EAST Durham College’s hairdressing team are celebrating this week after picking up a bumper crop of awards.

at this year’s Regional Association of Hairdressers and Therapists (AHT) competition held at the Federation Brewery in Gateshead, and at the Concept Hair Apprentice of the Year North East heats.

At the AHT competition held at the Federation Brewery in Gateshead, the college was selected as the best overall college for the fourth time since 2013 and picked up several 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes too.

Beauty student Declan Stevenson was selected as the overall best student at the entire competition and picked up the 1st place award in the Editorial Makeup

Category with student Kyra Millar coming in a close second to scoop the silver medal in this category.

Another 1st place prize was awarded to the college for the Team Bridal entry, as well as several other 1st place prizes including 1st place in inclusive skills for Carly Holman and 1st place in Mood Board Nails for Alexandra Clifton. The college also won the 2nd and 3rd place prizes in the mood board nails category too.

Additional awards won by students at the ceremony include 2nd and 3rd place in Men’s Creative Cut and Finish for barbering student Jess Filby and Kristine Humphrey respectively and 2nd place and 3rd place in Commercial Nail Art for Holly Trotter and Alexandra Markiewicz respectively.

All students who won in their categories are now eligible to move on to the prestigious AHT National Competition, which is held every year at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. This year’s event will take place on the 15th and 16th of March.

At the Concept Hair Apprentice of the Year competition, student Rayna Kovacevic won the 1st place prize for her 1920’s-inspired style, while Neive Huntington won 1st place in the colouring category.

Both students now have the chance to move on to the grand final of the Concept Hair Apprentice of the Year competition, to be held on March 26 at London’s L’Oreal Professional Academy.

Ann Hall, programme area lead for hairdressing at the college, said: “Every year, the students at EDC work so hard and their efforts really pay off at competitions just like this one.

“Competitions like this are fantastic for the student’s growth and their future career prospects – they all had a fantastic day and were absolutely buzzing with the results afterwards.

From all of us at the hair and beauty department we’d just like to say how proud we are of all of our students who took part.”