COULD Denton be England's top village? The community will have the opportunity to get one step closer to this coveted position when it presents to first round judges on Thursday.

COULD Denton be England's top village? The community will have the opportunity to get one step closer to this coveted position when it presents to first round judges on Thursday.

Denton has already passed the county round of the Calor Village of the Year with flying colours and now villagers will have the chance to show why their village is a potential national winner. It's up against a total of 38 other villages.

Denton is a current champion in the EDP Pride in Norfolk awards, organised by the Journal's sister paper.

Judges will spend no more than two hours in Denton, during which time villagers will be striving to showcase their community across four categories which cover Community - a better place to live, Business - a better place to work, Sustainability - a better future, and Communications - being in contact.

For judging purposes, Denton is representing Norfolk in the East England region of the competition and will initially be competing against villages representing Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk in the first round of judging. Further judging of selected villages will take place in the summer.

Calor Village of the Year manager Suzanne Weir said: “We know how hard villages work to present their community in the best possible light during the judging visits. At the moment villagers are sure to be in a state of nervous anticipation with as many residents as possible pitching in during the final stages of preparation.”

She added: “Calor Village of the Year is all about celebrating vibrant, sustainable communities as they strive to respond to the current environmental and socio-economic challenges, while, at the same time, making life as good as it can be for residents of all ages. As ever, the standard of entries is looking really superb - I don't envy our judging teams the tough job they have ahead of them.”

First prize in the competition is �7,000, with �2,000 going to each of five regional winners. In addition, there are four category prizes of �500 within each region.

Judges will be in Denton on Thursday at 9.30am.

To find out more about the competition, visit the website at www.calorvillageoftheyear.org.