IS your sporting success being hindered by a lack of funds or do you know local sporting heroes who need help?

If so, an individual, a club or an association in the Southampton region could be just a nomination away from winning a special prize.

Flybe Local Heroes, in association with the Daily Echo, has launched in the county for the first time – and it is organisations and individuals who make a difference in the community who will reap the rewards.

The Southampton-based air carrier has generously offered £7,000 in bursaries – made up of £3,000 in cash and a travel bursary of £4,000 to be used on the Flybe service network – to the winner of the Sport in the Community award.

Individuals or teams can nominate themselves or others but it will be football legend Matt Le Tissier, Flybe head of marketing Ian Taylor and Daily Echo editor Ian Murray who will pick the worthiest nomination for the prize.

For the sports category, the cash will be used to further the individual’s or team’s aims and success.

It could either be a promising individual who needs both funding and travel, a club that has entered a competition but requires travel, or an association that needs new equipment or additional training by teachers travelling to the Southampton region.

Any activity that can be classed as a recognised sport can qualify but people who receive professional payments from a third party for this activity do not qualify.

It is not just sporting heroes who could get cash, there are also two other categories: Sport in the Community and Education in the Community, which can each receive the £7,000 boost.

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