Nominations for the Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards 2011, in association with The Co-operative Foundation , are now open at www.youngscotawards.co.uk , and you only have until the Friday 18th February to share your fantastic stories that truly reflect Scotland's outstanding young people.

Thousands of young people across Scotland regularly contribute to their communities through a variety of ways, and the Young Scot Awards are all about celebrating their amazing achievements and challenging some of the negative perceptions we too often hear about.

Has a young person you know been involved in improving their local community? Have they made a positive contribution by giving up their free time? Nominations are accepted from groups as well as individuals, so maybe you know of a youth group or project whose achievements deserve to be heard about on a national level?

There are 13 different categories in which you can nominate:
Sport (sponsored by sportscotland)
Volunteering
The Arts
Community (sponsored by The Scottish Government)
Truth About Youth (sponsored by The Co-Operative Foundation)
Heritage (sponsored by Historic Scotland)
Health
Unsung Hero (sponsored by SOLACE)
Enterprise
Entertainment (sponsored by GAMTA)
Diversity and Citizenship (sponsored by Young Scot)

Environment
Sunday Mail Readers Award (sponsored by Sunday Mail)
Three finalists in each of the 13 categories will be invited to the glittering awards ceremony in Glasgow's Hilton Hotel on 7th April 2011, where they will mix with celebrities, politicians and other guests.

Winners from last year included:
The Volunteering category was won by Sarah Nugent , who, despite difficulties in her early life, now gives up a lot of her own time volunteering and training young people on social inclusion, literacy support and personal/social development.
Our Environment winner was Dylan Campbell , a committed volunteer and mentor with BTCV Scotland, who delivers a multitude of small scale localised projects that support people to improve their environment and their life chances.
Jane Williams won the Health Award. Jane developed epilepsy when she was 12 and since then has been raising awareness of the condition, by volunteering with Epilepsy Scotland, giving interviews to the press and addressing fringe meetings at various party conferences.
Islam Feruz was our Sport category winner and Young Scot of the Year 2010 . Originally from Somalia, Islam and his family lived in Tanzania before seeking asylum in the United Kingdom and moving to Glasgow, where he became the first player to utilise a FIFA ruling that meant despite being born in Somalia he could play for the Scotland Football team. Islam is a great ambassador and embodies what it means to be a young Scot.
Nominate NOW by logging on to www.youngscotawards.co.uk

We'd like to thank all our supporters and sponsors of the Awards, including The Co-operative Foundation, Historic Scotland, the Scottish Government, sportscotland, GAMTA and SOLACE. We'd also like to thank all the people and organisations working to improve the lives of Scotland's young people, especially the Dialogue Youth Local Authority Network, whose work and support helps make the Awards possible.