Milton Keynes Dons has been unveiled as the Coca-Cola Community Club of the Year for the South East and are now in the running to take the national accolade at the Football League Awards 2012.
The Dons were considered the best example of a Community Club in the region and will face four other finalists from the North West, South West, Midlands and North East respectively.
Undertaking key community projects in health, social inclusion, education and sports participation, Milton Keynes Dons displayed strong levels of engagement across all categories. Through its work the club has managed to connect with over 34,000 people locally in the last year, a really impressive statistic.
The overall winner will be decided at the Football League Awards, held at The Brewery, London on Sunday 11th March 2012.
Judges will be looking to recognise the best overall community scheme from the 2011 calendar year based on their engagement with the local community.
Full shortlist includes:
Bury
Milton Keynes Dons
Notts County
Portsmouth
Rotherham United
Last year's Community Club of the Year was Southend United who displayed strong policy in all of the key areas, especially when looking at 'Healthy with the Blues Bodycare' project.
Mike Evans, General Manager of The Football League Trust, said: "Community engagement is a core value of The Football League and its clubs who have once again demonstrated their commitment to making a difference to local peoples' lives through the power of football.
"We saw community schemes doing some superb work in 2011 and I wish all those shortlisted clubs the best of luck on the night."
To find out more about The Football League Awards, and for a full list of Award categories, please visitwww.FLAwards.com.