from around the country to win the contest.
"There is truly very little that this girl cannot do," Tracy Cox, the principal of Greenbrier Christian Academy in Chesapeake, told ABC News.
"She is a hard worker. She is determined. She is independent. She is a vivacious and a no-excuses type of young lady."
Instead of opting for prosthetic limbs to help grip the pen, Anaya uses only her forearms to write.
She has been awarded the Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellence in Penmanship.
Anaya's handwriting was submitted in a category for students with physical or developmental disabilities.
The director of the competition, Kathleen Wright, told ABC News they were "stunned" by Anaya's penmanship sample.
Greenbrier superintendent Ron White said his star student is able to keep up with her peers, who treat her no differently.
Anaya's mother, Bianca Middleton, says her daughter is an inspiration.
"I look at her and I'm like, wow!" she said. "She's not complaining, she never complains."
Anaya follows in the footsteps of a Pennsylvania seven-year-old, Anne Clark, who won a national handwriting award in 2012 despite being born without hands.
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