Twenty-four beautiful buildings in two different countries, separated by 150 miles and the expanse of the North Sea – brought together thanks to a pioneering partnership.

Norwich Evening News: Norwich and Ghent graphicNorwich and Ghent graphic (Image: Archant)

And a unique tie-up, which saw Norwich linked with the city of Ghent in Belgium, has won a prestigious European Union prize.

And another prize could be won, with a little help from the Norwich public.

The award-winning SHAPING 24 initiative grew out of a project called Norwich 12, which celebrated a dozen of the city's most famous buildings, spanning the Norman, medieval, Georgian, Victorian and modern eras.

That led to SHAPING 24, funded with €4.5m of European Union money, which saw the idea extended to Ghent in Belgium – a city with a similarly rich history to Norwich.

A further 12 buildings there were added to the roster, with the aim of encouraging tourism in the two cities.

The SHAPING 24 project was led by Norwich's Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust (Heart) in conjunction with Ghent City Council.

It was selected from 160 nominated projects across 30 countries to win the 2014 European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage/Nostra Awards.

The project triumphed in the category for education, training and awareness-raising category.

Next month it is in with a chance of being named as a Grand Prix winner, with people able to vote for it to win the Public Choice Award in an online poll.

Former Norwich City College student Stephen Fry recently took to Twitter to encourage his followers to vote for the project.

Michael Loveday, chief executive of Heart, said: 'We are very proud all of the innovation and hard work exhibited by Heart and its partners has been recognised by such a prestigious organisation as Europa Nostra.

'We hope this will provide a further accolade for Norwich, placing it firmly on the international radar as a place that is at the cultural cutting edge.

'The €4.5m EU project created enormous benefit for the local economy, and for the Norwich 12 raising their profile locally, nationally and internationally and getting more visitors across the doorsteps.'

Judges for Europa Nostra said: 'The jury was impressed with the degree of imagination shown in this co-operative programme.'

To vote for the project to win the Public Choice Award visit http://vote.europanostra.org by Sunday.