A picture of nursery worker Simon Collins, 38, from Highgate Children's Centre Nurseryworks, drawn by Charlotte Graham, won third prize in the under-fives category of the art competition run by the Daycare Trust, Nursery World and Bright Horizons Family Solutions.
Charlotte, aged four-and-a-half, said, 'I drew Simon because I love Simon.'
Children were asked to draw or paint a picture of their male hero to mark the Daycare Trust's National Childcare Week (9-15 June) and its theme 'Men in Childcare'.
Mr Collins was also chosen by the Daycare Trust to help promote the week.
Along with the Trust's senior policy officer Megan Pacey, he was interviewed by the BBC on 7 June on Breakfast, Radio Five Live and News 24.
Nicola Amies, director of early learning at Bright Horizons Family Solutions (Europe), which manages the Nurseryworks brand of nurseries, commended his work at the nursery tea party on 19 June.
Mr Collins said, 'This shouldn't really be for me. We all share the load.
This party should be for everybody.'
Trained as an actor, Mr Collins admits that childcare is a career that he 'fell into completely by accident'.
In 1995, during a dry acting spell, he took a job selling tickets at the London Toy and Model Museum. The museum curator noticed his talent for making people laugh and soon he was running guided tours for schoolchildren and giving talks. In 1998 he left the museum for the chance to work at Beckett House Montessori Nursery School in Islington, where he stayed for two years.
He combines his job at the nursery with acting when he can and recently he has started writing children's stories.
Mr Collins says he believes that many of the skills he learned at drama school can be applied to teaching.
'Someone once said I was like a modern-day Johnny Ball. It's all about not taking things too seriously, because making people laugh is the best way people learn.'
Mr Collins highlights fun, understanding and compassion as important qualities for working in childcare and early years. 'All I do is use the part of me that's a potential father.'
He added, 'Children have given me so much confidence and taught me so much about myself. They give me energy and I give them energy.'