Preston North End will do battle against the likes of McDonald's, Tesco, npower and the Cricket Foundation after being nominated for an award in this year's Sports Industry Awards.

North End's sterling work with NHS Central Lancashire to promote healthy eating across the county has seen the Club and the health authority jointly shortlisted in The Community Programme Award.

Standing between PNE and the award are some global household names of the likes of McDonald's, The FA and Tesco, npower, The Cricket Foundation and The Premier League.

It is the first time that North End have been nominated for a prize in these awards and the Club are the only Football League club to be nominated in any category at the event.

Judging whether or not North End could make it a debut to remember are TV presenter John Inverdale, Tony Blair's former director of communications Alastair Campbell and Chairman of the LTA Roger Draper.

Should PNE become successful on April 30 they will follow in the footsteps of HBOS who picked up the same award at last year's event.

Speaking about the nomination general manager Ben Rhodes said: "To be in such illustrious company by attaining a nomination for this award is fantastic for Preston North End and is a tribute to the tremendous work that the Club's community department undertake.

"The Sports Industry Awards could be described as the Oscars of off the field sporting excellence, so this nomination is something to be extremely proud of, irrelevant of whether we win the award or not.

"The position of the Club within the community is something we recognise as having significant importance for the City of Preston, which is why we are delighted to work with such significant partners as NHS Central Lancashire on the project nominated and other people such as the Football League Trust and Preston City Council in other community projects we currently have on the go."