For the past 100 years, Bristol University’s annual degree ceremonies have celebrated the great academic achievements born in the city.

But at this year’s event, at the university’s Great Hall in July, there will be four very special mortarboard caps among the crowd.

To mark its centenary year, the university is to bestow four special degrees on individuals who have given extraordinary service to their community – perhaps without public acknowledgement or praise – for years.

The university has a long tradition of bestowing honorary degrees on the great and good of the city. But the centenary degrees will be separate and quite different.

Those receiving the centenary degrees may not have an academic background.

They may have left school at the age of 15, and they probably won’t have made a name for themselves outside their immediate community.

But within their community, they will have been a long-standing and valued servant.

Whether it’s the chap who has run the local boys’ club for the past 20 years; the lady who volunteers her mornings to helping her elderly neighbours; or the person who initiated a project to perk up a once run-down street – anyone, in fact, who has given their all to improve community life, and who deserves to have their efforts publicly acknowledged.

So who are these fabulous people? Actually, it’s entirely up to you.

If you know somebody who deserves to be honoured in this way, all you have to do is fill in a nomination form printed in the Bristol Evening Post newspaper and tell us, in 250 words, why the person should enjoy this very public acknowledgement.

Or you can email your nomination directly to us.

We will pass all nominations on to a special Bristol University committee, who will whittle down all the entries to just four names. The university’s senate will then be invited to ratify the committee’s choices.

Bristol University’s chancellor, Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, will confer the degrees upon the four worthy candidates at the ceremony on July 15.

The university’s vice chancellor, Professor Eric Thomas, said: “The university is a global player, but remains proud to be part of the area from which it grew.

"Indeed, one of the reasons we attract outstanding students and staff from all over the world is that Bristol and its environs are so lively, beautiful and interesting.

“We want the university’s centenary celebrations to mean something to people in and around Bristol. These special honorary degrees will recognise a few of the largely unsung heroes who help create successful communities within the city region.

“We hope the Post’s readers will come forward with plenty of nominations and we promise to give each one very careful consideration.”

Bristol Post editor Mike Norton said: “I’m delighted that the Bristol Post can be involved with this project, which will pay tribute to those who selflessly volunteer their time and energy to bind our communities together.

“These people are great Bristolians – as worthy of honour as our academic achievers, business leaders and celebrities.”

The closing date for nominations is Friday, February 27. Please send your nominations to Centenary Degrees, Editorial, Bristol Evening Post, Temple Way, Bristol BS99 7HD or by email.