Southend United's Community and Educational Trust has been short listed for this years Football League Best Community Initiative.

The Blues Community Department has been nominated for the League One category for their Goals Project.

The GOALS! Programme is run by Southend United's Community and Educational Trust, which holds the eight-week courses in the PFS Study Support Centre at the Roots Hall football ground.

Once a week, up to 10 school children from the age of 13 are collected from their school in the club's minibus and ferried to the stadium for a two-hour classroom activity, which is followed by a one-hour football coaching session focussing on teamwork and decision making, held at the clubs training ground.

The project is run in partnership with Essex Southend and Thurrock Connexions, the service giving 13-19 year olds information, advice, guidance and practical help in preparing for adult and working life.

Over 123 entries were received from clubs across all three divisions, with 50 clubs entering in total.

This year, the award categories have been modified to include divisional awards, with clubs from each league going head to head. 28 clubs have been shortlisted for this year's Awards, with eight clubs earning more than one entry in the shortlists.

The winners will be announced at the third annual Football League Awards which will take place at The London Hilton, Park Lane on Sunday 2nd March 2008.

Expert judging panels were assembled for each category and the process of evaluating each entry took place at The Football League on 15th and 16th January.