A SOUTHAMPTON radio station has been nominated for a prestigious award.

Community broadcaster Awaaz FM, based in Cranbury Terrace has for the first time in its five year history been nominated in two categories in the National Diversity Awards which celebrates the achievements of grass-root communities across the country.

They have been nominated for the Community Organisation Award for Race/Faith/Religion and one of the presenters has also been nominated for the role model award.

When the radio station started in 2009, it had just four presenters from Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Now Awaaz has grown and has more than 20 presenters from ten countries, languages spoken include Romanian, Latin, English, Spanish, Persian and Hungarian – which is one of the reasons they have been nominated for the Diversity Award.

Also hoping to pick up an award is Nalini Thakkar who presents a Bollywood show every Wednesday and Friday between 2pm and 4pm.

She joined the station despite having several disabilities including arthritis which limit her mobility, and since doing her show she has been a huge hit with listeners.

Awaaz FM project manager Ali Beg said: “I am really proud of her, when we met her she was very closed and now she is very open and loves presenting her programme, since presenting she has become more social and open, the nomination for her is well deserved.

“As a radio station we look forward to these awards every year, and we are keeping our fingers crossed. We want to show everybody how diverse we are and how well the community works together on one platform.”

The nominations  close on July 18, with the ones with the most votes being shortlisted, the winners will be announced at a glitzy award ceremony in London in September 26. To nominate Awaaz for the award visit nationaldiversityawards.co.uk/nominate.