TALENTED hair and beauty students from New College Durham walked away with an impressive haul of seven medals at a prestigious competition.

The team were up against strong competition from eleven other North East colleges at the Association of Hairdressers and Therapists regional contest at the Federation Brewery in Gateshead last week. The judges were top local and national hairdressing and beauty professionals including Worldskills coach Robert Rouseaux.

Gold medals went to Nicole Gibson for body art, Samantha Twist for ladies evening style, Georgia Reed for commercial nail art, and Elle Lowes for facepainting.

The half body painting and nail art categories produced bronze medals for Alex Henderson and Nicol Walker respectively.

One of the contest's main events is the Total Team Look Presentation which involves students having hair, make-up and costumes styled by their team mates. The college’s theme of Willy Wonka won a silver medal.

Lindsay Deswert, from New College Durham who coordinated the event, said: “The standard was extremely high and the students should be commended for all of the hard work, time and effort that they put into the competition. This is a fantastic achievement.”

Music students from New College Durham entertained the competition audience.

Medal winners will represent the North East in the AHT national final, at Blackpool next month.