A teenager is set to face a gruelling assessment to win a top cadet award.

Army cadet James Bamforth, 17, from Weybridge, is in the running for the Duke of Westminster Award - which recognises the country’s finest cadets.

On April 11, he and 20 young competitors will face a challenging 36-hour assessment in Somerset to determine which of them, selected from more than 20,000 young people earning extracurricular qualifications with educational charity CVQO, can prove themselves worthy of the top prize.

He is also hoping to grab a spot with the top nine “learners” to participate in a three-week expedition to South Africa.

The Somerset event will test communication, teamwork and leadership skills through a variety of demanding physical and mental tasks.

Edward Woods, chief executive of CVQO and head of the selection panel, said: “These cadets are the cream of the crop of over 20,000 CVQO learners.

“They have done extraordinarily well to get as far as the finals, but this week will prove to be the real test.”