Andover has missed out on a place in the shortlist for the first UK Town of Culture competition.
The town was included in the full list of places that submitted bids, appearing in the large towns category for the South East.
However, Andover was not named among the 15 towns shortlisted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The competition attracted 398 bids from more than 400 towns across the UK.
The shortlisted towns will each receive £60,000 to help develop their full bids, with the overall winner due to be announced early next year.
The winning town will be named UK Town of Culture 2028 and will receive a £3 million grant from the government to host a season of cultural events.
The shortlisted towns are Ilfracombe, Isle of Bute, Lerwick, Sandown, Strabane, Stockton Town Centre Ward, Corby, Great Yarmouth, Leith, Pontypridd, Port Talbot, Basildon, Birkenhead, Grimsby and Rotherham.
In the South East, Sandown was the only small town shortlisted. No South East town was shortlisted in the medium town category, while Basildon was shortlisted in the large town category.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the number of applications showed how proud people are of their towns and said every town that applied should be proud of the work done to champion their local community.
Sir Phil Redmond, chair of the independent panel, said the response to the competition had been overwhelming and that towns which did not make the shortlist may still have benefited from strengthening partnerships and raising awareness of their cultural landscape.
Although Andover did not progress to the next stage, the town’s inclusion in the full list confirms that a bid was submitted.
The competition also invited every bidding town to submit a postcard celebrating its bid. These postcards have been shared across social media and displayed digitally by National Museums Liverpool, and will remain within the museum’s national collection.
The result means Andover will not receive the £60,000 bid development funding awarded to shortlisted towns, but the process may still have helped highlight the town’s cultural ambitions and the work of local groups, artists, venues and community organisations.