The Lancashire Telegraph and the Big Lottery Fund have joined forces to offer £250,000 in grants to community groups across the region.

Groups in East Lancashire can bid for up to £30,000 as part of the Lancashire Telegraph Community Cash Awards.

The aim is to encourage communities to think about how funding could benefit their area.

If your community has a great idea for how to spend a Lottery grant of between £10,000 and £30,000, the Awards could be for you.

To apply for a grant you will need to be a community group, not for profit group, parish or town council, health body or school. You do not have to be a registered charity.

Groups must have a bank account that requires at least two people to sign each cheque or withdrawal and you must be in a position to use the grant within a year.

The application form is straightforward and needs to be submitted by Sunday, July 21.

From September 9, a shortlist of the best ideas will be revealed in the Lancashire Telegraph and every day for two weeks readers will have the chance to vote for the projects they would like to see get the cash.

The projects with the highest votes will be awarded the funding until all £250,000 of the Big Lottery Fund money has been spent.

The winners will be announced week of 30 September 2013.

For application form and guidelines, visit www.lancsfoundation.org.uk