The search is on for local sporting heroes as nominations open for the Everybody Awards.

The awards are run by the operators of Sandbach leisure centre, Everybody Sport and Recreation, who will host a ceremony honouring the winners at Crewe Hall.

Everybody says that the awards are "important this year more than ever" to recognise the contributions of sporting clubs, volunteers, organisations and individuals in sport, play and active recreation across Cheshire East.

The categories for the awards are:

Sports Personality of the Year

Health and Wellbeing Award

Club of the Year

Coach of the Year

Disabled Sports Achiever of the Year

Volunteer of the Year

Young Sports Achiever of the Year

Due to Everybody's 2020 Awards being postponed, the charity is accepting achievements from the last 12-18 months (September 2019-March 2021).

Paralympic athlete Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, DBE, is returning to host the Awards ceremony which is set to take place in October.

Peter Hartwell, chief executive of Everybody Sport and Recreation, said: "The evening is a great way to celebrate the achievements of our fantastic local community and recognise the hard work that they do every single year.

"This year promises to be extra special of course and we are looking forward to reading everyone's inspiring nominations."

Previous winners include IronMan athlete Jack Schofield for Sports Personality of the Year, British Judo champion Milly Horsefield for Young Sports Achiever, and the fantastic Pauline for Customer Hero.

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson said: "It has been an unprecedented 12 months, and I'm so pleased to be returning to the Everybody Awards this October.

"I was truly inspired by the heroes and commitment to sporting achievement at the 2019 awards and I can't wait to meet this year's finalists. 2020 was certainly a challenging year for health, sport and fitness, but we've seen incredible community spirit and innovation in times of hardship, and this year's awards will be an opportunity to celebrate how far we've come and take a look back at the successes we weren't able to recognise last year."