DETERMINATION and dedication have paid dividends for Bury's Anthony Dudley after he was nominated as the club's rising star in the annual MBNA North West Football Awards.

The 19-year-old striker was leading scorer for the youth side as they clinched the Under-18s title in 2014-15, earning a professional contract with the Shakers in the process.

He has gone on to start three matches and make five substitute appearances for Bury, and while the teenager is yet to score for the first team he showed his promised by banging in eight goals in 16 matches during two loan spells at Guiseley in the National League last season.

Dudley has been kept in the Shakers fold this season, and played the full 90 minutes in a recent 4-1 victory over Morecambe in the Checkatrade Trophy.

And manager David Flitcroft says his attitude has been a big factor in his progression from Ryan Kidd's youth team.

"I said to the lads after the Morecambe game that when I came in here two years ago it was a dream of mine to get the youngsters in the academy into the squad," said Flitcroft.

"I think by improving the team and improving the first team it's a difficult one because the first team drifts away from them, but Duds has stuck at it, he works incredibly hard and looks a very good player who'll make a fantastic league career for himself.

"You can play him on the wide or down the centre but when you play him wide he always wants to get into the box to score goals so he becomes that second striker at times.

"I'm really chuffed with Duds because he works really hard. He's got time for everybody and shares his experiences with the younger lads in the academy."

Dudley is up against some of the top young talents in the region for the award, including Manchester United's Marcus Rashford, City's Kelechi Iheanacho and Liverpool's German international midfielder Emre Can.

Meanwhile, Peter Clarke, Bury's player of the year last season, has earned the club's nomination in the MBNA North West Player of the Year for League One.

The 34-year-old defender, who moved to Oldham in the summer, played 50 games for the Shakers and his guiding influence saw them to comfortable mid-table finish on their return to the third tier.

Voting for both categories is now open, with fans able to show their support for Dudley and Clarke at northwestfootballawards.com/vote/ where they will also be able to view a full list of nominations.

The voting system will close at noon on Friday, October 21 and the winners will be revealed at a black tie ceremony at the Point, Emirates Old Trafford on Monday, November 14.