There’s still time to get your nominations in for Agrii’s Rural Community Champions competition, with the chance to win £1,000 if you are crowned the overall winner.

The deadline for entries closes on May 3 and Agrii is urging the Essex farming community and general public to get their nominations in as part of its nationwide campaign to identify and celebrate the people who make a real difference to the rural communities in which they live and work.

A Rural Community Champion could be anyone who volunteers their time, resources or money for fundraising, cares for members of the community, organises community events and projects, helps local schools and pupils or gets involved in charity work. These are just some examples.

The competition identifies 20 local winners from all the nominations received across the UK.

They will then each win £50 for themselves or to put towards their local project.

From these 20 winners a panel of judges will shortlist three finalists, one from each Agrii region – North, East and West, with Essex being part of the East region.

The overall national winner will be chosen from the three finalists by Agrii customers and will win £1,000. The two runners up will each win £500.

Mark Thomas, Agrii’s Head of Marketing said: “We’ve already had an excellent response to our competition and with just a week left for entries we are encouraging as many people as possible to get their nominations into us.

"As a business that works in the countryside and serves the farming industry, we know that there is so much good work going on behind closed doors on top of the ‘day job’.

"But we need the help of the public to nominate their rural community champions – the people in their communities making a big difference.”

The campaign is being run in conjunction with FCN, the charity supported by Agrii which provides guidance and support to farming families in times of crisis.

Through campaigns like the Rural Community Champions project, Agrii hopes to raise the profile and highlight the importance of rural communities, and in turn demonstrate the support that FCN can offer farming families in times of need.

To nominate a potential rural community champion, visit the competition page on the Agrii website: www.agrii.co.uk/communitychampions where full terms and conditions can also be found.