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A new £200,000 awards scheme to reward talent and achievement in 11-18 year olds in the UK has been launched.

The Ambition AXA Awards will give talented young people the chance to win personalised mentoring worth up to £40,000 in the categories of arts, enterprise, science, community and sport. Five winners will be selected for a total prize fund of £200,000.

AXA UK commissioned an international report, Young People's Attitudes to Ambition, to mark the launch of the awards, which found that while young people in the UK are more ambitious than many of their European counterparts, they need a boost to their self-belief and determination to turn that ambition into success.

Sir Alan Steer, board director of Ofsted and chair of the judging panel said: 'As a nation, we are the best in the world in many areas of the arts, science, enterprise and sport and we are more actively engaged in our communities.

'We need to boost our young people's self-belief and determination, encourage and reward their talent and potential. Young people in this country are brilliant and we need to fire them up to succeed.'

Our Director, Learning & Skills Strategy Laura Gander-Howe will sit on the judging panel alongside musician Alex James in the arts category. Browse the full judging panel.

Applications are now open and the deadline for entries is Friday 14 October 2011. Between 19 October and 2 November the public will be able to vote online for applicants. Find out more about the awards and how to enter on the dedicated Ambition AXA Awards website and Facebook page.

The winners will be announced on 30 November 2011, after which the judging panel will help the winners to create a development package that will help them to achieve their goals.