Community: Your chance to vote for digital champs

The search for the nation’s digital heroes has entered its final phase, with three short-listed finalists going head to head to win a £5,000 technology grant to help further their cause.

And people in the South East are being urged to vote for their favourite www.talktalk.co.uk/digitalheroes.

The TalkTalk Digital Heroes Awards in conjunction with Citizens Online is the only awards saluting outstanding people who are using digital technology to bring about positive social change.

After calling for entries over the last eight weeks, TalkTalk has shortlisted the three most deserving candidates from each of the UK’s twelve main regions and are opening up the final vote online to the public.

The individuals with the most votes from each of the twelve regions will be honoured at a ceremony at the House of Lords judged by a panel that includes UK Digital Champion and dotcom entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox.

Eleven of the Digital Heroes winners will win £5,000 to put towards enhancing their digital project while one overall winner, determined by the expert judging panel, will receive a grand prize of £10,000.

A special Race Online 2012 prize will also be awarded by Martha Lane Fox. All 12 winners also get free broadband from TalkTalk for 18 months.

Martha Lane Fox said: “As the Digital Heroes Awards have shown over the past few years, technology and the internet can change lives.

“These awards are all about recognising those individuals who have gone the extra mile for their community and who have improved the lives of people in their community using the internet.”

“No matter how small the project, the TalkTalk Digital Heroes Awards aim to celebrate and reward people for making technology more accessible and useful for the people around them. In my capacity as UK Digital Champion I am delighted to offer my ongoing support for this initiative.”

To browse the 37 finalists and register your votes, visit www.talktalk.co.uk/digitalheroes. Voting will be open until November 13. Votes can be cast for any region, not just your own.

The Twitter hashtag for the awards is #digitalheroes.