DARTMOUTH has been named a ‘rising star’ in the Great British High Street awards.

The town was given the Rising Star award ‘for introducing a new high-quality tourism campaign’.

A spokesman for the awards, run by the Department for Communities and Local Government, said the prize focused on the work of the Dartmouth Business Improvement District.

Judges pointed to the Dartmouth Every Time campaign, town trail maps and a good Facebook following, encouraging visitors to the town out of season.

The award also specified the Delicious Dart Trail and its fancy dress run, ending at the Old Market.

The £1,000 prize will go to the BID, which intends to spend it on its Keep it Local campaign.

Dartmouth is one of 10 towns to receive the award, having missed out on a place in the finals which shortlist 21 British high streets across seven categories to be judged by a panel of experts.

BID?chairman Peter Conisbee said: ‘We are very proud that Dartmouth has been recognised by the competition judges as a town on the up and we hope this award will be a real boon for the whole town.

‘We’ve been working hard for the last couple of years to make Dartmouth a better place in which to live and work and we’ll be sure to use this Rising Star award to spur us on to better things and, hopefully, win next year’s competition.”

High Streets Minister Marcus Jones said: ’We had a record amount of high-quality entries to this year’s competition – testament to the pride local people have and brilliant work being done to boost Britain’s high streets.

‘The local high street is the life and soul of many towns, villages and cities across the country and these awards are a great opportunity to not only celebrate those that are the best of the best, but also to help others learn their valuable tips for success.’

The Great British High Street competit­ion 2015 – sponsored by big companies Costa, the Post Office, Marks and Spencer, Boots, and Tesco – is now in its second year and is one of a number of initiatives to help champion high streets.