Southampton awaits City of Culture 2025 decision
It's up against Wrexham, County Durham and Bradford
Southampton is waiting to find out if it'll be crowned UK City of Culture 2025, when the winner is announced live on The One Show tonight.
The Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries will name the winner, with Southampton up against County Durham, Bradford and Wrexham County Borough for the title.
The shortlist was complied from a record group of 20 bids to take over the title, which is currently held by Coventry.
The winner of the title, awarded every four years, will be announced by Ms Dorries on The One Show live from Coventry.
She said: "The UK City of Culture competition is a fantastic opportunity to shine a light on the contribution that art and culture make to all our lives.
"This title has been hotly contested and I've been hugely impressed by the quality of all four shortlisted bids from Bradford, County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham County Borough.
"Winning the competition can boost investment, attract tens of thousands of visitors and bring the local community together for an unforgettable year.
"I wish the best of luck to everyone involved."
Claire Whitaker, director of the Southampton 2025 bid, said the city has done everything it can to win.
"We're not looking back on the two years we've worked on this and thinking 'we wish we'd done this' or 'we should've done that', we have given it absolutely everything.
"We're really wanting to tell those stories that haven't been told and get really deep into our culture - we just want to be able to bring that programme we've developed to life."
The advisory panel, chaired by Sir Phil Redmond, visited the four shortlisted places before making their final recommendation in May, which was later approved by Ms Dorries.
For the first time this year, the eight longlisted winners received a £40,000 grant to strengthen their applications. They included Cornwall, Derby, Stirling and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon.
Since winning the title, Coventry has seen more than £172 million invested in funding music concerts and the UK's first permanent immersive digital art gallery, as well as a further £500 million for the city's regeneration, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said.