A regional publisher is giving readers of its 170 titles the chance to nominate local charities to share in a £128,000 giveaway.

Newsquest is launching its Cash For Charities giveaway with up to 80 charities set to benefit.

Last year the publisher invited its readers to nominate local causes they believed should benefit from the scheme, receiving more than 8,000 applications.

The initiative will now be repeated this year with the company’s charitable arm, the Gannett Foundation, setting aside £128,000 for good causes.

The scheme works by inviting readers to collect voting tokens published in the newspapers to back their choice, with the more tokens collected for the respective charity, the bigger the share of cash awarded.

Last year this resulted in the initiative receiving over 17,000 votes from readers. An editorial panel then considers all the nominations received.

Newsquest brand manager Debbie Hellaby said: “Last year we identified that our readers were best placed to choose the local charities most deserving of our support.

“Grants were used to support good health and wellbeing, reduce inequalities, deliver sustainable communities, support education, and improve life for some of the most disadvantaged.

“The feedback from those that benefited last year has been overwhelming and we urge readers and charities to support the initiative to benefit their local communities once again.”