Get your scheme off to a £7,500 start

The Express & Star is working with HomeServe to find a not-for-profit community group within the local area which deserves a prize of £7,500.

Examples of projects might be the refurbishment of a children's play area to ensure prolonged use and improved safety, development of a club house to provide better access for disabled members of the community and refurbishment of a community building.

The prize package is made up of £2,500 in cash towards costs such as professional services needed to make the project happen, plus HomeServe will provide a team to help complete the work, made up of volunteers from its network of contractors and employees. This will be to the value of £5,000.

Walsall-based HomeServe has recently launched a new service which provides the West Midlands with access to more than 22 different types of tradesmen, qualified to carry out around 500 jobs. With its network of approved contractors and a large number of employees, HomeServe is in a unique position to fully support a project by providing both.

The aim of the scheme is to improve the quality of life for members of the local community by improving people's opportunities, health, welfare, environment or access to the local facilities. HomeServe will fund and carry out refurbishment or conversion work to improve/modernise facilities for an existing group, improve facilities so that they can be used by more people or adapt them for a different purpose.

Express & Star Editor Adrian Faber today welcomed the initiative in partnership with HomeServe, saying: "Working together we can make a real difference."

How to enter

Print and complete the entry form below giving all the relevant contact information. On one side of A4 paper give an overview of existing facilities and how they are used; an overview of improvements needed, including any supporting diagrams/drawings and where possible, include a rough estimate of the cost of the improvements and details of any special items that may be required/desired.

Most importantly you must include an explanation of the benefit(s) that the completion of this project will bring to the local community. For example, the completion would result in better opportunities for involvement from people who face barriers to participation, improved or increased use of a community building or outdoor space, safer facilities for an existing group and encouragement or healthier lifestyles for the community.

Attach the formal entry form to your submission and send it to Building for the Future, The Editor, Express & Star, Queen Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1ES.

The closing date for receipt of entries is Friday, October 17, 2008. If you have any queries telephone 01902 319350.

Rules: Groups must be non-profit making and operate within the circulation area of the Express & Star. Each entry must include a formal entry form and the information as requested here. Failure to do so will mean the submission is excluded. The decision of the judging panel is final and no correspondence will be entered into. All entrants must be prepared to take part in any relevant publicity.

The judging

After the closing date, a panel of judges made up of representatives of HomeServe and the Express & Star will assess the entries. Six finalists will be selected according to feasibility (both cost and work involved) and overall potential value to the quality of life of the community.

The judges reserve the right to seek further information via the named contact if they deem it necessary. The selected finalists will be profiled in the newspaper and visited on-site at the beginning of November.

Using the information gained face-to-face along with the original entry, the judges will decide on a winner. The results will be announced at a presentation event to take place mid November to which all the finalists will be invited.