Herefordshire Villages are being encouraged to show off their information technology (IT) skills in the 2001 Village of the Year competition.

Organised by the Herefordshire Federation of Women's Institutes, the annual competition was originally set up to encourage villages to spruce themselves up.

Now there are five categories - environment, business, care for older people, care for younger people and general community life.

Villages are awarded points for each section and then the village with the most points overall goes forward to represent the county in the Calor Gas/Daily Telegraph Village of the Year competition for England and Wales.

This will be contested by more than 40 villages, who will be chasing a first prize of £5,000.

Competition organiser Jean Haigh, from Cradley WI, said the competition has moved on from the Best Kept Village days when it was judged just on prettiness and tidiness.

"The Daily Telegraph and Calor Gas came in on it and decided it should be about what's going on in the village, rather than how well kept the telephone boxes were," she said.

She said the idea of the new IT category was to help rural communities to get to grips with new technology.

"I know that many villages in Herefordshire have already embraced new technology and others are planning to do so. It will be interesting to see the response," said Mrs Haigh.

This year the IT category is optional but next year it will form part of the competition.

But Mrs Haigh said villages should not be concerned if they are not able to complete all the sections, as there are also awards of £75 for each category winner.

Judging for this year's competition will take place in July and August and the results will be announced at 1pm on Monday, September 10 at Hereford Town Hall. For more information, call 01432 272268 or Jean Haigh on 01886 880466.