A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity could be won by one local band in our great Local Heroes competition.

Up for grabs is a guaranteed spot at six of the summer's most popular festivals plus the services of your own tour manager and roadie.

Local Heroes aims to uncover some of the great unsigned talent and propel two bands to national stardom by giving them the chance to perform in front of thousands of music fans.

Local Heroes is being run by Newsquest Media Group owners of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph in conjunction with Virtual Festivals.com, Bandwagon.co.uk, HMV, Roundpoint and Yamaha.

The UK is being divided into nine regions with bands being asked to build their own on-line community by uploading tracks and creating their own band profile.

Every time a fan listens to or downloads a track or realtone the band will be awarded voting points.

The band from each region with the highest number of votes at the end of June will qualify for a live national final in London at which the two bands to play the summer festivals will be selected.

The festivals where the winners will be playing alongside some of Britain's top bands are the Global Gathering, the Bulldog Bash, Summer Sundae, Beautiful Days, Get Loaded in the Park and Foundation.

Ross Purdie, editor of Virtual Festivals said: "Arctic Monkeys proved that the internet revolution is now helping to discover new bands.

"The competition aims to give artists in every corner of Britain the chance to hit the big time."

Bands from East Lancashire can register now to enter the North West regional heat by simply clicking here.

Bands have until June 1 to register and upload tracks on to the site. There will be an administration fee of £9.99 per entry.

Fans will be able to begin voting from June 1 until June 28 when the votes will be counted.

We know there are scores of great bands around East Lancashire who deserve a shot at the big time.

Now is your chance to give it a go and to make the area proud.

So if you are in a band - or know someone who is - then log on to our website and register before June 1.

Just click on the link below.