Croydon's Ambition festival is in the running for two national awards.

The four-day event, held for the first time in July, has been shortlisted for best new festival and best metropolitan festival at the UK Festival Awards.

Ambition, organised by Croydon Council, brought music acts including Soul II Soul and Tinariwen as well as theatre, dance and art to town-centre venues and temporary stages.

It is going up against established events such as Sheffield's Tramlines and Liverpool Music Week at the awards, decided by a public vote.

Councillor Timothy Godfrey, the council's cabinet member for culture, leisure and sport, said: "This is a tremendous achievement and it's frankly amazing to be in the running alongside so many well-known festivals. 

"It's a testament to the quality of all the acts who performed and all of the people who supported the event - the volunteers, the venues, the people who programmed and worked on the stages, and of course those who came along to enjoy themselves.

"We'd love to come out on top and as the judges' decision will be influenced by the number of people who vote for us I'd urge everyone to go to the website and give Ambition the thumbs up."

Voting has opened at the UK Festival Awards website.