Vote for Wolverhampton's The Way in Lotto awards

The £6 million centre on School Street, primarily financed by Wolves owner Steve Morgan and backed by the likes of One Direction star Liam Payne, had been in the pipeline for four years before opening its doors in January.

The Way offers young people aged eight to 19, or up to 25 with a disability, a place to enjoy sports, leisure and training activities, as well as providing support on a number of issues such as improving employability skills.

It has received £500,000 of National Lottery funding via Sport England and, having already beat off competition from over 600 organisations, is competing to be crowned winner of the sport category.

Glenn Evans, youth work manager at The Way, said: "We're delighted to have reached the finals of The National Lottery Awards. ottery money has helped us to build our state-of-the-art facility for young people in Wolverhampton.

"It's also helped us buy sensory equipment for our disabled young people.

"Every day up to 250 young people visit The Way, for many it the only place they have to go for support and for others it is the only opportunity they have to get active and healthy."

There are seven projects competing for votes in each of the seven categories: Arts, education, environment, health, heritage, sport and voluntary.

The winners of will receive £3,000 to spend on their project, a National Lottery Awards trophy and will be invited to attend an awards ceremony in London, which will be broadcast on BBC One in September.

To vote for The Way Youth Zone, visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards.

You can also call 0844 836 9691 or follow the campaign on twitter using the hashtag #NLAwards. Voting closes on July 20.