The last week in January saw the start of the Local Government Challenge 2012, the Local Government Association's competition to find the sector's rising stars. With the promise of five exciting challenges around the country, a chance to showcase their talent at the LGA annual conference and the possibility of winning a £10,000 scholarship from the Bruce-Lockhart Leadership Programme, this year's 10 new contestants have everything to play for!

The first task every year is to divide the contestants into two teams and for them to choose team names and their first team leaders. This year's teams are: