WITH hundreds of votes already cast, the Wiltshire Village of the Year Awards is heading for an exciting climax.

With the deadline looming on Friday, August 28 there’s still time to influence the outcome of the five categories in the competition.

The competition is being run in partnership with Wessex Water across the Gazette and Herald, Wiltshire Times and Salisbury Journal Newsquest publications.

Bill Browne, on behalf of the region’s editors, said: “We launched this competition because we wanted to celebrate all that is great about our county’s villages.

“These small communities are full of fantastic stories that we want to shout about. That’s why we want to find the best heroes, shops, and initiatives across Wiltshire!

“Make sure to vote for your favourites, and we will announce the winners soon.”.

All the villages on the shortlist were selected after we asked our readers to nominate their own community, or someone special who lives in it, at the launch of the awards earlier this year.

We received dozens of entries, and the three finalists in each category were then selected.

As a reminder our finalists are:

LARGE VILLAGE

l Alderbury

l Minety

l Winterslow

SMALL VILLAGE

l Nomansland

l Barford St Martin

l Coombe Bissett

BEST HAMLET

l Burcombe

l Chilmark

l Swallowcliffe

BEST VILLAGE SHOP

l Whiteparish Village Stores

l Fourways Stores, Great Somerford

l Avebury Community Shop

BEST HERO

l Issy Griffin of Minety

l Wilton HELP

l Keith Smith - The Fox and Goose, Coombe Bissett

To vote for your favourites, head to wessexwater.co.uk/voty.

Voting closes 11.59pm Friday, August 28.

To vote for your favourites, head to wessexwater.co.uk/voty.

Voting closes 11.59pm Friday, August 28.